First glove

Well, look what I finished today (Raveled):

and the palm:I know -- I can hardly believe it myself! And you know what's even weirder? Knitting all those fingers (and thumb) was engaging and FUN. Why didn't anyone ever tell me how much fun gloves can be?

Now, no one's more surprised about this than I am. I doubt that any of you have caught me as I'm working the finger decreases of a mitten, but if you ever have the opportunity, take note of my mood as the task of the thumb looms nearer. I am not a fan of having to pick up for and work that pesky thumb. Usually this is because by the time I hit the finger decs I'm already planning my next project, and I'm more likely than not impatient as crap to finish the mitten at hand (ha.) So why is knitting the equivalent of five thumbs, one after another, so much different?

Answer: I have no idea. There was just somethng terribly compelling about watching each finger take a bite out of the held stitches; watching each finger cling onto its neighbour and then grow more stitches of its own for the next finger to cling onto. It was a lot of little achievements stacking up and turning into one big achievement -- the finished glove, with all the fingers finished and in place, all those stitches used up and accounted for -- and, oh, yeah, the total lack of grafting didn't hurt either. I'm even casting on for that second glove tonight.

But you know what? I still grumbled about knitting that thumb. Go figure.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

The settling-in process continues here at Pittsworth Manor -- I had no idea why I thought it would be over in a week. It's not like I haven't moved before, you know? I'm just so anxious for this new place to feel like a proper home! I know it'll happen, I just have to be patient. Trouble is, I've never been all that good at patience.

In any event, the knitting continues. I should be seaming up my Central Park Hoodie, but I'm doing this instead: These are Ulla's Gloves from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia, and I've already picked up three new techniques (the fringed cast on, the vikkel braid and the Estonian inlay technique) so far. I'm even looking forward to the finger knitting process, which either means that I'm a natural glove knitter or totally insane. You pick.

And in what might turn out to be another indication of the onset of madness I've joined twitter again. Keep up with my fibrey, housey and gardeny adventures right over here: spillyjaneknits. Yet another place for me to leave my mark online.