Knittin' Mittens

I've been on kind of a mitten kick lately.

It started as a project to use up some of the (many) odds and ends of non-sock yarn in my stash (the sock yarn stash is another story). And they are a fun, small, way to try out lots of different color patterns.

I have two pairs currently on the needles.

The one on the left was inspired by Lizbeth Upitis Latvian Mittens, though mine are rather stripped down in comparison with the glories in that book - only two very simple color patterns (taken from Joyce Williams' Latvian Dreams), no braid or fancy edging.

The one on the right was more inspired by Charlene Schurch's Mostly Mittens and incorporates a couple of the smaller Komi pattern charts there. I'm using a peasant/afterthough/forethought thumb, though, instead of the gusseted thumb she favors. It was just easier to knit straight up, choosing narrow bands of pattern as I went, than to sit down and chart out an increase section in advance.

So Yeah,

I've been absent from the blog for kind of a long time.  I've been OK, just had a long bout of "knitters block" and attention that's been taken up by state politics and their personal fallout. But I've been getting jazzed about knitting ideas again lately, and that feels good.

I mentioned cutting off the bottom of the Overcoming Adversity Hat.  Here's what was left.

I really didn't want to let all that knitting to go to waste, so here's what I did with it.

Now I have two rather fraternally related hats, but that's OK, because I will give away at least one of them.

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In the time I've been away, the interface for Blogger has changed considerably.  I must say, the new version seems easier to work with.

I'm calling this my "Overcoming Adversity Hat"

The top decrease section has been ripped back and re-knit, because it was too pointy the first time.

The bottom edge has been cut off, stitches picked up and re-knit, because it was too long, and to change to edge treatment.

The only part unaltered is the color work section. It was all rather a pain in the butt, but believe me, it was worth it.  The original was unwearable.

I got a little bored with working on the scarf

Or maybe not so much bored as realizing that I have to be in the right mood to pay close attention to a extremely repetitive pattern on small needles and expect that I won't progress by very many inches is one sitting. And I'm not always in that mood.

So I started in on another project, a vest in a different Kauni colorway.

It's not a V neck, just looks that way because the stitches are bunched up on one looong circular needle that runs up one side of the opening, around the neck and down the other.

I recently read a Yahoo article with a title something like "Horizontal Stripes Don't Necessarily Make You Look Fat." Sure hope they are right.

Well I've been playing with the Misti

I decided that I could use a scarf more than another shawl. I swatched a few patterns that didn't really please me. I love the colors of this yarn, but they do fight with a lot of stitch patterns. They remind me (in a good way) of tree bark and lichens. So I finally settled on this (you can click the picture to make it big).

To me, the pattern definition shows up a little better in the picture than in real life. I should note that this is not a cable pattern. It's formed with yarn overs and decreases. On slightly larger needles, in a solid color and blocked hard it might look sort of lacy. As is, I'm going with subtle texture.

This is the chart I came up with. I repeated Rows 1-10 three times, then 11-20 three times, then 1-10 3x, then 11-20 3x, and so on.

(can also click to make bigger)

I'm actually working on 67 stitches, repeating the sections between the vertical red lines. Also, it's a bit fiddly to reposition markers between Rows 10 & 11, but worth it.

So....

I've got a little over 800 yds of lace weight Misti Baby Alpaca (and very pretty it is). The question now is what to do with it? "Lace Shawl" seems like the obvious answer, but I'm not sure I need one. Any other ideas, anyone? In the meantime I guess I'll swatch a little and see if the yarn talks to me.

Note to self: stop and think a little before your next impulse purchase.

In the meantime, I am 3/4 of the way through the edging on the jazzy blanket. Plain garter stitch in black Knit Picks "Stroll".

I ordered twice what it's turning out to need. In my defense, I had initially though I might do a wider border, but once I got going I liked the look of a narrower one.