patterning

Chilly, gray Sunday here in Cambridge. I might venture out for a bracing run before the light fades, but mostly I've been holed up in my apartment, nestled into a wingback chair by the woodstove, drinking endless cups of tea, trying to write up my shawl pattern.

I carefully drafted the first version of the pattern back in October of last year. But I made a lot of changes with the two recent versions, and my notes -- usually scribbled on the fly and hastily charted out by hand -- are at times indecipherable. I've had to pin out the shawl and painstakingly trace out the rows in a few places to double check the lace patterning.

I'm sorting through papers, sorting through stitches, and sorting through computers too. My new laptop doesn't have the font I need, and my old one is cumbersome to do the charts on because the arrow keys are broken (thanks to a long-ago spilled cup of tea). So it's back and forth, back and forth.

So, it's a quiet, plodding, but productive enough day here. The only thing missing is a little snowfall outside my window ... and that's in the weather report for tomorrow!