Almost April Showers

It's a grey, grey day, with intermittent showers, so I won't be spending much time outside. But I did make a quick dash out to check on new arrivals.



And sure enough, there were welcome surprises.



Puddles are forming between the remaining bits of snow. It's a cosy day to be indoors, and since I have a few hours before heading out to work, I'm going to concentrate on completing the second sock gusset. Here's the first.





That heel flap is a little bit on the long side, but I have fairly high insteps so I think it will fit alright in the end.

********************************

Note to Ms Bees: I forgot to bring the mittens on Saturday, so you didn't miss them, though we missed you. I'll try to remember next month.

Well that took longer than expected

I sat down this morning to finally write up and format (and set up on Payloadz and get entered on Ravelry) the mitten pattern (now officially known as Hansen) thinking I had 2-3 hours work ahead of me. Ha! But 6 hours later, I think I have it done. I'll get the purchase link in the sidebar soon. (eta: OK, it's there now). But in the meantime I'm going to borrow an idea from Annie Modesitt. I'll send a complimentary copy of the pattern to the first three people who email me through my profile and ask for it. No strings attached. All I ask is that if you come across any errors or omissions (now or six months from now) you let me know.





This now counts as one more Mission Possible task accomplished, because though it didn't involve any new knitting, it was definitely on my unfinished projects mental list.


As for other MP items: I'm about 75% finished with the scarf. I have both heels turned on the socks, and have started the gusset section on one.


Next in line will be a new lace scarf pattern that has also been on my mental list for quite a while. But I'm waiting on the yarn. It should be coming in the mail soon.

kwise or pwise?

OK, I'm getting a little geeky here. Feel free to skip straight to the pretty picture at the end.

The pattern for the scarf in progress uses a double decrease frequently found in lace patterns: Slip one, k2tog, pass the slipped stitch over (a left leaning double decrease). So, slip knitwise or purlwise?

The rule of thumb is that when used as part of a decrease, stitches should be slipped knitwise. This is done to prevent them from twisting, thus making a smoother decrease. On the other hand, I find it just a bit quicker and easier to slip that stitch purlwise. So how much of a difference does it make?



The decrease on the right used a stitch slipped knitwise. The decrease on the left used a stitch slipped purlwise. The one on the right is just marginally smoother. Really marginally. In the left hand sample, the twist in that passed over stitch lifts the front leg of the stitch slightly, making it a bit more prominent. On the other hand, that lift exposes just a tiny bit more of the underlying k2tog. Does this make the whole decrease look more centered? I'm not sure.

At any rate, when worked in the lace pattern, the differences to my eye are almost imperceptible.



Stripe on right worked with stitch slipped knitwise. Stripe on left worked with stitch slipped purlwise. Close enough that I'm taking the easy way out and slipping purlwise.

I'm not saying that under different circumstances I might not choose differently (bulky yarn? a different pattern stitch?) I'm just saying that for this project the choice that isn't technically "correct" works for me.

If there is any moral here at all, it is that the question of "What is the right way?" doesn't necessarily have only one answer. In knitting, you can do things any damn way you want, as long as you get results that please you and as long as you understand why you are doing what you are doing.

******************************
Now the pretty picture



My snow babies opened up.

Bravehearts

Poor Robin

It's hard to see, but there's a fine fat fellow sort of huddled in the tree.

At least I hadn't packed these away quite yet. I finished them a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't had occasion to wear them more than a couple of times, what with spring arriving and all. Now that winter's temporarily back I have a second chance to wear and admire.

Nice and warm. I like the colors (they go very well with my black coat). To be honest, I think I like the fit of a mitten with the thumb placed on the palm better than at the side, but this is a fairly minor quibble. All in all a satisfactory project.

Plans Change

So now that the scarf has moved into the "knitting without much thinking" slot, I'm reconsidering those plain ribbed socks. Wouldn't it be more fun to add a little oomph to the feet?

I've got an urge to break out into colorwork (or at least more-than-one-neutral work). I can do that. But I need to adjust the stitch count a little. Those ribs have lots of negative ease. And stranding a pattern will tighten up my gauge considerably. And the extra thickness will mean I need extra ease. So before I go anywhere else, I'm going to increase 1 stitch in each rib. That will take me up to 60 stitches total. Will that be enough to go over my heel when I pull the eventual socks on? I don't know. Maybe I'll go up a needle size. Excuse me while I launch myself into the unknown........


Ok, I really wrote the above yesterday, and in the meantime I've come this far:







I went to 60 stitches but did not change needle size. The first 10 rounds fit over my heel, so I've gone ahead and started the heel flap in the simplest possible "salt and pepper" pattern because, you know, working stranded knitting back and forth is a huge pain in the patoot. Can you steek heel flaps? I suppose there is no reason why not, though there would be a little extra bulk at the sides of the flap. At any rate, I'm working back and forth and considering it practice with stranding in purl.

***************************
It's another gloriously sunny afternoon. I decided I couldn't put it off any longer. It was time to snap on the latex gloves, grab a plastic bag and go pick up the worst of the gunk that has emerged from under the melting snowbanks.



Even Spring has it's drawbacks. Though I must say there was less dog poop than some years. And while I was out I spotted my first robin. Oh heck, even picking up trash isn't half bad on a day like today.