Swatching and Striping

I've been stuck at my desk the last couple days, trying to make sense of all this paperwork.  While I've made great progress, I've come to grips with the fact that this task is going to spill over into the weekend.

Usually I have a little knitting project at my desk.  It takes the edge off when I'm making phone calls and get put on hold for the umpteenth time.  While I didn't have a project handy at my desk, I did have a little swatch to knit up.  OK.  I didn't have to knit a swatch, but it's part of my new project ritual.  

These are the two balls of yarn I had posted about recently.  I finally decided on a pattern.  All I needed to do was get the project up and running.  I did the obligatory swatch and adjusted my needle size. You see.  Sometimes swatching pays off.  

Then I cast on.  I told myself I shouldn't do it.  There was more paperwork to sift and sort.  But then I reasoned with myself that there will always be more paperwork . . . the way the laundry is never done because there are always more dirty clothes.

I'm proud of myself.  I didn't knit that much.  But there are stripes, and they are kind of addictive.  As in, "I'm going to knit just one more stripe."   Who am I kidding?  I'm going to need some kind of reward system to allow myself to knit stripes.  If not, this pile of paperwork will linger indefinitely.

My color inspiration for the week is this lovely orchid.  I don't have the green thumb I used to, but my son has been diligent and has kept it alive.  The petals remind me of batik fabric.

Soft, shifting pink.