Kristi's Mittens

I wish all of you a Happy New Year full of time to knit. I also wish that the knitting book publishers and magazines will start to provide some challenging patterns. Here are my 2003 FOs:

4 Sweaters & Vests - Dale of Norway Sirdal cardigan, Starmore St. Enda, gray vest, Dale of Norway baby cardigan #12406

9 Pairs of Mittens - Child's mittens, Meida's mittens, Lavold Harald mittens, 2 pairs child's bunny mittens, Vinternatt mittens, Turkey Mittens, Paradoxical Mittens, Kristi's Mittens

6 Pairs of Socks & Slippers - Fuzzy Feet, Spin-Off Entrelac socks, 2 pairs adult bunny slippers, Blackberry Ridge Halloween socks, Aran Sandal Socks

6 Scarves - Red Spontaneous Scarf, Brown Spontaneous Scarf, Blue/green Spontaneous Scarf, Koigu Cross Stitch Scarf, Multi-Directional Scarf, Red & Blue Spontaneous Scarf

11 Hats & Headbands - Bea Ellis Telemark headband, 2 children's Bunnies & Carrots hats, 4 adult Bunnies & Carrots hats, Zilboorg Cone hat, Turkish Infant Cap, Shadow Hat, Wellington Hat

1 Pair of Gloves - Sanquhar gloves

3 Miscellaneous - 1 lizard, 1 mini-bunny

HAUNTED MITTENS




Here is the first Kristi's mitten photo. The pattern is from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia and is done in size 0 dpns and Elann's baby cashmere. The yarn is a bit hairy (due to the alpaca) and inelastic but it held up remarkably well to all the problems that needed fixing. I initially made some weird mistake at the beginning of the cuff which I couldn't ladder down to fix for some reason so I ripped the whole thing out. Then I managed to forget the entire center row in one of the early pattern repeats so I ripped out the mitten a second time. Then I must have ripped out the two different yarns unevenly because when I picked up the yarns each color was on a different row. It took me a while to figure that one out. duh

So I finished the second mitten. What is wrong with this picture???




Yes, that's right - I made two left mittens. sigh So I ripped that out and here's a photo of the mittens done the right way. You'd think I was finally done with this jinxed project, right? But noooooo.


In this scan of the inside of the mitten you can see that because of the long floats of this particular pattern the yarns are already starting to snag. So I had to tack down the floats on the inside of each mitten.



This particular project represented 2003 for me - many problems and much confusion but the only answer is to keep trying. You can still end up with something good.

THE BEST OF 2003



I guess my favorite project this year would be the Spin-Off entrelac socks done in handspun Easter egg dyed Merino. Runners up would be the Aran Sandal Socks (pictured yesterday) and Meida's mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia in softer-than-soft Richesse et Soie.



My best knitting accomplishments this year include finishing St. Enda and the Sirdal cardigan. My most gratifying knitting was all the rabbit stuff I knit for the Colorado chapter of the House Rabbit Society.



My best purchases this year would certainly be Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting and the Cascade 220 I got on sale at Webs to make Malin for around $40. Also, I bought the Threads Knitting Around the World compilation at a used bookstore for a few dollars - I think this one is relatively hard to find and priced high on Ebay.



The best knitting publication isn't a knitting magazine at all - Spin-Off rules with the most creative inspiration for knitters. My best knitting gifts this year were my Ott-Lite and my music stand, both from DH.



THE WORST OF 2003



The award for worst knitting magazine goes to all of them. I can't vote on worst knitting book because I haven't seen all of them. My least favorite yarn this year was Emu Superwash DK - it just doesn't feel that great and I'm still unsure whether I'll finish Trondheim in it. I'm pretty picky about yarn though so your mileage may vary.



My worst knitting disaster was the beautiful Dale of Norway baby sweater in slippery superwash Norwegian Sport wool that started to disintegrate in the washing machine. sigh My worst knitting project was by far Kristi's mittens that I just finished - everything that could go wrong did. More on that tale of woe tomorrow.



By far the worst of 2003 was losing our beloved pet rabbits Flip (so named because he liked to flip on his side as shown) & Snickerdoodle (in one of his baby photos).













