A Heat Wave.
Now with added Sudden Tropical Rain Downpours!
(Which might cool the temps down ever-so-slightly, but don’t do a thing to relieve that sauna-feeling.)

Anyway. I am fortunate to have air conditioning, so knitting continues. Albeit slowly.

Here’s where I am with the big, wooly, man-sweater for Tom. I’ve knit the back, and I’m close to finishing the front. It’s dull knitting, but going well.

But it’s time to shift my focus to that baby sweater I’ll need to gift sometime in July. (Frankly, I can’t remember the due-date, but I know it’s in July. And since I’m knitting a 12-month size, I’ve got a little time . . . y’know? So it’ll maybe arrive late. But not too late to be of use.)

I’ve been mulling over the color-blocking I want to do for the sweater. Color-blocking seems like an easy thing to do. But it really isn’t. Color balance is important – key, in fact – when you’re employing blocks of color. (Just scroll through the finished projects on Ravely for this little sweater to see what I mean.) Just because the colors look good together . . . placement OF those colors is what really matters.

I have a pretty good idea – in my head – of how I want the blocks to work for this sweater. But I decided to get my colored pencils out and try them out before deciding.

My “trial options” are shown in the header photo of this post. The colored pencil colors are actually very close to the yarn colors in real life. However, the lighting for photographs today is just abysmal (see Sudden Tropical Rain Downpours, above) so that doesn’t help much when you look at the photo I’ve posted. Sigh. But you can get the idea anyway.

I immediately ruled out option #2. (Because who needs focus-pulling, candy-cane sleeves??? Not the look I’m going for here.) I think any of the remaining three options could work. Option #1 is the combination I’ve had in mind since the beginning, and I think that’s my favorite of the remaining 3 combos. I think the balance is quite good, and the pink sleeve won’t pull the focus too much. (The back of the sweater will be solid pink.)

So. There you have it. Knitting through a heat wave!

How about you?
What are you working on this week?