Red Things

In the last few days, I talked about many other projects, but I did not talk about this one. That was because I had not started it yet. Yesterday morning, among all the things I am working on, I found nothing to inspire me.

On the top of my 'next to knit' pile I had some Drops Silke Tweed. I have three different colours 2 balls of each. The gold and blue go back to a previous episode of 'I don't feel like knitting my stuff - I want something new' but the red is special. The red spoke loudly to me.

Red is becoming the Winter Windows scarf from 101 Luxury One Skein Wonders. Its a nice little pattern with a little lace and a lot of texture. It is pretty basic, but it's simplicity is its brilliance.

The original is made with Tilli Thomas Disco Lights, a worsted weight yarn with sequins scattered through it. My first go round with the sport weight Silke Tweed was double the number of stitches, and rows before changing patterns. It looked fantastic, but I was halfway through the ball before I knew it, and at that rate, with just 2 balls, the scarf would have been something less than I was looking for. I'm looking for something I can tie, or fold in half and loop, or otherwise wear to work out of this yarn. I am looking for summer flair, not winter warmth. I want something that can be flash when I need to look dressy and casual but classic with jeans.

I know that this is winter knitting season, but this place right after Christmas has always been about spring to me. This is the time of year when the seed catalogues come, when I dream of plants and gardens and what will be outside. All fall we contemplate knitting ourselves into warmth with cozy sweaters, and wristwarmers and toques so it feels right that while contemplating a season of lazy afternoons, basking in the sun sipping iced coffee, I'm knitting me a little summer.

I like winter, and there is much winter knitting to come, but there are days when the long stretch of February just wears at a person. A little summer knitting is good for the soul.