We still miss them terribly however I have it on good authority that an extra large female bunny with attitude may be moving here sometime soon to take up the slack.

There are some tremendously beautiful knitted sweaters out there you have to go see right now.



Sarah's wonderfall Snowfall keeps beckoning to me. It is from an old issue of Cast On and Sarah and the designer are the only ones who have the chart for it apparently.



Kris' Armaugh is just gorgeous. The sweater is from Celtic Collection by Alice Starmore and Kris looks great it in it.



Also, check out Karen's Lochinver from Fisherman's Sweaters also by AS. I think the yarn she used for it looks so beautiful don't you?



Here are the Aran Sandal Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks. I loved the pattern and loved the yarn (Cormo from a vendor at Taos Wool Festival - Elsa Sheep & Wool) so much I purposely slowed down the knitting. I used cardboard inserts to show the patterns and even managed to get a scan of my foot so you could see the heel.

Santa Fe

UNEXPECTED KNITTING by Debbie New

My best knitting Christmas present was one I gave myself - I ordered Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting a while back but kept it until Christmas to open. It is an amazing book and one I can't recommend highly enough. With the current emphasis on non-challenging knitting this book goes a million miles in the opposite direction and challenges knitters to think about knitting and knitted fabrics in a much different way. In fact there is one chapter, Virtual Knitting, that isn't actually knitting but replicates knitted fabric. I often don't think of my knitting as terribly creative but this is the best book I've seen on creativity and the design process in knitting. Some of her knitted works of art are truly things the knitting world has never seen before.

I plan to start something using the freeform knitting technique this weekend. Thank God for Debbie New's remarkable intelligence and for Schoolhouse Press for publishing this book - there's no way other knitting book publishers would even consider attempting such a book. I read through this book today and had some incredible thoughts and ideas - there is not a single technique in here that doesn't excite me and start me imagining whole new ways of looking at knitting. Wow - this is easily the most exciting knitting book I've seen in a decade or two.

Back to our Santa Fe Tour. Santa Fe is easily one of the most important art marketplaces in the country. Canyon Road, billed America's Arts and Crafts Road, is littered with galleries. I thought I'd take some photos of some of the outdoor art on display. First we have DH with a large metal rabbit.



And perhaps an errant reindeer.



The cougar on the roof of the Canyon Road florist is sporting a Santa hat.



And my favorite piece of Canyon Road art - a massive rabbit done in some sort of concrete mixture.

Trash Bag Christmas Stocking

TRASH BAG CHRISTMAS STOCKING





This stocking was knit on size 4 dpns using two different colors of trash bags. (I roughly cut strips about 1 inch wide.) I used the snowflake chart from the Lilliputian Christmas stockings in Socks, Socks, Socks, and duct tape to write out Noel at the top of the stocking. See Marilyn's blog to view Carol's much more deserving entry which won the Christmas knitted Crapalong contest.

Merry Christmas to all! I hope you all have good company, good food, and that Santa brings you everything you desire. I'll be back Friday with more Santa Fe photos.

Dale of Norway Kashmir Sweater

The Santa Fe photo tour is postponed until Friday. In the meantime, I wanted to show you Wanda Rollins' beautiful Dale of Norway Kashmir knit in Tiur yarn and held up by her son.





Wanda decided not to do the optional embroidery. Isn't it gorgeous? This is an alternate colorway from what the pattern shows and I believe Wanda told me one of the colors she used in Tiur is no longer available. Thanks for sending me these terrific photos Wanda!

Tomorrow I'll show you my entry for Marilyn's Christmas Crapalong contest.

We'll start our second tour of Santa Fe with a photo of the Roundhouse or the state Capitol building. It is a relatively new building and is territorial style. The Roundhouse is actually in the shape of the Zia Indian sun symbol which is the state symbol and is on the state flag. Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the US.







Here is the center of Santa Fe - the plaza. The building in the background is the Palace of the Governors, built in 1610, yes 1610, which used to be the Capitol building. It is now a museum.







And another photo of Santa Fe's plaza facing St. Francis cathedral.







Not much knitting going on. I'm almost done with the multi-directional scarf but I need to spin up more mohair. I have yet to decide if I'll try to finish one more project by the end of the year.

