Green and pink and yellow oh my!

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who said such nice things about my asymmetrical tank top/vest! I'm so glad that you all liked it, and that you think it's flattering (you're not just saying that, are you?). As I said Monday, I have finished another long-languishing project, but I'm going to postpone showing that to you since it hasn't yet had its photo shoot.

April and May bring a new set of colors for Project Spectrum: Green, pink, and yellow. Lolly posted some lovely photos of her pink and green yarns, and I thought I would do the same. The pink and green is all I have; I discovered no yellow yarns anywhere in the stash, except hiding a bit in some of the green yarns.

I'll take you on a brief tour of the box. Standing in the back is the sock yarn stash - STR in Apple Valley Road and Tide Pool, Monarch sock yarn in Ivy, and STR in Nodding Violet. The pink skein on the right is Knit Picks Gossamer in Sweet Pea (laceweight). The thin green skein leaning on the sock yarn is some Rowan 4-ply that I purchased from my favorite Ebay seller, Cucumberpatch UK. When I ordered this I had NO concept of how thin it would be, but I'm actually using it for a project now and it's quite nice. There is also some Cashmerino Aran, Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed (enough for a sweater! Not in the box, but in the stash), and some Karabella Aurora 8. There is also some green banana silk (under the blob in the front) and some green Cascade Cotton (next to the banana silk). The bright blob in the front is about 600 yards of Kona superwash fingering weight that I dyed last spring. I think there is enough for knee-socks, so that is the plan. The cake on the front left is Zephyr merino/silk laceweight in Bottle Green, purchased this year at Madrona. The chartruese skeins under the Zephyr are a prize I won in Scout's Dye-O-Rama swap last year, and they're a bit bright for my tastes but I do have something in mind for them.

So, what am I going to do with all this green? I have three green projects on the needles, one of which is very old, one which I started a few weeks back but haven't blogged about yet, and another which is brand spankin' new and not yet blogworthy. Here we go:

The old project is the Elfine socks, which I started last May, during the green month of the first Project Spectrum.

I realize this is a horrible photo, but this yarn (also dyed by moi) is very difficult to photograph. I might have better luck in real light, but this is what we have so we're going with it. These socks have been a saga. I started them last May, as I mentioned, and they are well-traveled. They went to Chicago when I visited Heidi and attended my college reunion, and then they went to England. While en route the stitches got a bit antsy and some jumped off the needle, and they were put down for the duration of that trip, and indeed until about August when I finally fixed them and promptly put them back to rest. I picked them up again this weekend, and I quickly finished the foot and completed (with Rachel's help) my first short-row heel. Now I'm on my way up the leg, but I'm a bit worried about the distance between the heel and the instep, which seems awfully small. I'm going to knit a bit further so I can try them on and then see what I have. These are my first toe-up socks so it's all an experiment at this point!

The other green project is Eunny's Endpaper Mitts, which I started a few weeks ago. This is my first Fair-isle, and I'm enjoying it but it's slow-going for me as I haven't really figured out how to hold my yarns properly. I don't wrap the yarn around my fingers when I knit, which isn't usually a problem, but for this it's slow because I have to keep picking up the correct yarn, and they're always getting twisted. But, I will prevail, and maybe if I'm nice Rachel will teach me to knit continental and then I can hold yarn in each hand and fly through these! The green here is the Rowan 4-ply I mentioned earlier, and the ivory is something else Rowan that I can't be bothered with finding the band for right now. This project is living in an adorable green metal lunchbox that Heidi sent me for Christmas, which is ALSO Project Spectrum appropriate!

I'm hoping to get at least one of these projects finished by the end of May, and hopefully both. I must admit I forgot I had that Aurora 8, so I might also do something with that. I intended it for the Ruffles scarf from Scarf Style, but my first attempt was much too tight and I ripped it out. The Silkroad Aran Tweed is intended for Demi, from Vintage Knits, but it doesn't seem like the right time of year to be starting a wool cabled sweater (To me. Rachel just started one and it's lovely so far, and let's face it, you can wear wool sweaters all year in Seattle, but I'm in spring/summer mode now). My three current projects are probably all the green I need anyway, at least this year - I can only knit so fast, right?

Oh, I got a lovely card from my Secret Pal yesterday - thank you!