Ennui

It's March now, and we're still completely frozen.  There is ice in all of my windows, and my house keeps making alarming popping noises.

At least the furnace is still going strong.  If it cuts out for some reason we'll be in trouble.

I'm really hoping this is winter's last hurrah.  I know I mentioned last week that I try to stay slightly pessimistic about things, including the arrival of spring, but with the days getting noticeably longer it's really hard to convince myself that we're still in the middle of winter.  I can't help but get hopeful for the arrival of spring, even though I know it could be some time yet.

As I wait for it to warm up outside, I'm just trying to stay warm inside.  I've got plenty of knitting to keep warm with, but it's hard to keep my attention on it.  All of my knitting is at the slog stage.  It feels never-ending.

I put in some good work on Viajante, to the point where I'm now fully done with the first ball of yarn.  I started switching between the the first and second balls of yarn every new round when I had about 1/4 of the first ball left, and now it's all gone so I'm just knitting from the second ball.  That means I have to be well over halfway done, right?

The problem is that it never seems to get appreciably bigger.  I know it is getting bigger, but it doesn't seem like it.  Stockinette stitch in lace weight.  What was I thinking?

I've always been a knitter who enjoys the process and the product, but I've had enough of plain stockinette I think.  I'm tired of the process, I just want the product.  Until I can find some house elves to finish it for me, I think I'm outta luck on that.

When the lace weight stockinette gets too dull I've been working hard on another project too, more out of a desire to see it finished and move on to the next thing than a real need to get it done immediately.  It does need to get done though, so I can't ignore it completely.

Right now it's at a stage where it's not difficult to knit, but I do need to pay attention to it because if I made a mistake it would be very obvious.  However, it's also very repetitive, so it's easy to lose focus and make mistakes.  The best of both worlds!

The Hermione's everyday socks are continuing on nicely and I don't consider those a slog, but I'm also trying not to finish them too quickly because I'm not sure what kind of portable project I want to knit next.  They're great for carrying around in my purse and knitting on my lunch break or whenever else.  I know that they'll be done before winter is really over, so I'll still have plenty of time to wear them before it's too hot for socks.

Not pictured (because they're all buried in project bags somewhere in the house) are other sloggy WIPs.  A shawl that is just two row stockinette stitch stripes (more stockinette, yay!), a vest that needs blocking before it can be finished (so that may not happen for a long time yet), striped socks (yet more stockinette), and that crocheted shawl that in November I was dreaming would be done in December.  There may be more but those are the ones I can remember now.  I'm trying really hard not to start more things before finishing one or two of them, because everything I'm knitting is stuff that I want to wear, I just don't feel like working on them right now.

I keep thinking about the other yarn in my stash that I haven't gotten a chance to knit with yet.

Like these.  The colour combination drives me crazy and I've been dreaming about knitting something with these since I first put them next to each other.  Of course, I just need the perfect pattern.  Maybe the Great Divide Shawl?  Or Bryum?  Either way, it would be fabulous.

And this.  I think this needs to be a cowl (perhaps a moebius) of some kind.  I don't have a pattern in mind but I'm sure there's one out there.

Can you tell I need some new colours in my life?  There aren't going to be any flowers around for some time, so my yarn will have to do.