January has been a wild month. In four weeks that were over in a flash we've had blinding snow storms with traffic-stopping accumulation, hope-inspiring 40-degree sunny days, flooding downpours complete with epilogues of bone-shattering, slip-inducing freezing rain, and bleak long days of low cloud-covered dark and cold. But today makes me think that even though the winter here lasts another 3 months, Spring may be more than a distant myth. Three months, I tell myself, I can hold on three more months...
I may have to visit friends who live in less temperamental climates.
In homage to Spring, I'm working on a Spring Nursing Shawl for a dear friend with a beautiful brand new little girl. She wanted black, in Noro, but - alas - the Noro yarn called for in this pattern didn't come in any black combinations and I was reluctant to switch to another Noro yarn that did because the lesser yardage would have meant many, many more skeins - 12 skeins instead of 3. So I don't know if, in the end, she'll even like these spring colours and use the shawl...
A risky endeavor for something that is so much work. I'm using a pattern designed by the owner of a LYS: The Easy As Pie Shawl. It is very drapey, which makes it a good nursing shawl, and also wider at the bottom than the top, so it doesn't feel like you're wearing a blanket when you wear it wrapped as a scarf around your neck. The yarn, a mix of cotton, wool and silk, makes it lightweight yet textural so it just feels good.
I considered switching to a sock yarn that was dark and black and wintery, and maybe I should. But the fact is I'm 25% done and Spring will be here soon and the black winter coat will go into the closet and she'll search for something that brings a bit of brightness and this particular colour combination of buff and tan and cream and teal will be... quite perfect.
At least I hope so. Sometimes my confidence flags, and my stitches slow, and I wonder if I should be the kind of knitter that knits what people want instead of the kind that knits my own self into what I give. Still, I can't help remembering Elizabeth Zimmerman and I knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises. After all, if EZ knit Nether Garments for her family and they loved them to unraveled shreds, then maybe I can bring a bit of Spring colour a few months early.
