Mitten Update IV

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I was out of state for Thanksgiving and then have been very busy since my return on Sunday.

Not a whole lot of progress on the Latvian but they are coming along nicely. I have noticed that the braid is done differently between the Estonians and Latvians. Well I haven't exactly read the Latvian way but at first glance, it appeared so. If I had taken the time to really read it then it would have cut into my knitting time :D I used the Estonian technique for this pair but I think I will try the Latvian method next time. I also found that when I was making the fringe cuff I combined the two steps into one without realizing I had done so. Next time I do a fringe cuff, I'll have to try the written way and see which one is faster.

I also made a pair of mittens from the Weekend Knitting book. It said to felt slightly but I tried to felt them more than suggested. I have four neices so I am knitting each a pair. As we are now down to, eeek! 25 days until Christmas thankfully they are a really quick knit. I really should knit a pair for my sister-in-law and my son too, if I have time.

This is Noro Kureyon #126. I am now knitting a pair in #138. I had two skeins to work from on the #126 and though the stripes do not match, I was able to keep the colors similar in both mittens.


With the #138 I am running into a problem. The first mitten is mostly pinks and reds, the second mitten will be red, orange, purple, lime green. Besides buying another skein does anyone have any suggestions how I can at least make the two mittens look similar? Since I need to make a gazillion pairs of these and want each set to be a different colorway, I don't really want to invest in 2 skeins for each set. Since I haven't looked closely at the other skeins, hopefully it is just this colorway. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.

P.S. I hate blogger. What it shows on preview is not what you get!

Urgent Wire

Crazy busy. (stop)

Please send help. (stop)

Need to post mitten update. (stop)

Hopefully will have time later this afternoon, evening. (stop)

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Mitten Update III

Finally some FOs!













The specs:

Pattern: Maimv's Mittens
Book: Folk Knitting in Estonia ~ Nancy Bush
Yarn: Dale Baby Ull

I knit these on size 1 needles, bamboo dbl pointed. Though tight, they do fit but next time I will use a size 2 if I use bamboo. I notice when I turned the mitten inside out that a couple of my woven ends are starting to come out a bit. No worries, I probably weave them in way too much as it is so they should be ok.















Pattern: Combination of two charts
Book: Latvian Mittens ~ Lizbeth Upitis
Yarn: Dale Baby Ull

Since there were 72 stitches to this pattern I ended up using a size 0 aluminum.

Yes, I like baby Dale, so far. I hear it pills but since I've only worn the Estonian pair a few times I guess time will tell. I have recently purchased about 7 different solid colors of Opal sock yarn and I think I will try that on the next pair.

For the blog, I had hoped to get a picture of me wearing the sweater but since that hasn't happened yet I will leave you with these photos. The first blocking, before the finishing, was a light steaming. For the final bath I used tepid water with some vinegar and Eucalan but the Manos still bled a lot. Though it bled, I don't really notice much color change when I compare the sweater to the leftover yarn. The buttons I chose for this are antique silver flowers.

Pattern: Oscar de la Renta garter stitch cardigan
Magazine: Vogue Fall 2003
Yarn: Manos colorway 116

Bad Blogger

I'm way behind on things and then to top it off, I can't get into my email today. I'll be back soon with FOs to show.

On Feminity

Sorry for the lack of knitting. I've been really busy the past couple of days and have not had much knitting time. Hopefully tomorrow a couple of WIPs will be featured as FOs!

As I was loathing every minute while merrily shopping at my local grocer and grabbing for some paper towels this elderly lady says to me, "Don't you ever tire of wearing jeans?" I turned around and looked at her and said "No, not really." She then tells me that it's not very feminine. *Blink*

I look at her and she is wearing plain brown slacks, a "blue jean" jacket (faded from time), and her shoes were like slipper sneakers, beige with some spots. I just didn't get it.

It's very seldom I ever leave the house without looking feminine.

• Hair and makeup [check]
• Nice jeans and sweater [check]
• Jewelry [check]
• Nice jacket [check]
• Nice shoes and bags [check, I'm all about my shoes and bags!]

Perhaps she was just trying to start a conversation? Or rather, I could have looked really ratty, but as long as I was wearing slacks instead of jeans I would pass for feminine? Still shaking head. Wonder if my plaid, cotton jammy pants would have gotten a reaction? Not that's there's anything wrong with that. I've been tempted and may have worn them to the gas station once or twice. And since I'm fessing up I'll also admit the hair's not always done, cuz Rose might tell on me for that one :D I have gone out on occassion with my hair looking really strange (usually pinned up with funky clips are hair pins). I'm like that though, I like weird hair.

Honestly, I Wasn't Raised in a Barn

I'm such a dork. If I haven't responded to your comment yet it's because I somehow had my settings set to moderate, and since I didn't know it, I wasn't moderating any comments. I am starting to answer you all so expect to hear from me tonight or tomorrow.

Mitten Update

My update for Sandy's Warm Hands Knit-Along. Thanks for stopping by!

I’ve been remiss in my Latvian mitten duties, I haven’t made much progress. I’ve been distracted by the garter stitch cardigan. It’s very close to being completed so whenever I have time, I’ve been working on it. I’m at the stage of crocheting so hopefully it will be finished tonight so I can wash and block again.

I also have the Estonian mittens which I need to finish as the weather is getting cold and I need them! I should have a picture of them in the next couple of days.

Manos Cardigan

Almost done! I basted it last night and was very happy with the fitting. It's a bit baggy on the model and I was hoping that it would be a bit more tailored than the picture in the magazine. Is it just me or do most knitters always worry, even if just a little, about the final results of sweaters?

