Done with Prickly Pear socks, on to the next good thing

Another pair of socks, done. This is my fourth pair, and has by far the most complicated pattern I have ever attempted. They turned out about as nicely as I hoped, which is always a pleasant surprise.

My next project will be to learn how to knit cables. I will be making Knit Picks cabled mug cozy, a pattern available for free both on the Knit Picks site and on Ravelry. I anticipate that it will go pretty quickly. I may even make more than one. Once I feel comfortable with cable knitting, I plan to attempt it on some socks. I have not yet made up my mind as to which pattern I will choose out of several possibilities. None of the patterns I have is ideal to me, so whichever one I choose I will have to modify. I have never tried to convert a top-down sock pattern to toe-up, but I may have to for my next project. That will certainly be an adventure!

Sock Innovations excitement!

I just got the new book Sock Innovations by Cookie A, and have already read halfway through it. I am really excited to try out some ideas it stirred...

...But first, I have five projects in line to complete. sigh

I try to maintain some self-discipline by working on no more than two projects at a time. I tell myself that I can't start a new project until I finish one of the two I am working on, so that way I have an incentive to keep working after the initial excitement of experimenting with a new project has passed. Why two at a time? Because if I get bored or frustrated with one, then I can move to the other for a while! It makes sense to me, anyway.

This whole self-discipline idea would be more convincing if I also had a limit on the number of projects I let myself buy supplies for. But that would take more self-control than I possess. I cannot go in a yarn shop and leave without buying something. That would be rude, right? Well, technically, I suppose I am capable of leaving without buying anything, it just hasn't ever happened that I can recall.