The end of January is opposite the beginning. Temperatures have gone into the 50s F and the snow is melted. Yesterday was a nice, sunny day. Today is rainy. The cold will return next week.
Honestly, I'd prefer it stay cold throughout the winter. Last year it got warm too early. All of my tress and plants started budding out. When a cold snap came later they all suffered. The plants need a dormant period. Hoping this year gives them one.
I've made a little progress on the Rhineland Raglan. It looks the same so no picture.
I pulled out the Brioche scarf to take along to a morning of doctors' appointments. I realized that I had let this hibernate a bit too long. I had trouble remembering the pattern sequence. It will stay in plain sight so that I get a few rows each week just to keep it fresh in my brain.
There are two other projects that are in the active pile. Both are scarves.
Cruising through Ravelry over the holidays I saw a few temperature gradient scarves. Remembering that I had a pile of Knit Picks Palette downstairs, I decided to start one myself. The first decision was do I do the minimum, maximum or mean temperature for the day. Having seen one that was knit in the round, I thought I could do a double knit with the minimum on one side and the maximum on the other. The next decision was how many rows to represent a day. Since Palette is a light fingering weight yarn, I though two rows would be good. Having made those decisions I cast on with my two "coldest" colors and began knitting. It took me almost two hours to get 6 rows done. There were lots of frogs and re-knits. I threw it aside and thought about it for a few days.
Coming back to it after a week I decided I was making it too hard. Trying to use two temperatures per day was too complicated and the double knitting was a pain in the arse. One last frog. After much thought I decided that the high temperature of the day would do and two rows for each day. I cast on in black to make a garter stitch hem. My final pattern is a wide rib with a garter stitch selvage. Here it is through January 14. I'm much happier with how it is turning out and the knitting is much faster.
The second project that I started recently is Quinoa. I bought the pattern and yarn last year at my favorite LYS when they had a Manos event. The project has been patiently sitting in a ziploc bag waiting for me to give it some love. The pattern does require a little bit of attention. Not a good one for mindless knitting in front of a movie, at least not at the start.
You might have noticed that the background for these photos is new. These were taken on my new ottoman in my living room. Between the neutral color and the diffuse light from the dreary day here, the colors of the yarns are looking true.
The ottoman doubles as a coffee table in front of the new couch. It even has a "coffee table book". I've left one of my latest purchases on it to browse through as I sit out there.
Speaking of that, I am going to now refresh the tea in my cup and make my way to the couch for a little knitting time. The house is quite. Ed and Trisha just left to turn in car we have leased for her and then she's going to purchase a new car. A new phase of her life is coming soon. It's called Adulthood.
