Knitting just to be knitting.....

(Gorgeous god-daughter Gen says thanks to everyone for their kind comments on her first knitting project! She has worn the hat to school where it is a hit.

And look - she's started on the mitts. I've convinced her that knitting in the round on dpn's is no harder than knitting on two needles and she's flying along.)


My own knitting so far this year hasn't been particularly exciting and I find myself working on projects just because I want to be knitting and not because the project itself particularly inspires me.


I started a Desert Rose shawl by Renee Leverington (aka Goddess Knits) as part of a knitalong on Ravelry. But after finishing the first chart I've come to the conclusion that I'd really prefer the pattern in a much finer yarn....so it has sort of stalled and sadly I think it will be relegated to the frog pond soon. The colour is perfect I think --- I just need to find it in a finer laceweight and then I'll start the pattern over again.


I also started an Icarus shawl in this gorgeous blue Posh Yarn Eva 2ply. Posh Yarn is lovely hand dyed yarn which has joined the ranks of limited supply but HUGE demand yarns - and rightly so. The colours are gorgeous and the base yarns are always high quality. I haven't been fast enough to snag some in the Sunday night scrum for ages but happily I do have a nice stash I scored just before its popularity went through the roof!


As with the Desert Rose I'm not convinced I've paired the right yarn to the pattern but despite these misgivings it continues to grow as the pattern is easy enough to work on mindlessly while watching Columbo re-runs. (Lately I've developed this really peculiar fondness for Columbo on Sunday afternoons.)


Knitting that I'm knitting just to be knitting is fine -- but I really want a project to inspire me. One that has me obsessively knitting far into the night and forgetting to get on with other (probably more important) things. And as I was wondering why that inspiration well seemed dry at the moment I realised it is probably because I'm so far behind on my blog reading. Ravelry and its pattern search are useful tools -- but my best source of inspiration over the past couple of years has been other blogs. So tomorrow is blog catch up and be inspired day!! In the meantime if you know of anything you think I might particularly like - let me know.


But before I can commence the great blog catch up of 2010 I need to do my taxes today. The deadline is midnight tomorrow so if I get them done today it will mark the first time in ages I've done them (sort of) early! Fingers crossed for a refund.