Hint of spring

Cliff took off on one of his many business trips. Romi decided to stowaway.

While Cliff was gone, I began stripping the old wallpaper from the kitchen and adjoining bath. It was a grueling job, affecting my arms, shoulders, and neck (from looking up at the ceiling join). Consequently, my knitting slowed down because it uses the same muscles.

Still, I finished a pair of house socks:

Yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted; color is Aslan.

I began another pair:

Yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted; color is Tuscany. I think this was my last single skein of LL Shepherd Worsted in the stash. I’ve been trying to use these lone skeins up. Love the socks, although they stretch out of shape quickly.

The socks knit up quickly because the yarn is a heavy worsted weight—much easier on the arms. I wear them with shoes 1/2 size larger than normal.

And since I always need at least two projects on the needles, and staying with the Tuscany theme, I began the Tuscany shawl:

Yarn is Blue Heron Rayon Metallic Sportweight; color is Sandstone. You can’t see it above, but the yarn has glints of gold throughout.

The Tuscany pattern is quite easy, but I make sure to insert lifelines at regular intervals. Normally I would knit a lace shawl in a solid color, but I want to use up the yarn.

I won’t be able to knit the full shawl, as I only have one hank (550 yds), but I’ll be happy with what I get. I like that Tuscany is a wide, elongated triangle. I’d rather have the shawl go around my arms or neck (as a scarf) than down my back.

I bought the yarn at Purlescence Yarns on a jaunt to California last August and have been trying to figure out a good project for it. I didn’t have Knitpicks Harmony needles in the right size (I wanted size 7 for this project), so I found an old set of bamboo needles that I’m using until my Knitpicks order arrives.

It is barely snowing outside—very beautiful. And now, in these few seconds, it has stopped and the sun is out. We are teetering on the edge of spring here in the Rockies, but Mother Nature isn’t letting go of winter quite yet.