The Aran Sandal Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks are done. I'm going to wait until I get the scanner next weekend to post photos so you can see all the patterning in glorious detail. I definitely have enough Cormo yarn left over to knit Merike's gloves from Folk Knitting in Estonia. The Aran Sandal Socks were very enjoyable to knit and I often wonder why I don't do more texture work.







Lisa of Blogdogblog sent me a wonderful gift - the four Sanquhar patterns from the Scottish Women's Rural Institute that I'd been unsuccessful in ordering from their web site. The kind of darkish photo is the pair I want to make - they are called the Shepherd's Plaid design. Thanks Lisa for being so kind and thoughtful!



Next week I have a few winter Santa Fe photos to post. No snow and the Christmas lights didn't really show up in the photos but you'll get the idea.

Dale of Norway Cardigan

What was the one project that really turned you into a knitter?





This sweater made me a real knitter. It is now three years old and the only item I've knit that I wear frequently. It is huge on me and starting to pill. The sweater is a Dale of Norway design (long out of print) knit in Heilo. It was my first cardigan and the first time I did steeks.

Knitting this sweater itself didn't make me a knitter. It was what happened next. When I was cutting the front steek for the button band I accidentally cut completely through the back of the sweater for about 2 inches.

After I realized what I had done I sat there for about 20 minutes and just cursed. I knew I wasn't going to reknit the entire sweater to fix this so I figured out how to fix the hole in the sweater. First I had to make the hole even bigger which was quite unpleasant. Then I put the top and bottom stitches on individual dpns and knit up from the bottom and then I kitchenered the hole together, making sure I matched the number of rows on the outside of the hole. Some creative darning to attach the sides of the hole properly and it was absolutely invisible on the outside of the knitted fabric.

That fateful day I learned a lot about the structure of knitting and how knitted fabric is held together. This is why I encourage all new knitters to fix their mistakes instead of living with them. You can learn a lot more from fixing problems than from knitting the item right in the first place. Ripping out a badly done neckline will also ensure you take the time to pick up the right number of stitches the next time around. Reknitting something to fix a mistake can have value for a knitter.

At least that is what I tell myself when I'm working on a project that is not going smoothly. I have probably re-knit the first Kristi's mitten from Folk Knitting in Estonia twice now with all the weird mistakes I've made. Can a knitting project be haunted?

I'm trying to think about what projects I want to finish up before the end of 2003. Obviously this list includes Kristi's mittens, the Aran Sandal Socks, and the multi-directional scarf which are all in progress. I think I will try to do one more project from Folk Knitting in Estonia, most likely some socks since I have a ton of sock yarn. Since DH will be home a lot, it needs to be a pretty mindless sock pattern.



I think I've been reasonably productive in 2003 despite a lot of chaos. 2004 will likely have more chaos as DH is applying for academic jobs all over the country - most likely in the midwest and eastern US. I still haven't decided if I want to adopt a rescue rabbit now or after we move. I want a rabbit now of course but don't want the worry of keeping one healthy on a cross-country trip.



Here is a photo of the VK Peruvian patterned glove in progress with the scalloped edge turning up a bit. I have decided to return to this project after the holidays although I'm not sure if I will cut off the gauntlet or not. I decided I didn't like the willy-nilly look of the finger patterning in the book so I just went with solid colors. Pretty wild, eh? I may need to start wearing sunglasses while knitting them.











Robin, the new photos at the top of the blog are Robin Hansen's Fox & Geese & Fence mittens and the hot pink Rosebord mittens from a kit from Nordic Fiber Arts.

Shadow Knit Hat

Here is the Shadow Knit hat (pattern also from Cabin Fever) which is quite fun. I used Cascade 220 and I sent this off to a friend's child who is 5 years old and wears the same size hats as I do.

I'm almost finished with the first Kristi's mitten and am starting the cable patterns on the second Aran Sandal Sock. I think I may have enough Cormo left over to use it for Merike's gloves which is nice because the Elann Peruvian Cashmere I purchased probably isn't crisp enough to show the cables perfectly. It does block out surprisingly well though which is good because the Kristi's mittens have really long floats and my knitting tension is not terribly desirable.

