when life throws you everything it's got, cast on a new project...

 October is typically our busiest month, aside from the weeks of Lent.  For some reason, several out-of-town things are scheduled for my husband, one for the whole family, and many in-town things for all of us as well.  The month heaps and builds more events until our parish's feast day, in the final week of October, which ushers us into a (relatively) calmer November.  While we are incredibly blessed to celebrate and travel this month, I've been eyeing October 2021 with dread.  I turned down an opportunity for some solo travel, mostly because my return to a disrupted schedule would create more stress for me.

All this to say, I haven't been sleeping well, should probably cut back on the caffeine, and, above all, I should not add anything extra to my to-do list.  Not an activity, not a project.  I need to finish the things that I've started, especially in the way of craft projects.  

In my knitting line-up are several things on-the-go: a pair of socks (always), a shawl (also, always), a surprise hat for my husband, and those lovely seashell mitts.  I have more than enough to keep me happily knitting well into November, but the siren song of a new project convinced me that starting something new would alleviate some stress.  I wasn't strong enough to say no.  (New yarn has tried to lure me with its single ply goodness and promise of new sweaters, but I'm wise to its wiles.  Pat on the back for me.)  

The Fall/Winter 2020 issue of Amirisu was a self-gift last Christmas, and I have been eyeing the Evol sweater since the magazine arrived.  It would have been an excuse to make an order from Retrosaria, a company whose yarns I have been itching to try. But! I decided to use the Peace Fleece DK I bought this summer.  It's a pretty decent substitute, although not a single ply like the João the pattern calls for.  So far, so good. I got gauge the first time around, although I've had to size up a needle for knitting in the round.  The short rows at the start of the sweater were exactly the itch that I needed to scratch, and the texture pattern with raglan increases?  So satisfying.  I blew through the short rows and first pattern chart in a day and a half.  I forgot how exfoliating Peace Fleece yarn is--my fingertips and the spot on my index finger where I hold the yarn tension get a little sore when I work with it for long periods.  It's so worth the pain, though.  The yarn blooms like a dream when blocked.  I have a car trip (or two) coming up next weekend, and it's the only project I plan to bring.  Well...maybe also those mitts.  Or the shawl?  Yes, definitely the shawl.