Impending Mitten.

There's a new mitten in the works; a mitten that will not be ignored. The cosmos knows that it's been plaguing me for a good three weeks now.

It was only yesterday that I finally settled on a colour palette. Usually the colours are the first thing that I settle upon, but not this time! Oh, no, the mitten cleared wanted to give me the runaround.

Here it go:

Yes, that's Knit Picks Palette again, in (clockwise, from top right) Blush, Bark, Twig, Tidepool Heather, Red and Yellow.

Here's what there is (so far) of the mitten embarrassing Metal Sheep:

Poor Metal Sheep -- he doesn't deserve this kind of treatment! I definitely owe him more flattering photographs.

Nana's Gingerbread Mittens, FO.

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette In Brindle Heather, White, Yellow and Garnet Heather
Needles: Clover Takumi Bamboo dpns, US 1
Pattern: Chart 120 from Latvian Mittens by Lisbeth Upitis
Started: November 2007
Finished: December 2007

Notes: Nana's Christmas present, finished in plenty of time (even though I was sewing ends in on Christmas Eve.) She loved them.

Make with the goods!

Here I was, doing so well with the finished objects posts, too...and then Ravelry happened and the rest is history. In any event, a wee peek at my backlog is in order.

The first Dream Twister sock:


I can hardly say how much I love this pattern. I'm particularly by how it's playing nicely with the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck. Now to get started on sock no. 2.

Look, here's a completed pair:

These are the Little Pumpkins socks in Trekking XXL.

This was a quick, fun, easily-internalized quick knit that kept my hands busy this past autumn. It's unsurprisingly that these were my official Socks of the Season! I swear I received more compliments on that yarn than anything else as of late.

Another pair o' socks:

Yep, it's Pomatomus in ultra-limited, handpainted Deegu.

I have no idea why these socks ever seemed so daunting -- the pattern is really intuitive and enjoyable to work. I couldn't have asked for a better colourway for them, either!

I'm fairly sure that's it for now, but should something else reveal itself I'll make every effort to document it as well.

And finally, a quick heads-up: there's another Spilly-designed colourwork mitten in the works. Pictures should be arriving any time now.

Something Fresh.

This is huge; yesterday I finally got around to learning the Magic Cast-On. I have no idea why I never bothered to do this sooner, because it's easier than any other similar cast-on I've ever tried. The world of toe-up socks is my oyster!

I celebrated by neglecting my Xmas knitting and starting a new sock:

This is Azure from the latest Knitty. In an amazingly fortunate twist of fate I had the exact yarn that the pattern calls for -- one skein of Colinette Jitterbug in Raspberry.
The Jitterbug had been waiting patiently at the bottom of my stash for quite some time, as the yardage is just a little on the short side. Toe-up socks will allow me to make the most of this entire skein, which is just as well because I really like the colourway.

Now to get through some more of that Xmas knitting so I can have a guilt-free sit-down with my Raspberry Azure socks.

Piggy Mittens are here!

The Piggy Mittens pattern is finally ready -- just in time for the holidays!



They're available in six different sizes so they're bound to suit someone special on your list. This is a great chance to use up all those little bits lurking about in your stash!

Enjoy the pattern...I can't wait to see everyone's piggies. :)

I've got a sock...

...well, almost:

There's a new sock pattern in the works -- the Trestle Socks. Available in two separate yarn weights and needle sizes (fingering and sport; 2.75 mm and 3.25 mm,) wonderfully gender-spanning (socks for everyone!) and easily sized up (because everyone has an awful lot of feet and some are bound to be larger than others.) These socks were inspired by select railway architecture of Athens, GA which I had the opportunity to visit this past summer.

The sock in the picture up there is, perhaps unfortunately, not long for this world. I keep knitting, inspecting, ripping, knitting and re-working the pattern as I go along. The charts are finished (I think,) unless I go ahead and do something totally crazy-go-nuts on the foot. I'll keep you posted.

Those of you who are on the watch for the Piggy Mittens, take heart! The pattern is going to turn up at some point this weekend, in plenty of time for Christmas gifts. It could be up tomorrow before noon or at 11 pm EST on Sunday evening but it will be up within the next two days. Just to let you know. :)

Mittenry.

There's something like 39 knitting days left until Christmas now, so until then, I'm spoken for. Nevermind that I'm trying to sneak in the odd three or four pairs of mittens for myself or that the skein of STR Mediumweight is calling my name. I'm supposed to be making presents!

Even so, sometimes that doesn't work out. Take this mitten for example:



This is a Komi mitten from Marvelous Mittens by Charlene Schurch knit using Knit Picks Palette in Rainforest Heather and Tidepool Heather. It was originally intended to be half of a pair that would be given to some lucky recipient (who still remains a mystery, even to me.) Should the mitten and I hit it off, though, well...there's always room in my wardrobe for another pair of mittens. Especially fancy teal ones with gorgeous diagonal patterning.

I polished this baby off in four short days and...I don't know if it was the colour or the pattern but...I found myself getting attached. I wasn't that surprised, really.

Here's the funny thing, though -- part of the reason why this mitt went up so quickly was because it was knit on US 2's -- 2.75mm needles. The pattern called for a gauge of 8 sts to the inch and I got (wait for it) TEN. Ten freakin' stiches to the inch on US 2's! This is the gauge i get in the same yarn on US 0's! Needless to say, while the mitten fit me without a ridiculous amount of stretching I couldn't help but think that it might be happier keeping someone else's hands warm.

Luckily, I struck a deal with Heather (whose hands are just the right size for these mittens,) mittens for her and two skeins of lovely Koigu for me, which suits me just fine.

As for that Christmas knitting, it remains (mostly) on track. These are the Gingerbread Latvian Mittens I'm making for my Nana:



That's my progress after two days of mittening. I hope to hit the finger decreases this evening.

Naive Socks (This Must Be The Socks) pattern now available!

After what seemed like forever (but in reality was actually only a few months,) the Naive Socks pattern is finally ready!



Happy knitting!

Do the Ultra Twist!

Here, have a quick post before I go and get distracted again! This is a good chunk of a Dream Twister sock:



Currently I'm right at the end of the first full repeat of Chart B. Things had been going slowly at first (twists on every row, what?) but now it's starting to pick up. You can not read while knitting this one! This is not entirely a bad thing. The punishment is not too bad, eh? Look at that sock! I love it pieces, though I can't help but wonder when I'll ever learn about variegated yarns and cables. Maybe I should just learn to buy solid coloured yarn.

Sea Mineral Mitten pattern now available!

At long last! The Sea Mineral Mittens pattern is available for mass consumption.



Enjoy!