Light up the night

The baby sweater is on the blocking board:

I am really liking the way it is turning out although for a while there, while I finished up the front and knit the sleeves, I was feeling a bit worried that I had made a miscaclulation.

I wanted to knit this sweater in moss stitch the minute I saw the yarn, and I did not want to knit it in the round.  For one thing, moss stitch is really tedious in the round.  Secondly I wanted to emphasize that this was a self-striping yarn by deliberately not matching the pieces.  But then I had doubts. 

I thought perhaps I should have made the sweater in more pieces, for example making the front and back in thirds, to emphasize the various stripes.  I was afraid that just having a front and back that didn’t match wouldn’t look intentional, but would look instead like I was too lazy or just didn’t care enough about the recipient to go to the effort to do it right.

When I pinned the pieces next to each other on the board though I really like the effect, like the way they stripes almost line up in places but are different.  I think this will be quite nice.

The sweater was blocked Friday AM.  No knitting since, or more exactly knitting and unknitting.

Friday night the house was like an oven.  It had been a warm sunny day.  Our house is situated so that it faces the Hudson river on the West.  The West Wall is mostly glass, and it gets the entire brunt of the afternoon sun, as well as reflected sun off the river.  The AC is still disconnected because the venting ran right next to the old chimney and the masons are still working in that area.  Agony.  I think it was 89 in the house at 9 PM although it had cooled down to the low 50’s outside. 

I wish I could be a person that slept with the windows open, but I’m not.  I am allergic to gnat bites.  Gnats can travel through screening.  Waking up with rashes that didn’t go away is what prompted the investment in AC to begin with.  I opened some windows and turned on the ceiling fan to pull some cool air through the house and hopefully cool things down a bit.  To do this I had to have all the lights out in the house so as not to attract our insect friends. 

I found a ball of yarn and some needles and started knitting a scarf in the dark.  I got a good bit done.  By daylight I thought it was too wide, and I thought my ad hoc pattern could be improved.  So I ripped it all out.  The ball is waiting for the next hot night.  The yarn is so bright you would think I could see it on even the darkest night.

I’d like to be more green, but as soon as possible the AC is coming back.