gray garter

I’d had a sneaking feeling that the sleeve for Marnie’s Moby sweater was going to be too tight around her bicep, but of course that didn’t stop me from plowing forward! It did, however, slow me down and make me less willing to work on it. Oh Denial, my Muse. So I bound off the underarm stitches, knit a few more rows, and then pulled it on yesterday. It’s tight, not so tight that it pulls the stitches, but it’s tight. And my Marnie has biceps. So I’m shipping the sleeve (and the sweater body, why not!) off to Marnie in Chicago, to try it on and see how it really works for her. If it’s not good, I can just get started on another sleeve immediately. This is going to be an heirloom, dammit!

I’d decided I needed to work with color, I needed that bright change of pace. So I looked at my brilliant yellow sweater, sitting at my elbow in the basket, luring me forward, and I just didn’t feel it. I’m in a grinding wearing time right now, and everything just feels so old. So *snap!* I realized what to do! START SOMETHING NEW! Even though it’s still and more gray, I decided to cast on my Color Affection Shawl (Veera Välimäki), since it’s stripes and short rows and purported to be lots of fun. Plus garter stitch, simple and soothing. And the yarn — The Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering — is lovely and smooth, and rich with color.

the makings of a shawl

The two lighter grays are really so close to each other; they’re the same value, but one’s a slightly bluer gray, and one’s a slightly yellower gray. But the difference is slight. I didn’t even think, really, I just cast on, making the charcoal the main color, which seemed obvious. And I got pretty far last night, nearly completing the first section, when I got a sinking feeling that I should’ve picked one of the lighter grays as the main color. Yep. Further reflection made that obvious. [I blame my jaw, which is still so bad, so much pain, I haven't chewed solid food for 3 full days now.]  So I ripped it all out last night and started over. The photo shows my reboot progress, using Elegant Elephant as the main color. It’s quite lovely, various shades of silvery gray. I can’t wait to get to the striped section.

Tonight I’m going to see An Iliad, with Denis O’Hare, at New York Theatre Workshop, “A sweeping account of humanity’s unshakeable attraction to violence, destruction, and chas. Has anything really changed since the Trojan War?”. With everything going on in the Middle East, we’d all have to say that nothing has changed. I love a good examination of epic concerns, so this should be great.

Happy Sunday, y’all, and happy knitting!