All Shades of Gray

The title of this post would be easy to apply to much of life right now. We're in my least favorite time of year, when it's cold and dark and there's hardly any color to be seen. That might explain why I've been knitting really bright socks (and I'm nearly done with the pair!). You've seen these before -- these are just my basic top-down stockinette sock in Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce in After the Harvest (Brights). I hope to have these finished before the week is out.

Also on the needles is the sweater I finally cast on for over the weekend, Jennifer Dassau's Evenlight in -- quite fittingly -- Deep Unrelenting Gray.

It took me a bit of time to get a handle on this pattern, as the stitch patterns on the body and sleeves are different and the sweater starts by being worked flat and transitions to being worked in the round. But now that I know what I'm doing, it's moving along at a good clip, which I suppose is at least partly because I'm working on size 8 (5.0 mm) needles. Considering most of the sweaters I knit have been worked on needles in the US 4 to US 6 (3.5 mm to 4.0 mm) range, these feel positively enormous and the fabric really grows visibly from row to row. I am knitting a size that will give me almost three inches of positive ease, so assuming it comes out as it should, it should be a sweatshirt-like sweater -- roomy and cozy and generally something you want to lounge around in. That is just the sort of garment I need at this time of year.

There's a third project on the needles that you have not seen yet, though I believe I did mention it last week. This is a hat to coordinate with the colorwork cowl I finished at the beginning of the year. I've finished the stranded portion, so now I just have to figure out how much additional length I want before I start the crown decreases.

Now remember when I was talking about my goals and intentions for the year and I said that I wasn't planning on buying yarn unless it was absolutely necessary? Well I may have had a little slip-up, though it started with the best of intentions. Back in December, when I was handing out my hand-knit gifts for the whole family, I gave my father and father-in-law IOU's saying I'd knit them socks in their choice of color and pattern. My in-laws were at our house over the weekend to babysit Rainbow, so my father-in-law took the opportunity to place his order, as it were. He wants black socks. (I know -- what I wanted least to hear. Actually, first he said he wanted "black with a white pattern," but I didn't think he'd really want stranded socks, so I convinced him to go with all black.) Then I checked with my father, and he asked for dark brown -- really only marginally better. I know these guys are both pretty much no frills, no special treatment type of guys, so I had planned to order some Knit Picks Stroll for their socks because I knew I could get lots of colors and plenty of yardage without breaking the bank. When I went online to order, I discovered that Stroll is on sale, so when I put the four skeins I needed for the socks in my basket, I realized that the total was not as much as I was anticipating -- and that meant some more shopping to get my cart to $50 and free shipping. So four additional skeins of sock yarn are on their way to me as well now (I figure I can always use them for shawls or designs or something). Please, don't judge. I tried to be strong and I failed. I'll do better next time.