Compare & Contrast

I remember doing an experiment in middle school in which we had to submerge our right hands into some fairly hot water and our left hands into some icy cold water. After a minute or so, we pulled our hands out and held both ends of a metal pipe at room temperature. To our warm right hands, the pipe felt cold, but to our cold left hands, the pipe felt warm. It's all relative, right?

I made the Akomeogi top using Louet Euroflax, and it was my first time using that yarn. My washed swatch, along with everything I'd read, helped me believe that the fabric would eventually get softer, but it was pretty tough working with that yarn on size 2's. I could only do short spurts at a time, and then I'd have to take a break and work on something else. By comparison, the other yarns I was using--Cascade 220 for Henrietta, Kathmandu DK for my husband's cardigan, and even Cotton Glace for Anemone--felt sooooo soft and luxurious! Since I was doing stranded colorwork with the Cascade 220, there were 2 layers, and it felt incredibly plushy and cloud-like, comparable to the best, fluffiest cashmere, LOL!

But just as the brain picks up on contrast, it can also learn to accommodate. By the time I made my way about 4" into the body of Akomeogi, I was getting used to the yarn, and I could work on it for longer periods of time. I felt I was making good progress, when I suddenly encountered a contrast that I could not ignore:


Yup, those would be 2 different colors of yarn. The cones shipped together and were individually wrapped in plastic. And no, I did not open them both up to check when I first got them. I was so anxious to start that I just opened up the first cone and away I went. When I finally thought to unwrap the second cone, I was crestfallen. I had already done about 8" of the body, but I had to stop--there was no point in going on if I couldn't get matching yarn. The store I ordered from was really great and eventually got me what I needed, but it took some time, and the project hibernated till the second yarn arrived. If I hadn't been doing this as a KAL with Sylphette (Rav link), I would have completely lost steam at that point. But thankfully, her progress helped inspire me to keep going, and now here's the result:



You can get all the excruciating details on Ravelry and in the gallery if you want them. I'm happy with this project and am now undeterred by the yarn. In fact, I am thinking about buying some more today for Vesper (Rav link) if my LYS has the color I want.

Not All In My Head

Once upon a time, I was pretty decent at math. I could do all sorts of calculations in my head without working too hard at it. But now, 2 kids and multiple distractions later, I find it too taxing! So when I encountered the directions for the front section of Akomeogi, I realized there were just too many things going on at the same time for me to keep track of them all. On top of that, I wanted to make some mods and had to figure out how to make them work. So, I printed out some graph paper and drew myself a little diagram.


It's not a standard knitting chart, but it just helps me to know, row by row, where I decided to do the decreases, make the short-row pleats, and place the buttons. The diagram was a real lifesaver! (Or at least, a mind-saver). I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far. This picture is pre-blocking and pre-buttons. Now it's on to the sleeves.



P.S. Happy 4th of July to those of you in the States!