Indecision

The title of this post refers both to the weather and my state of mind; neither can really figure out what to do. It's been positively springlike the past two days, with a big rainstorm sweeping through yesterday; this morning, we woke up to chilling winds and snow. Similarly, I can't quite settle on what I want to knit or get particularly excited about any of my current projects.

At knit night last night, I did finish up a pair of simple ribbed socks for Rainbow -- they're so unexciting that I never blogged about them or even started a project page on Ravelry. They're made from Cascade Heritage sock yarn, and I still have most of the skein left (which means I can likely make her several more pairs from the same skein as she gets bigger).

I have worked with the Heritage Silk before, but not the regular wool/nylon stuff. With the exception of the additional softness and sheen from the silk, the yarns are pretty much the same. They're really on the skinny end of the fingering spectrum, in my opinion -- I get 8.5 stitches and 12 rows per inch with a size 1/2.25 mm needle, as opposed to the 8 stitches and 10 or 11 rows that I get with a more middle-of-the-road sock yarn. I'm not really complaining, mind you, because the denser stitch gauge will mean a longer-wearing sock, but for a toddler, she's more likely to outgrow the socks before she wears them out.

Now that those are off the needles, my cowl has become my official lunchtime knitting. Last night I put in a few more rounds, so I'm now nearly complete with the first ruche (and those rounds take a while, because they're each 400 stitches). I can't remember how long the pattern sample took me to knit, but I think if I can work on it a little each day and put in a few additional hours over the weekend, I could get this done in two or three weeks -- plenty of time to still need it.

I am quite enjoying working with the Dream in Color Calm. I'd describe it as the American cousin of Malabrigo Worsted. It's a singles yarn with a beautiful dye job, but the strand itself is a lot more sturdy than Malabrigo; it almost feels like the yarn's been fulled just a bit. It's also not as soft as Malabrigo, but it's still soft enough to wear around my neck. I think it might fuzz up and pill if it were used in a sweater, where there's likely to be areas of high friction, but I think it'll wear just fine as a cowl.

Tonight I think I'll put in a little more time on Rainbow's baby doll, specifically on the head. I can only handle about an hour or so of knitting with cotton at this gauge, so it's going slowly. Perhaps I'll have it finished by the time Rainbow's ready to start kindergarten!

What I really want to do is cast on for a sweater using the purple tosh vintage I have in my closet. I think I may be able to hold off for at least another day to make it my February project. Or maybe I'll start swatching tonight.