We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

I think I have my knitting mojo back. Maybe because I'm doing "fun" knitting right now. But I'm liking what I accomplished this week.

I finished the Blue Monkeys for my daughter. Now I know why there are over 10,500 completed pairs of Monkey socks on Ravelry; this is a really great pattern to knit. It's lace, so there's a bit of challenge to them. But it's easy enough to memorize, so you can take it along and knit anywhere on them. I totally love this pattern.

So much, that I immediately cast on another pair of Monkeys. I think the semi-solid turned out really beautiful. I almost hate to send them to my daughter. Supposedly, this pattern is designed to take advantage of the variegated yarns. So that's my excuse to knit a second pair: I want to see how the multi-colored yarn would look. And since I just happened to have the same Koigu in a bright variegate colorway, that's what I decided to use.

Only, I wasn't that impressed. The yarn was pooling way more than I was comfortable with. The picture doesn't look as bad as they did in person. So since I really love this yarn, I decided to wait and use it on something that worked better with it. I frogged the couple of inches that were done, and I headed back into my yarn closet. There is a definite advantage to having a stash. I was able to find another variegated yarn, this time Cherry Tree Hill in the Gypsy Rose colorway. I cast on, and I'm in love.

I'm keeping this pair for me!

I think I mentioned that I was going to frog the Ribbed Tank. It's making a new start as a Riva Sweater. This is a pattern from Jaeger that one of the Boca Knit 1 Brew 2 girls had given me, and I really like it. The pattern is easy to follow, and is knitting up really quickly. Of course, I'm only on the back. The interesting cables won't be around until I get to the front.

I've been thinking about my knitting. Do you know that I've only completed four pairs of socks this year? I did knit two shawls and a baby sweater as well. But most of my knitting has been simple, quick projects (20 washclothes, 3 baby bibs). So even though it's a little early, I've set my goals for 2010. They're listed in the side bar. (Twelve pairs of socks, six sweaters, two shawls, and at least six charity knits.) I figure I'm going to need the two months left in 2009 as a headstart, if I'm really going to get all that done. And if you're wondering how I came up with that goal -- they're all projects I've already gotten the yarn to make in my stash.