A Serious Case of 'Startitis'

It happens every year around this time: I catch "startitis".  You know, the urge to start something new...but not just one 'something'.  No.  Multiple somethings! 

It hit me when I was roaming around YouTube, clicking on video podcasts from yarn shops.  The first one I looked up was at the recommendation of a customer who was in the Shop last week.  She and her daughter were joining a Mystery Knit-Along (MKAL) originating with the gals at Cozy Up Knits out of Grande Prairie (Alberta, not Texas; you can tell because of the "e" in "Grande" 😊)  I checked it out and decided to take a pass, but if you're interested, it's not too late to join in.  You can catch it on YouTube HERE.

Not so interested in the Cozy Up project, I checked out Must Love Yarn -- shop owners in Vermont, who have an hour-long (or so) video podcast.  No MKAL that I could see, but their friendly chatter is pleasant background entertainment for quilting or knitting or whatever.  From there I hopped to The Knot House Podcast -- another video podcast from a yarn shop: this time, from Maryland.  These clips last only about 1/2 hour, which I found just right, because I can use them as timing devices.

Say what? 

Well...one of the symptoms of startitis is that not only do you have to start multiple new projects, but also you find yourself compelled to work on each one all at once.  Having a 20-to-30-minute video to enjoy while you work makes it easier to do this -- especially if you have a series of video 'casts lined up that you've never seen, so you can watch them one after the other.  You simply spend one video's worth of time working on one project; when that 'cast ends, you switch projects!  You have an opportunity to get up and stretch -- get more coffee or a glass of water or whatever -- and move to The Next New Thing. 

Pattern: Stepping Stones - Clara Parkes
Yarn: Jawoll Magic Degrade
Colour #85.0074

There could be one fly in this ointment, though.  I've been commissioned by my daughter to make a pair of socks as a birthday gift for one of her friends.  I have to have them finished within the next ten days or so, to get them into the mail to my daughter on time for the birthday gift exchange near month-end. 

Uh-oh.  They're not a New Thing.  I began them a few days before Xmas.  😞

But wait!  I finished the first sock of the pair last night!  That means I can start the second sock today.  And technically, I could consider the second sock a New Thing!  Reprieved!

So...start it I did.  As well as starting a Plain Vanilla sock in an old yarn from stash -- because, yes, when startitis hit, I rejoined "Socks from Stash" as a way to satisfy some of the urges, while simultaneously using up stash yarn.  And that's a Good Thing! 

Yarn: Fortissima Colori "Socka Color" - Colour-way: 9070.
Pattern: my adaptation of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Good Plain Sock" from her book, Knitting Rules. 


Between the two pair of socks -- and the latest two clues in Bonnie Hunter's 2019 Mystery Quilt, and the fact that I've resolved to start at least 2 new art quilts come Monday (January 6 being the official end of my self-imposed "holidays") -- you'd think my startitis would be cured...or at least tamped down! 

But no.

One more thing.  I needed one more thing.  After all, the birthday sock was really only Somewhat New, and the Mystery quilt has been going on since American Thanksgiving (near the end of November) so...yes.  One more thing.


The gals on the Knot House podcast had me looking at patterns they'd made up for their shop, including Eowyn Mittens by NeedleRogue, and "Bonjour/Hi" from Espace Tricot (yes, the shop in Montreal that I couldn't get to when I was there in June because it was closed for some sort of emergency). 

Smitten by both, with thanks that they were free patterns that suited yarn I own, I've downloaded them. But...I was also reminded I needed to look at my Ravelry Queue.  And there, near the top (for ages) was a Nora Gaughan pattern I'd lined up -- with the yarn, a cotton in shades of red -- the "Rhodocrosite" wrap from her Volume 7 collection.  I'll be using "Lara", a cotton yarn from elann.com's Endless Summer Collection, colour #335...bought in another place (Calgary) in another time.  Both the pattern and yarn had been lined up for far too long.  It was time for them to be used!

As a result of this hefty dose of New Things, I've managed to put my startitis under control.  With the ongoing quilt mystery, and new artwork on tap for Monday, I should recover nicely by mid-month, don't you think?  😉

I'll close with a few photos from the quilty side of things...

First...from the Mystery Quilt project:

Clue 4 finished

Clue 5 finished

Clue 6 -- in process!

And...some photos I'm considering as inspiration for new art work...to be sorted and printed and planned out come Monday...

And there are more to come.  I've got a SAQA 2020 Spotlight Auction piece to create, and then a series of small pieces (6" square up to 12" square) plus another larger piece -- painted whole cloth, already auditioned...

So you can see I won't lack for New Things to keep my startitis at bay!  How about you?  Do you suffer the same affliction at this time of year?  Or ever?  Let me know how it affects you...and what you do about it!

I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and turning my attention to casting on that Nora Gaughan pattern through a third episode from the Knot House.  Later there'll be another walk in the winter wonderland that surrounds my wee hamlet.

Here's to startitis, to inspiration, to New Things in a New Year!  May we all be so blessed!