Shades of Gray

Unique title, don't you think?

Gray, rainy days provide extended time to sit with ones knitting and I spent part of my rainy afternoon with Hayward. The dolman sleeves have long raglan seams with many, many, many decreases. Even though, I used a very visible decrease that Susan shared with me, the charcoal gray fabric made the decreases hard to see.

I marked every decrease with a coil-less safety pin and used straight pins to hold the body and sleeves together at every other decrease. It's what I had to do to see and ensure I matched each decrease with its partner. I sat under a strong light and slowly sewed together the seam, which, at first, felt like an arduous adventure. Dark gray fabric and old eyes, even with correction, made it difficult to find a rhythm. Once rhythm of mattress stitching was attained, seaming went smoothly and I was able to completely seam one sleeve. Over the next couple of days I hope to sew in the second sleeve and complete the other side. I should have a finished sweater by the weekend!

At this time I have a "thing" for one shade of gray, as Merle will be knit with a charcoal gray Silky Wool that's in the stash. I've also cast on my next shawl, Promise Me by Boo Knits, with Anzula Milky Way, in (you guessed it) Charcoal. It seems I am keeping up my reputation of knitting in color streaks and the color of moment is CHARCOAL!

I have a one track mind.

Comments

[Mary]

I LOVE gray...all the shades (I'm wearing gray yoga pants with a gray jacket right now!) Whoa! that's a lot of tiny stitches to see; especially on a gray day!

[Laurie]

Grey is versatile. It is also beautiful. Let me point out that your one track changes regularly!

[karen]

love your system and you know that the more time you take to doing the fine details that will give it the polished look. I look back on 20 yo knits and wished I'd taken the time :)

[claudia]

What a good idea using the safety pins! I couldn't see that project to seam it either....

[Becky]

Gray is my favorite neutral. It goes with everything, and it is much kinder to we mature ladies than black. It's a great jag to be on, IMHO. Your seaming system seems well thought out. I never thought to mark all the decreases before I seamed. I'll have to remember that.

[Chris]

I would be knitting something NOT GREY with the weather like that!

[Cheryl S.]

Gray is an excellent color for you, so there's nothing wrong with having a lot of it in your wardrobe.

I must admit to having used two pairs of reading glasses for something the other day - one on top of the other. I'm sure it looked ridiculous, but at least I could see.

[Carole]

Seams like that can be so tedious, glad you're getting through it. I'm a big fan of grey!

[Vicki]

Merle is going to be perfect for you!! Gray is good color to get stuck on, in my opinion. I love it!

[Manise]

I'm a sucker for a beautiful gray! The two above are gorgeous.

[Patty]

I'm in a grey mode too. Current sweater on the needles is Green Mntn Spinnery Cotton Comfort in Silver. I can't wait to see your sweater!

[Kim]

Your sweater is going to be beautiful! I love all shades of gray. :)

[Sarah]

That prepwork surely made quite the difference with the seaming. It usually takes me a bit of time to get my mattress-stitch-rhythm going, and without doing something like you have done, I would probably have found myself fighting each stitch.

Your color streak is great for many reasons, but the one that stands out to me is that these great pieces you are creating will be wonderful wardrobe staples. It is such a versatile color! xo