2 Shades of Pink.

I don't celebrate Valentines Day. In fact, I never did.  This year's commotion around "50 Shades of Grey" premiere is slowly starting to get on my nerves. I know some people may enjoy it, I really understand that. But the advertising campaign got so aggressive lately, I'm afraid to open my fridge. It's literally EVERYWHERE!
As a protest I started to work on a project I temporarily titled "2 Shades of Pink". I already know I will end up forgging it and starting over, because it came out stiff and unpleasant, but i find the overall design quite nice.

It's supposed to be an arm warmer with corrugated ribbing and stripey colorwork. I didn't take into account that the back layer of crossing strands will make the fabric so dense. 

What surprised me was that I am able to make the wrong side look so... neat. 

Neato!

What did the trick? Two-handed stranded colorwork! I never tried it before and it took me about 70km by a train to tackle it and finally:

Pics by my helpful husband. Thank you!

I am going to start it over right away with at least 5mm needles, or even more (4 mm just isn't enough). This means adjusting the number of initial stitches, and maybe some minor improvements to the design. 

I am having second thoughts about the corrugated ribbing. It looks cool, but it doesn't feel like ribbing at all! It's not flexible, and purls seem to be pushed forward by the "floats" on the backside. I must admit though, the texture is interesting. Maybe next time I will manage to knit it more loosely. 

That's all about my new project!

Time to go and undo my several hours of hard work. Yaaay!

There's also a bonus picture. A flock of sparrows! They visit my garden regularly  tweeting, fighting, bathing in every puddle and doing all kinds of sparrowy things.

Have a nice evening! 

And happy Valentines Day, for those of you who celebrate it!

Gosia.