Not So Fast, Phil

Despite Punxsutawny Phil's prediction of an early spring, we are very much still in winter here. We had a small snowstorm move through Thursday night into Friday, resulting in a snow day for Rainbow (we didn't get that much snow, but we've had so little this year that I think the schools felt obligated to use one of the built-in snow days). For once -- maybe the first time ever! -- the Mister volunteered to stay home with her so I could go in to work, and I was very thankful for my cozy new hat for that blustery walk in on Friday morning.

Pattern: Neon by Sarah Cooke
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Beguiled (75% superwash merino/20% nylon/5% Stellina) in a OOAK colorway and Floof (72% mohair/28% silk) in American Rust
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)
Started/Completed: February 1/February 6

I had such a good time knitting this hat for Rainbow back in December that I knew I had to knit one for myself. My only modification, if you can even call it that, was to carry the mohair/silk laceweight alongside the DK, and the effect is amazing. This hat has both sparkle and fuzz, and it's quite cozy. I had a small moment of panic on Sunday when I couldn't find it and thought I had lost it when we went out to dinner the night before. Silly me forgot that the reason it wasn't in my coat pocket was because I had washed and blocked it on Saturday afternoon and it was still sitting on the drying rack upstairs. D'oh! Anyway, this was fun to knit again and I have a feeling this pattern will be a go-to hat when I need a gift in the future.

We had a rather quiet weekend, and we got an early start on Saturday because we went to get our taxes done. I took my new handspun sock along with me, and you can see how much I've gotten done since then -- the progress keeper marks where I was Saturday morning.

I'm maybe half an inch or so from being able to start the heel, and I should get there during my lunchtime knitting today.

My Darkwater saw the most attention over the weekend because I really wanted to finish the colorwork in the yoke. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this picture of my yoke "guts" after I finished up.

Here is where things stand as of this morning:

I've split off the sleeve stitches and gotten about three inches of body knit under the arms. I tried it on last night to make sure the fit was okay, and it is, though it looks like I was so worried about the floats not being tight on the yoke that I may have overcompensated a bit. I'm sure it'll look better after blocking, but this sweater will definitely have a good amount of positive ease. That is something I'd planned for, but it's breaking my brain a bit because I'm making the smallest size in the pattern and, though I have lost weight, I'm still not the smallest person. In any case, assuming things don't change too much with blocking, this should fit like a comfy sweatshirt, which is just what I wanted.

Though I likely would have had enough, I did end up introducing a new skein of main color yarn before I finished the yoke so I could transition it in, and I've since completely used up that first skein. It looks like the two that are attached now should get me through the body, or at least most of the way, and that will leave me the last skein for the arms. I have a bit of a cushion from what the pattern specifies, but you never know, especially when you substitute a DK for a fingering. I've gotten to the mindless part of this sweater now, so I hope it will knit up quickly going forward. Looking ahead in the forecast, I'm definitely going to need it!