What a difference a day makes! We are experiencing a warmer but very gray, dismal, rainy day. I haven’t even stepped foot outside to take a photo but you can see what I see out of my atelier window … gray, gray, and more gray. So, I’ve spent some extra time drinking coffee with my hubby and have vacuumed the second floor very thoroughly and washed another sweater (two since I returned from Canada.) It’s definitely time to get the well-worn and loved woolens cleaned up and stored away. I also may have eaten a small bag of Mary’s Popcorn … sirop d’erable et pacanes (maple syrup and pecans) which is delicious! Thank goodness I didn’t buy a bigger bag!

This afternoon I’ll go out and run some errands, wash my. car and fill up the tank in preparation for a busy next few weeks. My boss is off again, this time to Florida for April break with her grandchildren we think. I’ll have some extra days at work and have my Two-Color Brioche workshop to run on the 25th. I’ve signed up for a few Tuesdays so I can pay myself back for the Canada trip (worth every penny spent!)

I wanted to update those of you who care about my WIPs. I have been knitting and am having fun with the projects currently on the needles and adding to the projects to be knit. LOL

Yesterday morning I worked on my Escher Socks by Summer Lee. I’m working with two yarns, one is a natural shade that I bought (I may have said this before) when I thought I was going to dye yarn. Ha! NOT! It’s Cloudborn Fibers Merino Superwash Sock Twist in Ecru. (467 yards/100 grams and 80% superwash merino, 20% polyamide.) The color-changing yarn is a Crazy Zauberball, I think, in the Garden Party colorway. I think. I don’t have the ball band/tag and found this in my stashed yarn. I “copied” the colorway from my student/friend Kelly because hers were so gorgeous and I knew I had the gradient yarn and a white yarn in my stash. I really am trying to use up some of my stashed yarns! Anyway, I have gotten to the toe of the first sock as of yesterday late morning and hope to get sock #2 on the needles today. The remainder of the toe won’t take long nor will the forethought heel. (The red needle is marking where the heel will go.) I took a pair of Knit Pro US 2 nine inch circular needles from the store to try on the sock last week and I didn’t love them. I can see that the colorwork moves more smoothly on the circs and I don’t have any pause like when I go from one DPN to another BUT the tips on this pair seems a bit too long. I picked up a pair of nine inch Chiao Goo circs at Les Laines Biscotte but I got a US 1 and I need a US 2. I’ll return the Knit Pros and pick up a Chiao Goo and give them a try when I get to the store this afternoon.

Oddly, I was working away on the socks and one of my Chiao Goo DPNs rolled off the desk and I have looked all over the area and can’t find it. It has simply vanished. I even called for my hubby to have a look and he didn’t find it either. I fully expected it to be picked up and crunched by my vaccuum today … nope. Can you see me shrugging my shoulders? I don’t have a clue where it is. It can’t have gone far!

Another project I was working on yesterday is the Vanilla Sweater for my college roommate. I am knitting this one in Rauma Garn Finull in a heathered lavender. It’s a really pretty color. I’ve gotten almost to the ribbing for the body on this one. I plan to knit the ribbing a bit longer than the ribbing on my Vanilla Sweater because mine is apt to roll up and I’m not fond of that attribute. I certainly don’t want my friend’s sweater to do the same. I hope to get that ribbing finished today and get one of the sleeves picked up. This sweater pattern is so well written and I am enjoying the “brainless” stockinette stitching which is great for riding in the car and knitting in public.

One more active project on the needles. My Hansel Hap Half by Gudrun Johnson. I am knitting this with stashed Jamieson’s of Shetland and Jamieson & Smith jumper weight wool. I have quite a collection of colors collected over the past decade from taking the Year of Techniques, Boost Your Knitting and Confident Knitting (all a year of learning new techniques) with Jen Arnall-Culliford. Because she is based in the UK, I bought all of the yarn packs that went with the classes and much of it was Shetland wool. Anywhoo … I am working my way along with the half-hap size, or a triangular shawl. I was nearly done with the garter stitch triangle of the main shawl and ran out of my main color. I had decided that I would use another different but similar color for the spots in the edging where the pattern calls for the main color so I just popped it in for the last few rows where you’re getting ready to add the edging. It looks like a stripe. That’s fine. And then the real fun started: stripes of color. I’ve got a few stripes done. (I did have to frog back the work I did while chatting in the lounge at the hotel because even though it was relatively simple, I botched the count somewhere. It was only a few rows.)

I’m loving this! What looks like black is actually the darkest of blues and I’ve chosen shades of blue and a creamy white as the other colors. The teal blue shown is the “pop” of color. Fun!

While I am thinking of it, if you don’t own or haven’t read A Year of Techniques or its sibling books, they are worth every single penny spent to find them. I found the projects quite wonderful and have made quite a few and Jen’s tutorials are also fabulous. While their business is closed, you can still find the books used or in some UK-based yarn shops or online. I found a couple of patterns in these books that I have made several times and some that I still plan to make again. I’ve posted about the baby blanket Little Tern here and I made one back in 2017 as well. They’re both in my Ravelry projects page. Check the books out if you want to improve your knitting techniques! They’re three of my most cherished reference books.

Gone knitting.