Thank you ! I am in a tropical climate, so it is either rain or shine! :D I would like to experience some winter weather some day. The garter stitch is quite stretchy and yes stockinette is not that stretchy although I thought it looked nicer. Yes, black! It hurts the eyes just to find the stitch. Haha. Oh dear, dark brown can be rather dark but hey, once you are done with the stripe, you can look forward to the other more visible colours :D