Purple Reign.

It seems that everything I've been making lately (or have been intending to make lately,) has been purple. I have no idea what this means, but it sure is pretty.

This is the first of the mittens that I can't help but call Snowball Fight With Robert Smith:

That's one of the patterns from Latvian Mittens toned down and gothed up in minimal purple and black. The good news is that not only are these the first of my Xmas knitting (I always start in June,) but that the second one is half done! I am making good time.

Of course, the mittens stalled about halfway through due to a real need for some plain Stockinette sockery:

Meet GothSock no. 1, which has since been completed. This could be Xmas knitting as well, but it might get gifted to its giftee long before then. I suppose it would help if I started GothSock no. 2, seeing as how the giftee has more than one foot.

I skipped the heel flap on this one in favour of a short row heel. I'm still not totally sure about bailing on heel flaps entirely, as I don't think I'm as good at short row heels as I'd like to be -- I always end up with these stupid holes between the heel and the instep when I start the rest of the sock, and even when I pick up enough stitches I'm always convinced that it looks odd. This might just mean that I need a little more practice. Well, there is GothSock no.2...

Then, of course there's this mess:

More purple! This was originally intended to be a pair of Keefley Mittens but then the pattern either turned on me, or I turned on it and I decided to forget the pattern entirely. Just because something is pretty and in front of one's face doesn't mean one has to knit it! Besides, I have a house full of mitten patterns to choose from -- this might be why this still hasn't turned into mittens.

This combination deviates slightly from the all-purple theme, but please recall that green was my last colour-rut-of-choice. There are no surprises here!

These innocent looking bits of wool are going to be coaxed into becoming Selbu mittens. I have fnally received my copy of Selbuvotter and I can't wait to dive right in. I just have a couple of things to finish off, first.

I also finished my Folky Mittens. They don't initally look purple, but that dark colour on the cuffs and palm is called "Merlot Heather" and looks maroony in person, so it might actually count.


Finally, a picture of the mitten in action, to show the length of the cuff and the actual fit:

I'm pleased with how they turned out. I fear the only problem I'm going to have this winter is deciding on which pair to wear!