Yellow Umbrella Theory

After a gorgeous, sunny weekend I awoke this morning to start the new work week and found a seriously gray and ugly day. Monday’s are bad enough but rain and gloom don’t do much for one’s frame of mind. Walking to the Metro though, I saw a woman walking ahead of me with a yellow umbrella and I was reminded of my yellow umbrella theory. I think that most umbrellas ought to be in cheerful colors like yellow for counteract the grayness that goes hand in hand with rainy days. Think about it. Most umbrellas are black. How does it make you feel when you see a sea of black or dark colored umbrellas? A little down maybe? But what if they were all yellow and pink and lavender and turquoise?

As I was saying, this weekend was warm and sunny and generally pleasant. It was also uneventful. I can count the number of stores I had to visit on one hand which is rare and wonderful. All of that free time allowed me to start TWO new projects. Startitis anyone? I wanted to start TWO more but I resisted and instead made some real progress on both of the projects that occupied my time.

The first thing I started was a pair of P-word socks for me. I’m using some orange Koigu that I bought on my trip to NYC. At the time I took this picture it was Sunday morning and I’d only completed one pattern repeat. I’m cruising along on these despite having to use dpn’s and I’m close to turning the heel. Let me say that I love almost everything about these socks. The only thing marring the joy is the dpn’s but I’m actually not hating them as much as I usually do.

The second project that I started over the weekend is a Rick-rack bag for my friend Felicia. I may have mentioned that she deposited a copy of the pattern and a bag of yarn in my living room last month. The elves haven’t come in to knit it up so I am. No pictures yet but I’m making crazy-fast progress on this too. I should mention that it’s not a project that I’m enjoying much right now because my hands keep tensing up as I knit. I suspect that it has something to do with working such a thick fabric.

A while ago I talked about wanting to make a sweater from the Spring/Summer 06 issue of VK. I knew right away the colors that I wanted but I couldn’t find them. Actually I thought that I was finding them online but I really wanted to see them in person – especially the greens – to make sure that they related to each other correctly. I went to my LYS and some King Tut jumped out at me. It was in 2 shades of green that were perfect together. I didn’t see the right purpley color though. I went online again and I crossed my fingers and ordered up some purple-ish yarn. (I also ordered a ball of each of the greens that I originally considered just to see if they would've worked. I was right, they were way off!) It arrived on Saturday and I out it all together and I think it works perfectly. What do you think? Now that I have the yarn I really can’t wait to start the sweater but I’m trying to hold off. I did wind it into yarn cakes last night though and I pulled out the needles. I must stay strong and resist.