Stalled

I'm due to start a new knitting project, so the other day I spent some time bouncing around Ravelry.  I searched and came away with a handful of options but nothing that compelled me to drop everything and cast on.  Sometimes it helps to take a break, so I walked away from the computer and went back to it later in the day. 

At the end of the day, I still didn't have a clear vision of my next project.  How can that be?  Ravelry is full of possibilities.   Maybe I needed to adjust my search filters.  Maybe there were too many options.  Maybe I was distracted with other work projects.  I've decided the whole process needs to marinate another day or two.

So over the weekend my knitting time was spent with Gaenor.

It felt like spring this weekend, so I took my knitting outside and got some fresh air.  It was time well spent.  I have to weigh my ball of yarn, but I think I'm almost ready to start the decrease section.  For now, a new project can wait.

The Weight of It All

If you had something to celebrate this past weekend, I hope you enjoyed your festivities.  For once our annual springtime celebration didn't include dyeing eggs or making felted eggs.  Instead we managed to cobble together a couple meals that accommodated all the various work schedules and involved consuming a lot of chocolate.

My weekend knitting included this lovely project.

Gaenor.  This is the latest Yarn Knot installment.  I like to mix things up with new and interesting yarn bases, so for this round we're testing a blend of alpaca, silk and cashmere.  It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

I'm enjoying the pattern.  It's mostly garter . . . a relaxing knit.  The interesting thing is this shawl is worked from side to side.  Start at one side and increase until you've used half your yarn, work the other side and decrease to the end.  It's a great way to make sure you use all your yarn.  

I've been working along but didn't weigh my yarn until this morning. The result?  I still have a ways to go before I can start decreasing. Sometimes center pull balls can be so deceiving.  

This is just another reminder that I prefer to have a hard and fast number of rows to work.  Knitting until I reach a certain number of grams seems so elusive.  Somehow it's not as defined in my mind.  I could calculate how much yarn one pattern repeat uses, but since I'm increasing the number of stitches, the rows don't use the same amount of yarn.  

There's only one solution.  I need to make a mental adjustment and work until I reach that magic number on the scale.  I have some bonus knitting time later today, and I'm going to make that ball a little bit lighter.