Gray Weekends, Gray Knitting, Gray Crocheting

Much like the Yarn Harlot, who has recently been knitting much in gray, I've been seeing a lot of gray lately. Gray in the sky outside this weekend to match my stay-in-and-drink-tea, gray mood, as well as both gray knitting and gray crochet.

The shrug is coming along steadily. Having finished a skein's worth of work about a third of the way across the shrug's chest, I've realized I'll have 1-1.5 skeins left over. (Can you tell I'm still new at this?)

Well, a friend's wife is ill and recently has come to the point that she can't put on gloves herself. Not surprisingly, he's having a hard time finding mittens in coastal South Carolina. Supply and demand at work - I've got yarn and an addiction a skill, and they've got a need. I've decided to make her a basic pair in my excess yarn not just because I have it, but because she wears a lot of gray and black, so I know she'll like it.

I've been carrying the spare skein and two crochet hooks around with me this week trying to get a pattern going. I've looked at a lot of different patterns online (thank you Ravelry), and finally ended up with a modified version of this Lion Brand bath mitt in half-double instead of double crochet. I started and frogged at least five designs before this one worked, plus frogging the thumb opening three times, but I've been enjoying it. I'm about 75% done with one, so I'll let you know soon how they turn out.

The shrug has gotten too big for public knitting, so the mitten(s) and a half-finished bath mitt of my own will be in my bag this week. Even last night, at the theater where we saw Quilters, I was crocheting away before the show and at intermission. (Some people stopped to admire my work and a few asked if I thought it was safe to crochet around quilters - that we might come to fisticuffs. It's now given me a tough-to-shake image of gangs of crafters rumbling like the Sharks and the Jets. I think the needlecrafters might band together against the scrapbookers, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it would be fiber versus sewing, or needles versus hooks, with loomers waiting to fight the winner.)

In the meantime, count down with me, because after this week, it's spring break! No vacation here, just grading in my PJs, but I'm still looking forward to it!