A problem, that is. I got to the second side of my easy shawlette, and ran into a bit of a snag. You may remember that I am using handspun, the first side a single with cocoons, and the second side would be the same colorway in a 2 ply. Well, I began the second side, but as I was knitting it looked like this:

See how that section is seriously pulling in and bunching? I wasn’t positive it would block out, so I quit and ripped it back. Then I spent a day thinking about it, and realized that if I just went up a needle size, perhaps I could get this to quit acting dumb. I began that process last night and it seems to be working, what a relief! So, this time rather than assuming it’ll block out, I’ve actually stopped, evaluated, and course corrected.

I am kind of in a place with my knitting where I both want to start ALL the projects and not really knit at all, which is an odd place to be. I also don’t seem to want to spin either, the spinning wheels have been sitting in my craft room and I haven’t had any desire to drag them out. Let’s call it spring fever, because I feel like I don’t know what to do with myself but it’s not actually warm enough consistently to be outdoors playing and having fun in the garden.

I also seem to be struck by a little bit of allergies. Now, when I was a child I had terrible allergies. Thankfully between growing out of some of them as I got older and moving to the midwest where somehow there are just fewer allergens that bother me, I’ve been fortunate to feel healthier overall most of my adult life. So, what this means is that when I do end up with allergies, I don’t recognize them very quickly. Their impact is different, more subtle. But, after suffering from a headache and strange feeling sinuses, and a stiff neck for 3 days, culminating in a very moody and tired Shells last evening, I finally took a benadryl last night and I feel amazing today! To be honest, I still hadn’t quite figured out what was going on, but Miss Butterfly was thinking maybe she was coming down with a cold, except she felt fine, and then I realized we were probably both suffering from some seasonal allergies.

Allergies aside though, I am going to assume this means we are headed in the right direction after what seems like an abnormally long winter around here. I have crocuses about to bloom, and hyacinths are popping up all over too. I am so eager to see spring arrive! As an added bonus, we are traveling next week, to Alabama and I’ve seen photos, it’s MUCH greener there than here. I can’t WAIT to see trees budding and green. Just…green! It’ll be wonderful (despite the fact that at the moment it also looks like it may rain the entire time.)