FO Friday: Tauremorna Mitts

When I first started knitting, I thought fingerless gloves were one of the dumbest things ever.


I didn't understand why anyone would want a pair of gloves that doesn't cover their fingers. I live in Wisconsin, I understand cold temperatures and dressing for the weather, fingers are the part of the hand that get cold first. It didn't make sense to me.






Then I gave in and made a pair, just to see what the fuss was all about.







And I got it.




First, fingerless gloves are warmer than I thought. Not Wisconsin winter warm, warmer than I would have guessed. My understanding is that it has something to do with keeping your pulse points warm, but I'm not expert on that. They are perfect for the spring and fall months when it isn't warm enough for gloves or mittens, but still chilly on your bare hands.




The utility of having your fingers free should not be underestimated. Among other things, it is virtually impossible to securely fasten a carseat while wearing mittens.  For the super cold winter weather, I also have a pair of flippy top mittens for the same purpose.


I discovered another great use for fingerless gloves at work. They are fantastic to have for when the office is chilly. They keep your fingers warm while still allowing you to do everything you need to do to get work done. I keep my Zombie Doomsday mitts at my desk for that exact reason. They work so fantastically well, that my friend decided that she needed a pair, too.


If you know me at all, you know that I only knit for a select group of people. As one of my friends, and fellow knitters, likes to say


"Knitting for others is like sex, if I like you enough, it will be free. If I don't, you can't pay me enough to do it."


While the list of people isn't the same, I think that sums up the sentiment quite well.


Anyways, the friend that requested the mitts passed my requirements, and I agreed to make her a pair of fingerless gloves. The end result being these:

The pattern is called Tauremorna Mitts and they are knit in Malabrigo Yarn Mechita. Mechita is a Merino wool, so it is soft and squishy, and this color, English Rose, is tonal shades of pink. The design itself has a cable design on the top. All the cables are just a single stitch wide and done without a needle. They were an enjoyable knit, didn't take too long to complete, and probably only used about 1/2 of the 420 yard skein.

They were received with the proper accolades and a couple of days later, my friend sent me this:

So at least I know they are being used and appreciated.

WIP Wednesday: Doomsday Mitts

First and foremost:

a very Happy 8th Birthday to my niece, Sophie!

And now back to the regularly scheduled post:

One of the projects I’m working on right now is a dk weight fingerless mittens, that I’ve dubbed the Zombie Doomsday Mitts. The pattern, Rose Tyler Wrist Warmers (Ravelry link), were inspired by a pair of fingerless gloves worn by the Doctor’s Companion in the episode Doomsday. I’m working on them as a knit a long (KAL) for the Walking Dead fan group I belong to on Ravelry. Put those things together and Zombie Doomsday seemed a great name for them.


The mitts have a beautiful cable pattern that creates several large diamonds, filled in with seed stitch down the middle. The diamonds are flanked by a single cable on either side. I’m making them out of Silky Merino yarn from Malabrigo in a greenish-yellow color.

Knitting these as a KAL project has helped immensely, I’m pretty sure that they would have ended up frogged by now if not for the support of the group. I don’t know why exactly these have been so troublesome, I’ve done projects that were considerably more complicated before, but for some reason I have ran into problem after problem with them. Extra stitches have appeared on my needles, cables have been mistwisted, I started the pattern on the wrong row. The most current problem I have encountered has been large holes at the thumb gusset increases. I changed to the very nearly Invisible increase from the TechKnitting Blog, which seems to have solved the problem.

Now that I’ve gotten the hang of the pattern, things seem to be going a bit more smoothly. I’ve completely finished one mitt and have just finished the thumb gusset increases on the second.

 

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The View from the Podium

Look at this:

That is a completed February Lady Sweater, it is done. And by done, I mean done, except for the buttons. Ends have been woven in, and it has been washed and blocked and I have already picked out and purchased the buttons, so I’m calling it done.

And, I finished with a week to spare as part of the Ravelympics. That gave me plenty of time to devote to my second Ravelympic project. For project number two, I decided to make a pair of fingerless gloves. The pattern is called Zombie Vixen, which under any circumstances be almost enough reason for me to make them, but they are also super cute. This project is intended to be a gift, but I like the pattern so much, I think I’m going to have to make a pair for myself. Plus, I always need more fingerless gloves, I love fingerless gloves. The gloves went quickly, and I was able to finish those Friday night and wove in the ends Saturday morning.

However, success at the Ravelympic projects has come at the cost of progress on other projects, namely socks. My Michigan Lakeshore socks are idling at a standstill. I was almost to the heel of the second one when I discovered a problem that forced me to rip back to the cuff. Seeing as how those socks are my mom’s birthday present, and my mom’s birthday was July 27, I might want to get those done some day.

I’m not going to worry about those things now, instead, I’m just going to bask in my Ravelympic success.

I'm on the podium for several events:

WIP Wrestling

One Skein Sprint

Cable Steeplechase

And, Mitten Medly

 

 

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Fibery Exhibitionism

I’ve been knitting for almost ten years now, and my skills have developed considerably from the time I started. Like any artist, I’m proud of my accomplishments and try to take advantage of opportunities to showcase my work. Usually this comes in one of two forms, either posting pictures on various social media outlets (primarily Ravelry, Twitter, and Facebook) or dragging the knitted goods around with me and showing them to anyone who looks even remotely interested. This year, I took advantage of another method of showing off my work, I entered several pieces into the county fair.


I come from (and still live in) rural Wisconsin and I can remember while growing up, the county fair was an extremely big deal. It has lost some of its luster now, but still includes a variety of events, including a needle work contest. Every year, I think about entering items into it, but usually not until after the entry deadline has passed.

