Not Lemonade

We all have our own methods for coping with life's little challenges. In my case, I'm wrestling with a range of issues that aren't particularly dramatic, but in combination they're doing a fine job of draining time, energy and brain power.

To counterbalance this effect, I've been focusing on quick, small knits and experimenting with different stitches, an activity I find strangely soothing and often surprising.

This variation on a mock rib is a good example. It's unprepossessing in solid colors ...

but it's unexpectedly attractive in two, a timely reminder that sometimes small changes make a big difference.

To test a different stitch, I cast on for another pair of simple mitts, a favorite go-to project when life gets complicated. In contrast to the last pair (luxe yarn, inviting colors), this pair personifies practicality.

The stitch is a variation on a 3x3 slipped rib. It's easy to work and fully reversible, and because it's serviceable rather than exciting, it's well-suited to a pair of workaday mitts.

The yarn is equally prosaic. The plum is a lone skein of Classic One Fifty (Classic Elite, discontinued) offset with scrap lengths of the attractive but annoying oatmeal Softwist (Berroco). Truthfully, I'll be happy to have both out of the stash.

Right about now, you're probably nodding off through sheer boredom. I should be too, but I'm not. This is precisely the type of knitting that appeals to me most at times like this.

Everyone has a different reaction when a load of lemons lands in their lap. Apparently I swatch and make mitts, not lemonade. What do you make?


Don't forget to visit  Frontier Dreams, Small Things, Wisdom in Wonder and Natural Suburbia to see what others are doing.