Rainy and Gloomy

Yesterday was a gorgeous day full of sunlight and so warm (we actually got up to 60 degrees – yes, Spring is coming on fast) and today is completely morose. I know, I know, April showers blah blah blah… but really, I hate it when we have weather like this. Makes you want to do pretty much nothing and I have to do some work for tomorrow, so no good! Plus, I haven’t been feeling all that good so of course I’m not all that happy when I look outside and all I see is rain, rain and more rain.

At least I’ve actually gotten a fair amount of knitting done! I finished test knitting the Liquorice Shrug (rav link) that I posted about last time and it came out very nicely indeed. I really liked the pattern (very easy to do) and the yarn is just lovely… the colors are so great in it, I think!

The front shot looks odd because I forgot to fix my tank top before taking the picture (oops!) but I swear it fits right… I’m just not going to take another picture because I don’t really want to! 😉

You can see all the lovely subtle colors better in the next two pics:

I’ve been also making progress on my second Monkey sock, though I usually only knit it while on the bus on the way to and from work, so it’s slow progress… it’s my easiest project right now, so I like knitting it on the go.

So although I’ve yet to actually finish a full pair of socks, I’ve already started on my second pair! I’m taking part in two different KALs (Makin’ Cookies and Fiberphile) with a pair of Twisted Flower (Rav link) socks by Cookie A. I can’t believe how much I’m absolutely going gaga over this yarn! It’s a gorgeous Merino Cashmere blend by Fiberphile (who else? I mean, you all know how much I love Fiberphile!) and is SO soft and just goes through your fingers like butter. Plus, the color (True Heart) is just beyond gorgeous:

It’s a great yarn for the pattern since it’s a semi-solid and shows the cables off very nicely… I can’t wait to have more of this knit up as I’m sure it will be amazing! I only have a little over half of the first leg done, but I love it so far!

It’s definitely not an easy pattern and the pattern repeats (especially the cabling, not so much the lace parts) are complicated and not easy to memorize, so I only knit it at night when I can give it my full attention. But it’s definitely worth it for the beautiful results:

At the same time, I’m working on the scarf that I mentioned I was going to knit for my friend in an earlier post. I’m excited about this one as I showed her Cherry Fizz and she decided that she’d love to have it! This is great for me, as it’s one I’ve been wanting to knit since I first saw it on Twist Collective! Now, I just need to cast on for it (probably tomorrow) and will probably go back and forth between it and the Twisted Flower socks. And just for a preview, I’m using this dreamy 100% silk on it… I think it will look yummy in green!

Oh and before I forget, I am the luckiest girl in the world since the hubby allowed me to get a WONDERFUL birthday present early! I am now the proud owner of a new Nikon D90… yes, that’s right, my D40x will still stick around as a backup camera, but the D90 has definitely made me fall over heels in love. And here’s the baby for you all to see (taken by the D40x):

And just to compare, using the exact same settings, here’s a picture of my D40x (taken by my D90). If you look carefully, you can definitely see the lower amount of noise and image quality between the two pictures… I still love my D40x, of course. I could never forget my first dSLR!

I hope all you blog readers are doing well and not getting too dragged down by all the April rain (well, if April showers applies to your area!). Here’s a picture of Central Park on a sunny! April day to stave you (and me) off from gloomy, rainy days.