Competing priorities

I have been working alternately on the kilt hose and my Damask Cowl (also a pair of socks and my mohair scarf, but those hardly count). I am, however, finding myself a bit conflicted.

I want to make good progress on the socks, and the pattern  is quite engaging. But, it does require real concentration. Also, I’m having to make alterations.

I’d say that it’s got a really messed up idea of what a human calf is shaped like, except loads of other people have made it just fine. Clearly, it’s just TheEnabler and I with unusually large and long calves. I’ve moved to 3 extra repeats (24rows) of one of the knots on the back of the calf before I’ll start the decreases. But I’m almost ready to start the decreases and I’m past the yarn that I’d ripped back, so that’s something:

I’d have made more progress if I wasn’t completely smitten with my Damask Cowl.

My only regret: I didn’t make it sooner. I thought brioche would be way scarier than it is. It does require a bit of thought, but once I get the repeat for each row down, I can zip along the row pretty quickly. The dark color pass on the row requires almost no concetration.

Here’s another picture, so you can see the reverse side as well:

This is going to be warm with the double thickness of worsted weight alpaca. Luckily for you, I think this isn’t going to take me too long, so you won’t be subjected to weeks of pictures of nearly the same thing.

Last thing – though this may seem random – apparently the uneven stripes of a zebra confuse horseflies. I realize this isn’t exactly fiber related, but I think it’s a pretty neat optic trick.