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This is one of the saddest things that can happen to a knitter.

See that tiny little ball of yarn up in the right corner?  That's all that is left.  I'm not going to make it to the end.  I'm not even close (and I haven't even done the thumb on the first mitt).  This is all the yarn I have.

Stephanie Pearl McGee wrote in one of her books that the risk of a knitter running out of yarn in a given project is inversely related to the difficulty it would take to acquire more yarn.  If the yarn came from the big box store down the street and they had a ton of it, you could be certain you wouldn't run out.  Yarn that came from your local yarn store and they were holding an extra bag for you?  You were definitely good.  But you were sure to run out of the yarn you bought from a small local coop on a once in a lifetime trip to Italy, no matter how many extra skeins you purchased.

That's more or less my experience here.  The pattern (which I highly recommend as a fantastic quick knit that leaves you with fingerless mitts you will not want to take off because of their coziness) assured me that I only needed 1.2 ounces of DK weight yarn.  I had 1.8 ounces of yarn and my knitting is dead on gauge.  But there you have it, the picture doesn't lie.  I'm on the brink of running out.

Is there more yarn you ask?  Surely you have more?  But I don't.  I received the skein in a trade with another knitter years ago, and it was labeled as a "test skein."  I dyed it myself.  I've tracked down the "today version" of this supplier's DK weight merino yarn and have a couple of skeins headed my way, but I'm concerned that it won't be the same yarn.  And although I'm confident I can dye something close, I'm equally sure that in the way of all hand-dyed yarn, it won't be a perfect match.  I'm hoping both the yarn and the dyeing will be close enough, but I have that doomed feeling.

It's not the end of the world, right?  This is a simple pattern — you could knit up a pair in a day of serious knitting.  But I'm quite attached to both this yarn and to these mitts.  As cooler days have descended over the last week, I kept trying them on in progress and thinking about how warm and snuggly my hands would be once they were finished.  Apparently, it's not meant to be.

I’m onto the second Soxie. I managed to start on the same color repeat as the first one, so I’m hoping there will be similarity to the way they look-or at least a pleasing harmony.

As you can see, I’m knitting the second Soxie on a plane, just like the first. I’m getting some funny looks from my male neighbors who aren’t quite sure what to make if the woman with the pointy sticks.

This has nothing to do with knitting, but my darling daughter turns 16 today (or snarky 16 as we call it around here), and we've got some  photos of her over the years that I wanted to share.  Feel free to skip this if you aren't family and only come here for the knitting 🙂  Although, there is some knitting related content if you look carefully.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

*Make sure you click on 720p before click start to watch it in high definition* 

I haven’t had much chance to knit for the last couple if weeks, but I have been able to do a little bit of dyeing.

This is my basic Crayon colorway, dyed using three different methods to get different effects. You’ll see it more clearly when they are reskeined, but the middle skein is done in my Paintbrush technique. The skein on the right is hand painted for crisper colors, while the skein on the left is kettle-dyed for more organic color transitioning and a halo of a deeper shade to set off the bright colors.

Crayon has always been one of my favorite colorways to dye. It’s demanding and both the dye mixtures and color placement have to be just right. But it always makes me happy to see it hanging in skeins and I can’t help but want to knit something with it right away.

This is Citron. And it’s almost done!

All that I have left is the cast off. At 500+ stitches, that’s probably going to be a long hard slog. But, my Citron looks like a beautiful, big slice of Meyer Lemon. It has that deep, rich, yellow color and it’s incredibly soft.

I can’t pretend this pattern is the most exciting knit around, but I understand why it is so popular. The result is beautiful. I suspect it would be pretty no matter what yarn you used, but the gently variegated color way and the cloud of cashmere and silk on my needles is perfect for Citron.

Typically, you wouldn’t think this was a great project to finish in the middle of summer in the Deep South. However, since every restaurant and grocery store down here cranks its air conditioning to sub-arctic temperatures at this time of year, I think Citron has some summer potential. I’ll let you know how that works out once I get past the cast off.

I’m swatching a linen yarn, Quince’s Sparrow. I’ve fallen in love with Pam Allen’s Perkins Cove sweater pattern. It’s a simple pullover with a delicate elongated stitch pattern and it looks perfect for summer.

My notoriously loose gauge will be an issue here. On the pattern recommendation of size 3 needles, I originally got 6 stitches to the inch. The pattern calls for 5.5 stitches to the inch and I’m told that the swatch will shrink significantly when blocked. So I’m going to try this again on size 2 needles and hope for the best when I block it.

I'm going to start four projects for Adventurous April.  They are four very different knitting adventurous that I hope to make good progress on and complete during the course of the summer.  If you're interested in joining us, the adventure knitalong starts April 15, but you can join us at any time.

First up for me is the Antler Baby Sweater, knit in Elliebelly Baby Camel.  I'm indulging this month by knitting more than test swatches of my own yarn, and three of my four projects will be knit in different types of Elliebelly Yarn.

Next, I'm going to knit a Lente Cowl in Elliebelly Premium British Merino.  This pattern was designed by Monika Sirna, who is also the author of the Lutz Jump Hat I knit last month.  Lutz Jump was a fairly complicated knit, but the pattern was very clear and well written, so I am really looking forward to Lente.

I am SO excited to be knitting Citron!  I've wanted to do one forever — it looks like a little piece of froth to float around your neck on a cool evening.  The yarn is Elliebelly Moth 'n Goat — a silk/cashmere blend and I am excited beyond belief to be using it for Citron.  This project is my odds on favorite to be first cast on.

The final project is in our KNIT ALL THE THINGS category, for knitters who wanted to pick their own pattern and knit it with the group, rather than knitting one of our official knitalong patterns.  Susan Barstein writes wonderful patterns, and I've had her Canadian Summer pattern and the yarn to knit it, Blue Sky Alpacas' Metalico, in my stash for a while.  I agonized over pattern selection for the KATT, but I'm so happy to be casting on Susan's awesome cowl.  

Ravelry is a really wonderful place where knitters come together.  Adventurous April, and events like it are one of my favorite parts of Ravelry.  I hope you'll come along and join us — you can knit, watch us knit, cheer us from the sidelines or whatever, but because Ravelry encourages more experienced knitters to help newer knitters get started, this knitalong is appropriate for anyone of any skill level.