Dispatches from Farther South

Good morning and happy equinox! I am happy to tell you that we arrived safely and only a little late in Florida yesterday afternoon, after having to sprint through a very crowded Charlotte airport to make our connection (on the plus side, pretty much everyone else had already boarded by the time we got to the gate, so we didn't have to wait to get on the plane). The weather here was not great yesterday, but this afternoon should be just about perfect to soak up some vitamin D while I work.

I started a new book and got a little progress made on a new project (which I'd started on Friday but really only done the set-up of a tubular cast-on done) while on the plane:

A Diet Coke was consumed only to supplement the one coffee I had before the first flight of the day, which started with a 5:30 a.m. wake-up

The project is a fingering weight version of the secret design submission, so I likely won't be able to show you much more until I know whether it's been accepted or not. But I can tell you that the yarn is amazing. It's Fibernymph Dye Works Heavenly, which is Lisa's MCN base, which I have somehow never used before. I won this skein as a prize in her make-along last year, and it's a gradient from this light blue to a darker blue to a gray. I'm just knitting basic brioche stitch right now, which I can mostly do without looking, so I was able to read while knitting. The book is the latest in the Outlander series; it came out in 2021, but I was waiting for the paperback to come out because these books are always bricks and I could not deal with the weight of the hardback version. I managed about 100 pages in total yesterday, so maybe I'll actually finish the book while we're here!

In addition to my travel project, I also brought the yarn for my next sweater (my Love Note stayed at home, though I did make some progress last week -- I'm ready to start the short rows on the body to lower the back), and I cast on last night while my mother and I were watching the first episodes of the new seasons of Call the Midwife and Sandition.

Apologies for the darkness of the photo; it was taken before the sun was up. This is the start of Andrea Mowry's Birch Pullover, which I'm knitting with the yarn I bought earlier this month. I did yet another tubular cast-on for this and nearly finished the collar, so soon the more involved stitches will start. I ended up going with size 3/3.25 mm needles, so this is going to be a marathon of a knit. I think it'll be a great sweater to wear when it's done, though, so I'm okay with that.

In addition to these two projects, I also brought yarn to knit a baby sweater as a gift for a coworker, who's expecting her first grandchild in June, and a ball of kitchen cotton in case I need a little instant gratification in the form of some dishcloths. I expect we will also make a trip to the local Michaels at some point because my mother wants to learn how to crochet corner-to-corner (she's a pretty decent crocheter, though she hasn't done it in a while, so I expect she'll pick it up easily). 

Well, I'd better wrap this up so I can get out for my run before it gets too warm and before my 11 a.m. team meeting for work! I hope your first day of spring brings you some sunshine!