Counting to 2 Is Hard

The cowl is done. I finished just before bedtime last night. It would have been earlier than that had I not messed up the ribbing so much. You see, I guess I was so excited about getting to the finishing ribbing near the end of my lunch break yesterday that I forgot how to count to 2. I realized this as I got to the end of the first round and discovered that I wasn't going to end with two purls as I should have. Rather than tinking back, I decided to just go ahead with the second round and fix the stitches individually as I came to them. This was a good decision, I think, but it meant that that second round took a heck of a lot longer than it should have. Fortunately I was not on bedtime duty last night, so that meant extra knitting time, and by the time I was ready to go in bed, the cowl had been bound off and all my ends had been woven in. Tonight, I'll block it, though I'll admit I'll be a little sad to lose the wonderful texture it has in its unblocked state.

I have to say, I really, really liked working with this yarn. I mean, I know there's not much not to love about merino, cashmere, and silk, but having not worked with it before, it was exciting for me to do so. It was very smooth and easy to work with, and the color saturation is stunning. The knit fabric already has great drape, even before it's blocked, and it's delightfully soft and silky -- it will be divine around my neck! If I had one complaint about the yarn, it's that I found a knot in the skein as I was approaching the end of my ribbing. I somehow missed it when I was winding it, and it wasn't a huge deal to cut it out, but it did mean two extra ends to have to weave in. I know that knots do happen, but I expect to see them less in a hand-dyed yarn. One knot wouldn't stop me from knitting with Pashmina again, though!

Because the cowl had been my lunch break knitting for the past week and a half or so, finishing it meant I needed a new project for lunch today. Happily I had wound several skeins of yarn last weekend, so I had some new stripey sock yarn waiting for me. This is one the skeins that I picked up at Indie Knit & Spin last month from Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works. The colorway is called Electric Avenue, and it was definitely that hot pink that drew me to this skein.

I am knitting some very simple stockinette socks with this to let the yarn do the talking, but I'm using a smaller needle than usual -- a US 0/2.0 mm -- because this yarn is a two ply and I want the socks to be a bit more durable than that would be on my usual US 1 needle. I cast on 70, rather than my usual 64, and am doing a 3x2 rib at the cuff. Unless I am crazy productive in the next week, these will make for good airplane knitting next weekend!