For some knitting eye candy today check out the beautiful cardinal Christmas stocking HERE.

Paradoxical Mittens

Karine from Norway sent me the most beautiful yarns in a trade. She generously sent me five skeins of Gjestal Vestlandsgarn in five different beautiful autumn colors along with three skeins of Tiur in pretty coordinating colors also. Thanks Karine! I am definitely going to make myself a Dale of Norway hat with some of this beautiful yarn.

I didn't get any work done on the multi-directional scarf. Instead I started Kristi's mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia in Elann's Peruvian fingering weight alpaca/wool/cashmere blend. Janet emailed me and asked what I thought of the yarn. It is an interesting yarn although I'm not sure I'd buy more. It splits a bit (I'm using size 0 dpns) and has a bit of fuzziness. It is nice and soft though and highly durable. I made the weirdest mistake in the cuff of the first mitten and tried various methods to fix it before finally ripping the whole thing out. You really can't tell the yarn had been abused like that from looking at the mitten. I keep comparing the Elann Peruvian cashmere to Stahl's Baby Merino. I bought a ton of the Baby Merino yarn from Elann a few years ago and it is about as soft but much more elastic.



Here is a photo of the completed Paradoxical Mittens. The yarn is J&S jumper weight purchased at Four Seasons Knitting and the pattern is from Lucy Neatby. I enjoyed every second of these although I'm not sure I'd do her method of closing the top again - kitchener should work just as well and is easier.

Oh and Geane - I did manage to use your word "fid" in the Scrabble marathon this weekend.

The Squawkbox comments don't seem to be working. I received the comments for today via email but they're not showing up on the blog. Larry, I think you'll enjoy the Aran socks. They are pretty fun and the finished look is quite classic. Hi Robin - I'll check out Schoolhouse if I don't get Knitting in the Old Way for Christmas. Dj - thanks I'll check out Hill Creek Fiber Studio as well. I envy you working at a yarn shop! Kerstin, thanks for your kind words. I have Knitting in America and I enjoy browsing through it too.











Weekends are not optimal knitting time around here. DH and my friend Diane and myself are all Scrabble maniacs. We probably play 15-20 games of Scrabble a week so I've started planning knitting and spinning projects just to work on during Scrabble. My first Scrabble/knitting project is to finish hand-spinning this Easter egg dyed mohair and to keep working on the multi-directional scarf from the resulting yarn.



For those of you who also like Scrabble, I highly recommend the book Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis. It is about a sports reporter who accidentally finds himself swept up in the wacky world of tournament Scrabble. He starts out complaining about being assigned a story on Scrabble and ends up becoming one of the top players in the country. The book is filled with great tips on improving your game such as memorizing all the two and three letter words.



I have an additional tip for fellow Scrabble maniacs - get the hard-to-find international Scrabble English dictionary (called SOWPODS - it includes British and Australian words and spellings) so you can use qi as a word. Much more handy than qat, qoph, or qaid.





Yes, I know, I know. I need to get a life.

Wellington Hat

This is a fun pattern - the Wellington hat from Cabin Fever in Cascade 220. I made it in a size small and I thought I found an error in the pattern. I emailed the pattern designer who wrote back and explained to me how to read a knitting chart. I've done the math several times and I still think that Chart 2 - Crown for size small needs to be started on row 7, not row 5. It is a cute hat for a kid and has already been sent off to its destination.

So what is on your knitting Christmas wish list? I've already received Weekend Knitting and I'm going to get the Virtual Yarns Lismore pillow kit. Here are other the books that are on my wish list.

1. Handpaint Country: A Knitters Journey by Cheryl Potter - This book surprised me when I finally looked it over a few weeks ago at Borders. It really feels more like Knitting in America and I felt it had some excellent technique info even though I rarely use multi-colored yarns.

2. Nursery Rhyme Knits: Hats, Mittens, and Scarves with Kid's Favorite Verses - Of course I had to have this the minute I saw the cover and spotted some rabbits.

3. Kaffe Fassett's Pattern Library: Over 190 Creative Knitwear Designs - Clara's write-up at Knitter's Review convinced me I needed this.

