WIP- Owls II (Five Shades of Grey)

Since coming to terms that my original Owls sweater shrank, I've been working on a new one. It's been a bit of a process, what with ripping most of the body once I ascertained that after blocking, the short row bulge at the back bounced back. (A picture would have been more descriptive, but I was so focused on the sweater at that point I forgot to snap one.)

Which brings me to now. All five skeins of yarn are slightly different shades of grey. Originally, I started the neck ribbing with one skein, and then started a second skein to alternate. Again, I should have taken photographic evidence, but take my word for it, it was obvious so I ripped the whole thing and started over.

Then I decided I couldn't live with the short-row bulge so I did two miniature sets of short rows, one above and one below the owls:

Now I'm on the sleeve. I'm still alternating skeins. And I hate it, because it makes the knitting more fiddly and less relaxing. But look at the variation in color:

If I just knit one skein at a time without alternating, I'd have color blocks of different shades of grey. The first (left) sleeve seems to be taking one weekend, I'm hopefully I keep it up and finish before cold weather sets in.