After thinking it through I decided to not push on with the three mateless mittens, for the time being. Heck it is spring time now and who wants mittens when anticipation of summer is in the air. This seems like a rational decision, at least to me, so other more pressing matters have been taken up.
The biggest looming deadline is the date I leave for Minneapolis which is not that far off. I should have any knitting intended for people here in the Lower Mainland done before I leave. This reasoning lead me to focus again on the third Ashton shawlettes. This one I call Blue, was started in mid-November 2014 where I showed it off here. But shortly after that photo was taken and after the first two charts were completed things really ran amok. The reason(s) for this phenomenon are hard to identify much less explain and are irrelevant as well.
So as usual I tucked it away for a few months. Now it is time to surge forward but moving like advancing waves has not been my experience with it. I have redone one segment five times, that would be approximately 20 or so hours of knitting only to find this morning I must again remove a major segment. The process has been like taking two steps forward and one back, meaning progress is being made, but with all the knitting going on three more shawls should be done. Apparently skills honed merely six months ago get rusty or perhaps they weren't honed all that well in the first place. Somehow though I don't find myself disheartened; there's still plenty of time to get it done right before I leave town.
Just as a reminder, this shawlette is knit using Fantastic Knitting's Zephyr Lace Weight yarn in the colour charcoal, although to my eyes it is more like a light denim colour, thus the moniker Blue. (Perhaps I can start my own, ¨Is it a blue dress or a white dress?¨ discussion.) Despite the problems I seem to be having following the pattern, I love the yarn. It is so soft and light weight with great stitch definition (very helpful when one is tinking all the time). I see this shawlette being used year round. In the summer it will make a great light-weight cover and in the winter, a lovely, snugly scarf. And the colour lends itself to becoming a work-horse in anyone's wardrobe.
So here's the Blue Ashton just before I pull out one section. It is already off the needles so you can see the shape and that yellow stitch marker at the bottom right indicates a dropped stitch, the problem that cannot and should not be ignored.
Speaking of blue, I have moved on from the pesky downy to an even more illusive Steller Jay. They showed up about a week ago and seem to be traveling in a small flock of 3-5 like black-hooded marauders. These birds are much bigger than the downy and as such can't really enjoy eating from our feeders. This means they must be photographed in the trees. I know they are around by the rather raspy call they make. But these big boys have the attention span of a gnat and have even less tolerance to movement than the downy. Merely reaching for the camera from inside the house drives them away. Here's my best photo of one so far.
The biggest looming deadline is the date I leave for Minneapolis which is not that far off. I should have any knitting intended for people here in the Lower Mainland done before I leave. This reasoning lead me to focus again on the third Ashton shawlettes. This one I call Blue, was started in mid-November 2014 where I showed it off here. But shortly after that photo was taken and after the first two charts were completed things really ran amok. The reason(s) for this phenomenon are hard to identify much less explain and are irrelevant as well.
So as usual I tucked it away for a few months. Now it is time to surge forward but moving like advancing waves has not been my experience with it. I have redone one segment five times, that would be approximately 20 or so hours of knitting only to find this morning I must again remove a major segment. The process has been like taking two steps forward and one back, meaning progress is being made, but with all the knitting going on three more shawls should be done. Apparently skills honed merely six months ago get rusty or perhaps they weren't honed all that well in the first place. Somehow though I don't find myself disheartened; there's still plenty of time to get it done right before I leave town.
Just as a reminder, this shawlette is knit using Fantastic Knitting's Zephyr Lace Weight yarn in the colour charcoal, although to my eyes it is more like a light denim colour, thus the moniker Blue. (Perhaps I can start my own, ¨Is it a blue dress or a white dress?¨ discussion.) Despite the problems I seem to be having following the pattern, I love the yarn. It is so soft and light weight with great stitch definition (very helpful when one is tinking all the time). I see this shawlette being used year round. In the summer it will make a great light-weight cover and in the winter, a lovely, snugly scarf. And the colour lends itself to becoming a work-horse in anyone's wardrobe.
So here's the Blue Ashton just before I pull out one section. It is already off the needles so you can see the shape and that yellow stitch marker at the bottom right indicates a dropped stitch, the problem that cannot and should not be ignored.
 |
| OK, perhaps it is a bluish charcoal, but I'm still calling it Blue |
Speaking of blue, I have moved on from the pesky downy to an even more illusive Steller Jay. They showed up about a week ago and seem to be traveling in a small flock of 3-5 like black-hooded marauders. These birds are much bigger than the downy and as such can't really enjoy eating from our feeders. This means they must be photographed in the trees. I know they are around by the rather raspy call they make. But these big boys have the attention span of a gnat and have even less tolerance to movement than the downy. Merely reaching for the camera from inside the house drives them away. Here's my best photo of one so far.
 |
| Mr. Illusive Steller Jay out my office window. |
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