Things being rather unsettled here right now, but still in need of stress abatement, I looked around to see what evening needlework distraction I could find.  I don’t want to start a forever project with only a limited amount of time before The Big Displacement.  I’ve sent the embroidery floor stand on ahead to India, so working on Big Green is problematic.  I’ve been doodling up knit scarves and socks – giving most of it away.  Additional inspiration for this one came from the Resident Male, who always bemused by my yarn hoarding habit, forwarded this.

I’ve got a big bag of little bits of fingering weight – mostly left over from sock projects.  I’ve dipped into it every now and again to make booties or to supply a stripe or toe for later socks, but for the most part, the bag has grown steadily larger in the 18+ years I’ve been knitting socks.

So.  Given the need for totally mindless knitting, very few needles in the house (also mostly sent on ahead), and the guilt-induced constraint to use my stash yarn remnants, what could I come up with?

Motley!

This is ultra simple – 12 stitches across (10 plus 2 slipped edge stitches), knit in garter stitch; 10 ridges with each right side row beginning with an increase and ending with a decrease; followed by 10 ridges with the wrong side rows beginning with an increase and ending with a decrease.  After the first ripple is done, subsequent ones are joined to the established chain selvedge edge with a simple pick up/pass last stitch over move, followed by purling that stitch on the next row.  The basic zig-zag concept is Frankie Brown’s Ten Stitch Zigzag, which I’ve played with a bit.

Using relatively giant US #7 needles (giant for sock yarn, that is) I’m reaching into the big bag of leftovers, pulling out whatever I find, and adding it on.  Eventually I’ll add little triangles to square out the piece to make a center golden ratio rectangle.  Then I’ll figure out some sort of similarly chroma-chaotic edging, so that I end up with a little lap throw.

It’s a quick knit, and totally without thought.  What you see above is the the consumption of nine mini-balls of leftovers over the course of three evenings.