Gray Skies Are Gonna Clear Up

Much like the weather around here lately, I grow weary of the grayness, and am yearning for a little color. Shocking, no?

I made great progress on the gray Kerouac sweater this week, finishing up to the armpits, and then the front left side. It was one of those patterns that has AT THE SAME TIME written several times, and many sizes with instructions written in parentheses – eg., bind off 1 (2,3,4,5,6) stitches 3 (0,2,5,6,7) times over the next 2(4,6,8,10,12) rows – that sort of thing. I had to map it out, and I’m still not entirely sure I got it right. But I made notes so that if I did screw up, I’ll be sure to screw up the other side in exactly the same way. Good thing,  too, because the instructions for the right front of the sweater are basically to do what you just did, only backwards.

Having made it this far, I just had to set this aside and work on something else. Normally  I’m pretty monogamous with projects, but I got an itch. I decided to turn to the next pattern in the Woodland Winter Mittens. I noticed this kit isn’t available at the Knit Picks website. Maybe they ran out of some of the colors? I’m tackling the February pattern this time around. It’s not one of my favorites, but I kind of wanted to get these first three done in the first three months of the yearn. It’s the librarian in me. I did start this in the last few days of February. So that counts, right? The back sides of these gloves feature two different birds. In the picture here, you can see some branches. I think the beginnings of the tail might be in the small checkerboard pattern on the right yellow (cornmeal) section.

The pattern that runs across the palms is quite nice. I almost like it better than the patterned section across the backs of the hands. I’ve managed to make it up to the third color change today, and the thumb stitches are already off the needles and waiting patiently on that pale blue scrap of yarn. There are some truly long floats in this pattern – I counted 19 stitches once -- so I’m doing a lot of catching of yarn as I go. I thought that the dark yarn behind the light would be more noticeable, but I think the light yarn shows more behind the dark. Also, I’m carrying the dark color (bittersweet heather) in my left hand to make the images and patterns pop.

Finally, some very good news, today! Little Henry, the boy for whom I made the Pileable Pups last month, has made his arrival. Welcome to the world, Henry! And congratulations to Kristin and Josh. That’s one kid that should never, ever be cold.