I Take Full Responsibility

When Frost was spectre grey,
And winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day,
And all mankind that haunted night
Had sought their household fires. --Thomas Hardy

It looks like we've caught up with the rest of the country. We have not escaped winter:

I think I jinxed it when I was contemplating a new sweater project and had a brief thought that went something like, "Well, maybe I'm too late to start a new wool sweater. After all, winter is almost over."

Oopsie.

I just came in from a futile attempt at shoveling the snow. By the time I finished, everything looked just the same as when I started. That was a good sign to come back in and hang out with Seymour for a while. He had the right idea about things:

I'm pleased that I at least have a finished project to share today, and I'm very happy with the result. Check out these beauties:

The pattern is Tacit by Hunter Hammersen, and the yarn is Nuna by Mirasol Yarn, a merino/silk/rayon blend. This is one of those rare patterns that I knew I would knit exactly as written. From the time she previewed the pattern, I practically watched the clock until she released it. You'd think I would have knitted it right away, but I sat on the pattern for a year and a half before I started it. I think I loved the pattern so much that I wanted to make sure I had everything in place before I started.

I was a little worried that they wouldn't work out because it took me three attempts to get the gauge right. The first attempt was woefully too tight. I made it up to the wrist of the first glove and then ripped it out because I was not looking forward to the gangrene from the lack of circulation to my fingers. 

I went up two needles sizes and started the second attempt but I thought the big change of gauge meant that I would have to cast on fewer stitches... All this time knitting and all these projects and it turns out I still get defeated by gauge.  I made it all the way up to the middle of the palm before I admitted defeat and ripped it out again. I loved the pattern and the beautiful, icy, silky yarn too much to knit something I was going to hate in the end.

The third attempt nearly didn't happen. I was getting impatient: I just wanted to see my beautiful mitts, finished and warm and pretty. I cast on and just soldiered on, plodding along stitch after stitch, patiently watching my mitts come into existence. It was like the eternal wait for the beef stew to be ready when you're totally starving and you're forced to sit in the gorgeous aura of beef stew vapors until it is finally time to eat (guess what we had for dinner the other night?).

And finally, here they are today:

I'm not super happy with the bind off, as the stitches are kind of sticking up at the top of each cable panel, but I'm hoping that will settle down after I give these a soak. I think they look amazing even without blocking:

So, I guess now that I've finished these, I better get started on that sweater. I figure it's my responsibility to get it started because for sure as soon as I get those stitches cast on, the sun will burst out and melt all the snow and it'll be too warm to wear it...

Here's hoping. Sorry, Vancouver Islanders. I'll keep my mouth shut next time.