Birthday Meme

Wow, how do they know? It's creepy.

Your Birthdate: February 16

You're incredibly introverted and introspective. You live inside your head. You spend a lot of alone time meditating and thinking. People see you as withdrawn, and at times they are right. You are caring and deep, but it may be difficult for you to show this side of yourself. Your strength: Your original approach to thinking Your weakness: You tend to shy away from others Your power color: Pale blue Your power symbol: Wavy line Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

No, I'm Not Knitting any Sweaters. Really, I'm Working on Christmas Gifts!

In an earlier post I had promised a pic of the cabled turtleneck I am working on.

Specs
Pattern: cabled turtleneck #23 from Vogue Holiday Knitting 2004
Yarn: Catalina baby alpaca

(Note: chart is printed upside down in magazine!)

I had hope to have this done by Christmas but I've been cheating on it with another quick knit. Why can't I be faithful like some knitters. I am convinced that if I was my life, in general, would be more organized!

It all started at my LYS. I was happily knitting away on the cabled turtleneck when the owner showed me a big box of Manos she just got in. For quite some time I was calm and just thinking about the different colorways and which one I liked best. Well, by the time I left I had a bag with 7 skeins of a colorway I wouldn't normally have chosen but the greens in it were calling to me and I just couldn't help myself. I didn't even have a specific project in mind. Well that all changed as I started going through books and magazines and then came across this pattern I had been wanting to make for some time.

I tried to find a pic online but had no success so I had to take a picture from the magazine.

Specs
Pattern: Vogue Fall 2003, Oscar de la Renta garter stitch cardigan
Yarn: Manos colorway 116

I'm almost finished with this one, about 1/3 of a sleeve to go, blocking, sewing and crocheting and it will be done! I hope to be able to wear it by Sunday.

I took a bunch more pics this morning of completed and UFOs so come back soon and check them out.

A Bit More About Me

EDITED: I ended up taking this post down because on my stats I had a few very strange referrals from sites I especially don't want looking at my kid. If anyone wants to know what I wrote, just leave a comment and I will be happy to email you.

Twisted with Sticks and Wheels

The yellow, red, green is some Wensleydale that I am spinning on my wheel in thick/thin. I plan on using this for a Dale of Norway hat and mittens.

The blue, purple is some gifted roving that if I remember correctly is merino and tencel, navajo ply. No plans for this yarn yet.

The drop spindle is a new acquisition, a Kunert with some bird's eye maple, my favorite! It spins beautifully and when I remember where I placed the little tag I will tell you the other wood that's mixed in.

What's on the spindle and noddy is some more merino tencel. Thin singles but will probably navajo ply it on my wheel when I have it all spun up. Another yarn I haven't made plans for... yet.

For being self-taught a little over a year now (and having gone months without spinning at all), I don't feel I'm doing too bad. The Fold is the closest shop to me and I plan on going and taking a lesson or two, probably after the holidays. If you are ever in the area of The Fold, I tell ya, stop in. Toni has a great selection of fiber to choose from, a really good selection of drop spindles, yarn, books and all kinds of other goodies. She's fabulous to deal with and I guess it's a good thing for me that it's not a real quick trip or I could get myself in some serious trouble :D

Past Projects

I had promised some pics of previous projects, they are unedited and pretty crappy but I'll show them anyways. Click for a larger pic.

A scarf of my own design in Manos












Detail of the scarf. The button I found at an antique store.









Pattern: Knit Baby Head to Toe Book Yarn: Koigu









The start of a Dale sweater that may or may not get finished someday. I'm not sure that I like it now.






I have way more projects but because I am not so organized these days (hmmm, wonder if it could be the obsessive knitting I do), they are probably scattered among many computers and I forget to take pictures of things, I'll have to post more later.

Oh, and I ran across this sky pic that we took on our honeymoom (St. Barthelemy) in the French West Indies. We were told that once a year the sun develops a strange circle around it and my DH took a very cool pic of it. So here you go Sandy, another one!

For Sandy

I meant to include this with my mitten post but it was late and I forgot! This one's for you Sandy :D

Bloglines

What the hell? I made a folder for my blogroll, marked it public, and generated the code. When I click on it it goes to the folder but there are a bunch of blogs listed that I didn't put in the folder, some I've never even heard of (but of course will check out). How strange!

Mitten Update

Perhaps by joining Sandy's Warm Hands knit along I will now update this blog once in a while! The Estonian mittens she mentioned I was making is in a post below. Currently I have the fingertip area and thumb to do and they will be finished. Of course it would have made sense to finish them before starting this pair but come on, we're all knitters here, I think we all understand the seduction of a new knitting project.

This pair is for my sister, for Christmas. She requested colorful cuffs but the actual mitten black. The row I'm working on is a braid so I'm close to starting the black. This mitten is bits and pieces of patterns from Lizbeth Upitis' Latvian Mittens book.

I must confess something, I have always loathed metal needles. While trying to get gauge on this pair I really needed a US 1.5 (does anyone make those?). I went to my LYS and purchased a Skacel pair of size 2 thinking the metal would loosen up my stitches, which it did. But the problem, the needles were only 4" and too short. Couldn't find any Skacel in a longer length so I headed up to the craft store. I found 7" alumunaire (or something like that) and bought those. Well, I can't believe it but I love knitting mittens with these! I always wondered why The Harlot is so fond of metal needles, now I get it.

P.S. Forgive any typos, I can't get the spell check to work.