Here it is March and my daffodils look like they’re ready to pop and the few little crocuses in the backyard are blooming. Spring is trying but March is a treacherous month and not to be trusted. For example, it was almost 80ยบ Saturday and today we’ve had flurries and will barely get above freezing.
It’s a good day to stay inside and bake bread and knit. I make a kind of ‘slow rise’ loaf that takes about 4.5 hours but most of that time is hands-off. So in the meantime, while I’m waiting, I’m knitting. (I tried sourdough bread making over the summer along with some so-called artisanal bread and finally realized after a few months that I didn’t much like either one.)
Fell into a rabbit hole of mosaic crochet a while back. It was fun and easy and I watched many videos about it by a jolly Icelandic woman named Tinna Thorudottir Thorvaldar. I even bought a pattern from her off of Ravelry. Now, I have been crocheting longer than I have been knitting, which is a long time, and I have never had any issues with my tendons or had pain of any sort from crocheting. This time, though, after a few weeks my right arm was so sore that I had to stop. I bought some of that K Tape (kinesiology tape) and that helped. I also cut the toes off of some compression stockings and wore that for a couple of weeks. My arm seems healed now, for the most part, but I am sad that I cannot pursue the mosaic crochet.
However, there is such a thing as Mosaic Knitting! I made a scarf as a first project and it turned out reasonably well. I made it to particularly go with this sweater coat.
I bought Barbara G. Walker’s book on the subject. (And what an interesting person she must have been.)
I have now embarked on the Nightshift Shawl by Andrea Mowry. Again, I bought a stand-alone pattern which is something I have seldom done in the past, but I don’t feel I have the time anymore to figure shit out, re-invent the wheel, and so I will now happily pay someone else who has already done the work.
The shawl calls for worsted weight yarn in 6 or 8 colors, but I had the idea to use 2 sock weight, self-striping yarns. It will take me forever, I am sure, but it is interesting to see how the different yarns interact. Banana for scale.
I am still knitting socks for Sweetie. This is Berroco Sox yarn.