4. Arans & Celtics: The Best of Knitter's Magazine - Since I don't subscribe to Knitter's, I figure there will be some designs new to me.

5. Vogue Knitting on the Go: Pillows - I've looked through this one and there are a few intarsia patterns I want to do.

6. Knitting with Beads: 30 Beautiful Sweaters, Scarves, Hats & Gloves - I don't do much bead knitting but this book looks pretty interesting.

7. Aromatic Gifts: In Classic Knitted Cotton - This one just intrigues me - I'm not sure why.

8. Caps & Hats Two: Vogue Knitting on the Go - I always need more hat patterns.

9. Traditional Fair Isle Knitting - Sheila McGregor - A reprint of a hard-to-find book. I'd actually like her Scandinavian/Norwegian more but beggars can't be choosers.

10. Knitting in the Old Way - Priscilla Gibson-Roberts - Another reprint but Amazon says it won't be out until February.


Anita asked in the comments yesterday about the Aran Sandal Socks. They are a pattern from the book Socks, Socks, Socks by XRX and you can't buy the Cormo yarn I'm using. I want it all for myself! No really it is sold only at the Taos Wool Festival by Elsa Sheep & Wool. You can buy some of their already knit products though from their web site.

SLOWING DOWN



Like most knitters I wish I could be more productive. I wish I could finish more sweaters and other projects and find even more time to knit. I wish I could knit faster. However, every now and then I find myself enjoying a project so much that I purposely knit slowly to make the project last longer.



That is the case with the Aran Sandal Socks (shown above). These are knit in the Cormo yarn from Taos Wool Festival which is by far the most wonderful yarn I've knit with for many years. The socks themselves are really designed well and fun to do. I admire a knitwear designer who manages to make everything fall in place in a relatively complicated design. I like how the designer managed to find a complex cable (the 22 row mirror cable) that is just long enough to fit the heel. I like the way the sole of the sock is done in stockinette stitch so you don't have to worry about the seed stitch matching up at the jog. And the yarn is simply perfect. All yarns should feel the way this Cormo yarn does.



Am I the only one who ever feels this way or are there some of you out there who also find knitting projects you prefer to knit slowly?



ONE MORE RESOLUTION



I forgot I have one more knitting New Year's Resolution to add. I want to knit EVERY PATTERN in Folk Knitting in Estonia. There are 26 projects and so far I've only knit 5 of the patterns. Lisa, who is deep in the late stage of glove madness, is doing a beautiful job on Anu's Christmas Gloves and inspiring me as usual. I may start Kristi's mittens in the Peruvian Collection cashmere this week. Nancy Bush rules!

Wedgwood Socks

I'm getting in the Christmas mood. These are the Wedgwood socks from Socks, Socks, Socks - I added the Merry Christmas and gave these socks away in a swap a few years ago.

Santa is giving me some yarn money. This is my big chance to buy the sweater kit for the Ron Schweitzer Pine Forest vest but I've been reading Flor's blog about her experiences with the Shetland 2000 yarn and now I'm not so sure. Flor showed on her blog how the colors photograph much differently if you're not using a flash. I suspect I'll get bored working on a design in only natural, grays and black.

I may buy the Virtual Yarns Lismore pillow kit instead. I love Lismore - it may be my favorite AS design - but I'm not sure how often I'd wear the sweater. A pillow I can always use.

Cindy stated in my comments that Elann is also coming out with a Peruvian collection fingering weight wool/silk combo so I will save up for that and for more Baby Cashmere if I like it. And Mary was talking about her beloved Bernat Aero circular needles. I have heard they are the circs that AS uses (long tapered tips) so I will spring for some of those from Beehive Wools. For some reason they don't sell Aeros in the US.

I knit up something silly for Marilyn's Christmas Crap Knitalong contest. I don't think it will win because it turned out kind of cute although I used the crappiest of materials. Oh well I'll send a photo off to her anyway. It is the first time I knit anything with non-yarn. More about that later...



I'm going off on a non-knitting tangent today to offer a recipe that makes terrific holiday gifts. It is from my cookbook "Tis the Season.







