Spring Forward and Back

The weather the last three days has been up and down like a roller coaster. Thursday the temperature hit 64 degrees F, and we went out and enjoyed sunshine and daffodils and scented violets and the first of the squill.

Yesterday the high was 54 degrees at 1 AM! From there the temperature dropped all day long, and we got rain, mist, drizzle, and heavy rain. A lovely day for staying indoors and knitting, so I did.

Today the rain has gone, but so far the high is only 40 degrees.

I looked around for something different from the cotton candy socks and found my unfinished smoke ring.

As you can see, knitting the heels of the parlor-trick socks seems to have permanently cured any fear I might have harbored of multiple needles. I actually have a circular needle in this size. But I confess, I hate my circ. I think it is a tad too long for this piece. Working the stitches around was just a chore. The other thing I like about multiple needles is that they act as built-in stitch markers.

I have tried various stitch patterns on the smoke ring, but they don't really show up in this yarn. (Homespun by Lion Brand) I am ambivalent about the Homespun. On the one hand, it is undoubtedly soft and I love the color. On the other hand, it catches and pulls very easily. It doesn't really stand up to machine washing: the surface gets blurry and scrubbed-looking.

This skein was from my stash, and given that I am sticking (so far) to my "Stash Diet", I'll call this finished when the skein runs out. And I am not likely to add more.