A Serious Case of the Starts

African Flower 1

African Flower 2

Hi, my name is Jacquline and I have Start-itis.

I am powerless over yarn and the allure of new projects. I should finish doing the size adjustments for my Wonder Tunic, so I can finally release the pattern. Instead, I started designing a fancy slip cover for an old king-sized pillow, which will look like Magic Carpet from Disney’s Aladdin… It’s going to be a bed for my spoiled cat.

I have a pile of Simply Soft in my stash (I, honestly, don’t remember buying it. It’s like some kind of yarn amnesia.) that I plan on using for the project. The center begins with the classic African Flower and grows from there. It’s even going to have golden tassels at the corners of the cat bed like Magic Carpet.

Well, it would if I hadn’t started yet another project.

crochet socks 2

Megan-Anne has been on a sock kick lately. (You can find her latest pair here.) She keeps getting all this gorgeous sock yarn in the mail for her designs and true to sisterly-form, I’ve gotten a little jealous. I want to use Valley Yarn’s Charlemont or Plymouth Yarn’s Happy Feet.  

Crochet has a bad reputation for being only for blankets, hats, and overly bulky sweaters and as an avid crocheter, I take deep offense to that. While it’s true that there are some hideous crocheted sweaters out in the world, there are some beautiful lightweight ones as well. So, when I started whining that I never have the opportunity to use sock yarn and Megan-Anne suggested that I knit some, I responded by swiping some of hers and grabbing my crochet hook.

I probably should have started by working from an existing crochet sock pattern, but I like to live on the wild side. And I’ve watched my sister knit so many socks over the years, I thought I understood the basic principles pretty well. It turned out that I did for the most part, until I reached the heel.

In knitting, making the heel is similar to starting with a seamless toe. Fine, good. I had started with a seamless toe. It turned out great. But, now I’m torn on how to apply that idea to my heel in a way other people can understand. A quick internet search told me that there are a lot of ways to turn a heel with crochet, some of which had occurred to me, but I’m still indecisive on how I want to proceed.

crochet socks 1

Come to think of it, maybe I don’t have Start-itis. Maybe I just have too many ideas in my head and not enough time. Or maybe just plain old Designer Blues.

~ Jac
Yes, denial is just a river in Egypt.

6 thoughts on “A Serious Case of the Starts

  1. thepogblog says:

    Finishing is overrated! I can say this with authority as I took a deep breath last weekend and completed all the fiddly bits I’d been putting off on a heap of projects…and now I feel bereft, with just one thing to concentrate on. (That said, I did dig out my REALLY old projects that were never going to get finished, took them apart and wound up all the wool for new things. New wool for free…kind of!) Good luck with those heels :)

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