EASY MICROWAVE TURTLE CANDIES



Try to find some premium chocolate chips for this recipe like Ghirardelli milk or dark chocolate chips. For a more decorative turtle, melt some white chocolate and drizzle all over the completed and cooled turtles.



Makes 16 turtles



12 ounces semisweet, milk or dark chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups pecan halves

28 caramels, unwrapped

2 tablespoons whipping cream



Microwave half the chips in a glass bowl at HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until smooth; cool until slightly thickened. Drop chocolate by tablespoonfuls onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet, shaping into 16 (1 1/2 inch) circles. Reserve remaining chocolate. Arrange 4 pecans over each circle for legs; chill until firm.



Place caramels and cream in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH 2 minutes or until caramels melt; stir after 1 minute. Let stand 4 minutes or until slightly thickened. Spoon caramel mixture evenly over pecans. Microwave remaining chocolate at HIGH 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; quickly spread over caramel mixture. Refrigerate until firm.



(You don't need to use cream to melt with the caramels - milk or even water works also.)

Spontaneous Scarf

CASHMERE SALE ALERT!!! CASHMERE SALE ALERT!!

Did that get your attention? Just two days after I was whining about the current lack of thin yarns at Elann they miraculously offer up some Peruvian Collection Baby Cashmere (alpaca/wool/cashmere blend) in fingering weight. I bought all of the colors to play with as it was only $2.75 a skein. I ordered enough to make several projects from Folk Knitting in Estonia including Merike's gloves and Kristi's mittens. Geane has inspired me by working on Kalev's mittens from the same book. My sincere apologies to those of you on a yarn diet - I feel like I'm waving a hot steaming piece of pizza dripping with cheese in front of someone virtuously eating a celery stick.



This close-up of the brown Spontaneous Scarf shows the woven look. The Spontaneous Scarf pattern is from a recent issue of Spin-Off magazine. Essentially you just cast on as many stitches as you can on about a size 6-8 long circular needle. (However many stitches you cast on determines how long the scarf will be.) Then you do seed stitch with a different yarn each row. Leave long yarn tails (after knitting these are knotted together and become the fringe) on each row. Knit until scarf is the width you like. I like to use the same yarn to bind off as I used to cast on - it gives it a neater more finished look. You can vary yarn thicknesses, fibers, colors, etc. Here's the red/blue Spontaneous Scarf which I made narrower than usual.



These are mindless and quick gifts that can be made from your stash. You can also make a stole by making the scarf much wider. Try making scarves in variations on one color or in complementary colors or all jewel tones or naturals, etc.

Well I survived Patternwork's web site long enough to order some yarn. I ordered some light purple Nature Spun to make the Cast On Austrian hat and mittens, some sale DK cotton for a flower washcloth, the Los Lobe mini-sock earring pattern, a beaded star kit and the size 0000 needles to make both. I guess I'll be getting a scanner just in time because there is no other way I'll be able to photograph anything tiny well enough to show on this blog.





Here is another attempt to photograph my knitted lizard. I really like the way he turned out with a mouth that is open but I should have made the tail longer.











I haven't posted any photos of Bosco the flame-point Himalayan cat in a long time. We're trying to give him a lot of extra attention lately as he was quite bonded with Snickerdoodle the rabbit and he really misses him.







Progress continues on the Aran sandal sock and I'm almost to the heel. I'm not sure why it is going so slow but it is speeding up as I memorize the pattern. I did just notice that the bottom of the sole is seed stitch and I'm not sure about that. If I changed it to stockinette stitch the gauge will change and the sock might be too wide. Hmmm...

"Let me warn you that a genuine interest in knitting can keep you fascinated, eagerly pursuing it, and never satisfied through a lifetime."



From Woman's Day Book of American Needlework, Rose Wilder Lane, 1963





One of my Christmas gifts arrived early and I just had to open it. It was Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick and I'm quite fond of it. This is such a good example of a book that can offer knitting projects for both the beginner (including the obligatory garter stitch scarf pattern with size 35 needles) and projects for the rest of us. I really have to make the PGR finger puppets which are quite detailed and knit from the top down. I also want to make some flower washcloths and DH has asked for the intarsia chair cushion for his oak rocking chair. I want to get the cushion done by Christmas (at least the knitted part) so I should get swatching tomorrow.



