There’s No Cure for Projectitis
I was bebopping along recently, minding my own business, tending to my own busy schedule. Out of nowhere, like a nasty sneaky sneak, some virus decided it was a good time to ambush me and knock me down for the count.
Several days, a bottle and a half of Mucinex and a minor forest’s worth of Kleenex later, I believe I’m on the upswing from that ambush.
However, I have fallen out of that frying pan directly into the fire of another type of sickness. Most makers have fallen prey to this common illness at one time or another. Some even have what might be classified as a chronic manifestation of the condition.
It goes by many names and has many slight variations, but for me, the two most common are Startitis and Projectitis.
I’m sorry to report that in my time as a Medical Coder I never once discovered a code for these ailments, nor did I ever see a diagnosis or description of symptoms. Yet there is no doubt in my mind that this condition exists, and I suspect some of you might be able to share your own tales of more or less successful battles with this illness.
Today, in serial portrait form, I give you a case study in Projectitis.
Okay, so there was a sale.
I’m as susceptible as the next person to a well-crafted email advertising an anniversary sale, especially when there are giveaways included. I clicked on the link and I think that’s where this case of Projectitis may have begun. It started in my eyes and quickly transmitted through to my brain.
There it whirled feverishly until I knew exactly what I wanted to make and exactly for whom it should be made. No, for whom it was meant to be made, and for what occasion.
Finally, finally, the lovely package above arrived from Simply Socks Yarn Company, and this case of Projectitis went from a tickle in the throat to aches in my fingers.
It’s Noro’s Silk Garden yarn, and it’s meant to become that most addictive of knits, The Noro Striped Scarf.
I’ve made several of these before, and they are one of my all-time favorite knits. It’s a deceptively simple pattern, made with a knit one, purl one ribbing over an odd number of stitches. All the color magic is done by the yarn as you change skeins every two rows.
I’m alternating one of the top skeins in the photo above with one of the bottom skeins, and as each skein shifts through its own special palette of colors, the scarf acquires shifting pairings of stripes.
This one starts with a rich deep pink stripe matched with a complex grey color with some brown undertones. Gorgeous.
Then those brown undertones start taking over and the color becomes more golden. Meanwhile, the pink evolves to a purple and then a navy as the dark blues become more prominent.
The changes are subtle, but each pairing of stripes is just different enough from the previous pairing that a knitter feels positively compelled to just knit a few more rows to see how the next little bit looks with the rest of the scarf.
Before you know it, the ache in your fingers has morphed into a whole-body inability to move, possible disorientation and lack of general awareness of the outside world, and a general antipathy toward anything except what the next couple of stripes are going to look like.
See that? How that gold shifted to that bright yellow that’s starting to lean toward a seafoam green, and the navy shifted through lilac back to a bright pink that’s going to go coral? It’s fascinating! All-consuming!
I’m about 25% of the way through this scarf and not in any hurry to recover from my current case of Projectitis. I am, however, eager to see how the pairings shift for the second half of the scarf. For this first half, I used the tail ends of the yarn that were on the outsides of the balls. For the second half, I’ll do the same for one ball but use the tail from the interior of the ball for the other. I’m hoping more, unique permutations will ensue.
I’ll keep you updated on my recovery.
What did you make in your last bout with Projectitis?
Happy knitting,
Kiersten J
