It wasn't

I went to bed with a pair of regular socks on last night.  The beddsocks are needing a wash and I still only have one pair completed.  The pair of socks I grabbed hit a new low in socks.  There is a hole in my toe.  I have never had a pair with a hole in the toe before.  I wear them on the heel.  It isn't even a construction error in which I failed to work in an end and cut too short.  Nope just an honest to goodness hole. 

So I have decided that it is time to do a good check of all the socks in my drawer and repair those I want to repair and turf the ones I do not.  It's always good to stir up the sock drawer anyway and February is as good a time to do that as any.  The sock drawer is the only place wool lives in my house without being packaged to prevent moth incursion so it is vital that I do it just to keep everything in control.

In the mean time, look what I started. I said it wouldn't be long and it wasn't.

I started my Autumn shawl.  4 Jahreszeiten - Herbst translates directly as Season Fall.  I love it in the German but I cannot pronounce it properly so Fall or Autumn it shall be.

I watched a Arne and Carlos video a while ago and they talked about how the way they knit, there is no colour dominance.  I decided to watch a few more of their videos to see what and how they are doing this.  And I get what they say: that the subtle tension difference when you carry and hold two yarns leads to dominance. They recommend not holding the second yarn but rather picking it up when it is needed, thereby giving you exactly the same tension as the first yarn.  So that is how I am knitting this shawl,  Arne and Carlos' way.  So far, very good.  It isn't any slower and in fact may be faster, and my lead hand yarn is no longer overly tight.  That seemed to happen because I was focusing far too much of getting yarn two nice and loose. So far, it is all nice and even.

There is one small problem though.  The shawl is knit in the round on one needle.  That makes the two ends in these first rows a royal pain.

The ends are tight and impossible to move along and are difficult to move around.  I am going to put the ends each on another shorter needle a la knitting with two circular needles, and will keep both sides on my plenty long enough other needle. Or maybe just one end at a time on a shorter needle.  I don't know yet.  I am not there yet so the particularities and peculiarities of doing it have not shown up yet.

But my fall shawl has begun.  I am knitting with Kauni and letting Kauni do all the work.  Let the magic begin.