I want to purchase some yarn for a few projects but am having trouble finding what I'm looking for. I checked out Elann and of the 92 yarns they currently offer, 58 are thicker than worsted weight. Worsted weight is as thick as I can go and I try to even limit that. All those thick heavy yarns and fat needles are hard on my hands. I'm trying to find some sport weight yarn in just the right color for the Austrian hat and mittens on the current Cast On and some simple sport weight cotton in very bright colors for the flower washcloths (not chenille).



Here's one of my favorite tools - an inexpensive music stand for holding patterns and charts. I also have a scissors, tape measurer, and pen that hang from it. The thing in the middle is a nice magnetized chart holder I ordered from Schoolhouse Press. There is a ruler magnet and some other magnets that help keep your place in a chart.

This weekend I learned that the music of the Grateful Dead is the perfect accompaniment to hand spinning. DH found an old Dead concert on public tv he wanted to watch and I was working on spinning some Easter egg dyed kid mohair for the cover mittens of the new Spin-Off. This is the first time I've spun a yarn for a specific project and the yarn is quite pretty. We'll see if I can get gauge with it...



I took the Aran sandal socks to Thanksgiving at a friend's house and made a mistake so I gave up on that. I thought I'd spin the mohair on my purpleheart Bosworth spindle to give myself something mindless to do the rest of the weekend.



Here are some of the gorgeous socks in the new Katherine Misegades (formerly Pence) pattern book, The Tongue River Farm Sock Collection.







And here's a pair of socks from her previous book A Time to Knit Stockings.

Mittens in the Snow

I have been reading about Christmas gifts in other blogs. While I agree that hand knit gifts are inappropriate for some people (like most of the males in my family), I do give hand knit gifts to those who want them. I dislike knitting on demand so this year I chose a variety of projects that interested me and knit them. Yesterday I divided my gift knitting into three piles for three long-distance girlfriends and their families. Since they all have growing families I have no desire to agonize over sizes so I've made items in a variety of sizes and colors. I'll include a note saying to use whatever they can and give the rest away. This is kind of similar to my knitting box idea.

Last year I didn't have time to give hand knit gifts. Fortunately I found Baltic Shop. If you look under Crafts, then Gloves & Mittens you'll find some beautiful authentic hand knit Latvian gloves for less than the price of a kit to make them. I believe all of them are under $20. I sent some gloves to my mother last year and she really loved them. I may buy myself some Kurzeme mittens one of these days to analyze their construction.

I doubt I'll get much knitting done this weekend. We're going to spend Thanksgiving with a big crowd at a friend's house so I can just sit around all day and knit. Ahhh, heaven. I hope you all have an equally perfect day. Happy Thanksgiving! I'll be back Monday.

The Cormo wool I bought at Taos Wool Festival from Elsa Sheep & Wool (pictured with the t-shirt I bought) is a complete revelation. It is incredibly soft and feels almost as soft as the cashmere I made some Estonian mittens with earlier this year. You can feel the lanolin in the wool and it is so beautifully bright. I feel almost like I'm in love with this stuff and I simply have to buy a whole sweater's worth next year. I'm greatly enjoying doing the Aran Sandal socks from Socks, Socks, Socks with it.



Perhaps all this love stuff is because we saw the movie Love Actually this weekend. Nice piece of Christmas fluff although Colin Firth works for me year-round.



I apologize again for the poor quality of photos for this blog. Santa Claus is getting me a new scanner for Christmas so I can do a lot more up to date photos and show little details better for the blog. So just hold on for a little longer...

Turkey Mittens

GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE









I just had to knit something especially for Thanksgiving so here are the November turkey mittens from the pattern booklet A Year of Mittens (I believe Patternworks still sells it). The mittens were knit in Country Garden DK and size 4 dpns and are a bit large for my hands.

I finished another hat this weekend and decided I'm done with my Christmas knitting. I was just sick of it. I started the Aran Sandal Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks for myself in some beautiful Cormo yarn I bought at Taos Wool Festival. It is nice occasionally to get a break from colorwork and not be surrounded by 50 million balls of yarn on the couch.