Something Old....

Now that I'm all mittened out, Ive discovered that I am apparently in a "finishing" mood - I've found myself picking up old projects, knitting away...of course, it helps that there isn't a mitten amongst the projects :) While some of the projects might take a while to finish (never ending miter squares and delicate lace stole), these, at least, seemed to fly right off the needles.



More photos here.

Cutting it close...

...in more ways than one. I cast on for these mitts last friday, and basically did little else but knit on them through the weekend - the ball of yarn is all that's left of the skein. Not bad, right?

of course, the finished mittens are much more interesting to look at than a ball of yarn - go check them out here.

Holiday Knitting Revealed

Now that all the presents have been opened, I can show you what I've been up to since just before Thanksgiving....

I've been a Mitten Knittin' machine. Not included in the tall stack above are the ones I knit for my husband (will share those next) - piled one on top of the other, the stack is as tall as a container of one of my favorite juice blends - Cherry Cider, from Trader Joes.

More Mitten details can be found here and here.

Mitten Knittin...

Well, okay, not mittens, but fingerless mitts - regardless, they kept me warm at Rhinebeck :) (yeah I know, I'm really stretching out the Rhinebeck mentions, aren't I?) I rarely wear full mittens, and I seem to be awfully fond of wearing shorts and tee-shirts, only to decide I'm chilled...then I add handknit socks, then depending on where I'm feeling chilled, I'll then add mitts - usually of the fingerless variety so I can still easily carry on doing whatever I'm doing with my fingers...if I'm still cold, then I'll usually give in for a scarf/wrap and/or a sweater. Keep in mind, this is generally in the comfort of my own home, where I seem to refrain from turning on the heat for as long as possible so I can get the most use out of my handknits...a girl has to resort to certain strange behaviors sometimes, I'm afraid.

Anyhow, additional photos are over here, as usual.

Slipped and Twisted

Round 1 of test knitting was completed just in time for my Eastern Seaboard Tour. I love how the pattern breaks up the little bits of color on this yarn in the small cable section...

The bigger cables aren't half bad either...see?

Wondering what I made? You can see the finished object details here.

The yarn was a pleasure to work with - with regular addi's I had no issue - though with my lace needles I'd occasionally split the yarn. For hand, the yarn is wonderfully soft, and it seems to wear quite nicely - I'm thinking I'll likely add this as a base, I just need to find space in the house to put it...and decide on a name :)

Wet Blanket

...well not for long, what with the dry air of the desert!

cats, as usual, included for scale - Finished in less than a month...actually it appears (according to Ravelry) that I may have finished in about a half a month! As you can see, the blanket is rather non-aggressively blocked - I figure as a blanket, it will just wind up relaxing back down rather quickly, so I didn't bother getting out all the pins to pin it out like a trampoline - though I'll bet that if I did, I'd gain another foot or more of diameter...in case you're wondering, that blanket is already just over 6 feet across - my cat is very very long. As always, you can find more details on the finished objects blog :)

oh, and congratulations to Eva for being selected by the random number generator - the book is on the way :)

Baring my Guts

Or my Mitten's Guts anyhow. I love how floats look, don't you? Nice neat floats on fair isle projects always make me happy.

Interested in finding out more? The mittens are done, and all the details are over yonder on the Finished Objects blog.

Flashy

Front side shot can be seen, along with way more information about this sweater over here on the finished objects blog.

In a nutshell: knit from the bottom up, seamless - unless you count a wee bit of grafting at the underarms and on the back. I think I really like this fine gauge knitting business :)

Pyromania

Finally finished after a slightly rough start :)

As always, you can find the details and more photos here.

Twisted stitch cables - there's something wonderful about them that just draw me in. Mizar was covered in them (and were even more challenging with knitting the twisted cables on the purl side on the heel flap) and Bayerische too.

If you've never done twisted cables before, this is a great pattern to get started on. There are just enough to give you a taste...and if you decided they were too much, you could always decide to just do the set on the foot or the leg...

Subtle Transitions...

Sorry for the flashy flashy shot, I keep having issues reminding myself to go outside when there is sunlight with knitting in hand. Perhaps I'll be able to amend the blog once I remember...now that the project is actually off the needles, maybe I should tie a wee bit of yarn around my finger to remind myself ;)

In case you're wondering just what you are looking at, that would be my leg...in Spritely Goods Sylph, in a limited edition colorway called Deep Blue Sea. It was knit into a pair of glorious kneesocks - of which there are more photos and details here :)

the Long and Short of it.

Elbow length cabled gloves, knit by me - details over here - not too many details because I made them up as I went along and failed to take notes.

Wrist length mitts, knit by Kiki - out of Spritely Goods Sidhe yarn in the Garnet colorway - Kiki had heard me talking about how my hands get cold and work less properly when I get stuck on the computer for long periods of time and she took pity on me by gifting me those lovely mitts. I adore how they pooled - they look really neat when they are on too with the expansion of the 1x1 ribbing and the way the colors stack up in the fabric - sadly I had to take these photos of the mitts on the table since I had no helper to assist with the photography.

I thought both projects were fitting with the current Project Spectrum element of Fire - partially due to the color, but the cables on the long gloves also remind me of the licking flames of a large fire.

In other fiery news, the Firestarters were off to an exceptional start, and I turned the heels and finished the heel flaps yesterday - sadly, I suspect they are going to the Frogpond to be ripped and redone on US0s. I'll take photos so I can show you the glorious colorway though - I'm really enjoying the knit, so I don't think I'll mind re-doing it (at least not too much anyhow). Stay tuned :)

Adventures in Fair Isle

Wool takes a long time to dry in the winter time...in the time it took for this hat to dry, I actually knit another ;)

As always, all the gory details (and there is a bit of discussion on this one) over here.

The long and short of it is:
1) Fair Isle work is pretty
2) I apparently have issues with bell shaped hats
3) The proscribed decreases do not fit my head (or I have issues with float tensions)
4) I am now trying to decide if the not so properly fitted hat is suitable as a gift, or if I have needs to go pattern hunting again.
5) I apparently still have plenty of yarn to keep on attempting this :D Lets just say that my stash is rather healthy. Perhaps a little too much so.

Go read. And leave me advice :)

There be no cankles here!

Cast on right after I finished my CPH, I was wanting some coordinating socks. How convenient that this pattern for kilt hose appeared :D

Imagine my slight horror to realize that my measurements matched those of the recipient of the Kilt Hose in the actual pattern - Actually, my measurements are just a hair larger at the top of the calf and a touch trimmer at the ankle - I attribute my legginess to all the hiking I've done - and the genes of course :) No lithe slim legs here.

Ah well, I figure play em up and celebrate, I love the "seam" down the back of these socks!

Commentary etc, as always, is over at the Finished Objects Blog.