This year, I managed to be on top of things and got the entry form in on time (and by on time I mean the day before it was due). I decided to enter pieces in five categories (knitters are limited to one item per category). I entered my Invisibility Wrap, my Llama Chullo hat, my Spatterdash fingerless gloves, my Carry-All Tote and my Cubist socks shawl. That seemed to offer a fair cross-section of my knitting abilities.

By the time I dug out the pieces, washed and reblocked the ones that needed it, I was pleased with my entries. I felt there were a couple of pieces that had a chance of winning a ribbon. I dropped off the pieces at the fairgrounds and went back Friday after the judging had been completed.

I was surprised to find that out of five pieces, I had won five ribbons. Yup, every piece had one something. My Llama hat and my Carry-All tote both took firsts, with the Llama hat also winning a Special Merit Award. The socks, Invisibility wrap, and Spatterdash mitts all took seconds.

Entering the pieces in the fair wasn’t about winning ribbons, and with my prizes adding up to a grand total of about $9, it certainly wasn’t about the prize money. However, I would like to think that it wasn’t just about ego, either. For me, a big part of knitting is the tradition. Knitters today are doing basically the same thing that they’ve been doing for generations. We might be doing them for different reasons (because we want to rather than we need to), we might have newer tools, and a wider variety of materials available; but the process is still the same. Generations of knitters have been making socks, mittens, hats, purses, and other things. And generations of knitters have been entering their best work into county fairs and other exhibitions for the feeling of pride that comes from knowing that you have a skill and you are good at the skill.

And, a lot of it is ego.

 

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Project Talk: Some Assembly Required

As a process knitter, I’m not a huge fan of finishing work. Why waste the time doing silly things like blocking, weaving in ends, and sewing seams when you could be actually knitting. I would think finding the motivation to finish would be easier for project orientated knitters, as it is a vital step in having a completed project (but seeing as I’m not a project orientated knitter, I cannot be sure. Anybody want to verify?).



Spatterdash Mitts, Done!

Thankfully, most of the projects I choose to work on don’t require too much in the way of finishing work. There are exceptions, the Carry-All Tote and Hey Teach! cardigan being the freshest ones in my mind. Thankfully, the Spatterdash fingerless gloves from Knitty.com didn’t require all that much finishing work. Just the usual blocking, weaving a couple of ends, two seams, and some buttons.  Okay, not some buttons, many buttons, a lot of buttons, 14 buttons per glove.

Definently worth the finishing.

But the end result is worth it. They turned out beautifully! The yarn is Imagination Hand-painted Sock yarn from KnitPicks.com in the colorway Wicked Witch, and it is amazing! I’m not a huge fan of it for socks, I have trouble with shrinkage and felting (I line dry, but machine wash, which might be part most of the problem), but the colors are amazing and the yarn comes out so soft after blocking! I think I’ll stick to using it for non-sock accessories. Stroll, also from Knit Picks, is my absolute favorite for socks, just in case anyone was wondering.

Sheepcote sleeves and start of the main body.

In other project news, I’ve completed the second sleeve and cast of for the body of the Sheepcote pullover, from the Twist Collective and am on the leg of the second of my Surfin’ Peacock socks, so I’m making progress, little by little. Once finished with the Peacock socks, I’ll be (hopefully) testing my Packer Sock pattern and after Sheepcote, I am absolutely, no excuses, finally getting to the February Lady sweater.

And a side note about the sleeves of the Sheepcote, the are 3/4 length sleeves on a yolked sweater. So I know that they look short and chunky, but I've tried them on and they are going to work out great for the sweater.

Adventures in Pattern Writing: Episode 3, Perfectionism Rears Its Ugly Head (Again)

I'm what you might call a selective perfectionist. Some things I can just slap together and not care, but when it comes to knitting, I'll redo, redo, redo until I'm happy with the results.

While this tendency can product some particularly excellent results, but it also has been the cause of massive amounts of frustration, and copious amounts of inappropriate, foul, colorful language.

After finally conquering inserting my charts from Microsoft Excel into Word, I started working on importing all of the heel charts (numbers 0 to 9) into the pattern. Then I looked at my Matthews jersey, hanging on the drying rack, I looked at the 52, I looked at the charts for the 5 and 2, I looked back at the 52, back at the charts. They didn't look the same.

Sure, the 5 and 2 I charted looked like a 5 and a 2, but not like the ones on the jersey. The numbers on the jersey were, blockier, had more straight edges. At that point, I already knew what was coming, but I fought it for awhile. Maybe it was the jersey's problem, not mine. I decided to compare the numbers on my Rodgers jersey (yes, mom, MY Rodgers jersey). Again, my charted 1 and 2 looked like a 1 and a 2, but not like the ones on the jersey. Crap.

The Original Five

I wasn't ready to face reality just quite yet, though. Clearly, I must own two faulty jerseys, so I dug out Husband's jersey, and the dog's jersey. Nope, the numbers were consistent from jersey to jersey and not the same as the ones on my socks.

Once again, I fought the inevitable. It wasn't really going to matter, I told myself. No one is going to look at the numbers on the heels of these socks and point out that they are not shaped exactly like the numbers on the players' jerseys. What kind of person notices that sort of thing? Most likely no one would ever know, and if they know, it is even more likely that no one would ever care.

Edited Five

Except for me. I would know. And I cared. And I knew what I had to do.

I printed out ten blank heel charts. Then I went to the Packer's website to find pictures of jerseys, and I recharted all of the numbers. And the process started all over again, hand drawing, charting in Excel, cutting and pasting (using Paste Special, at least I remember that) into Word.

And, I'm glad I did it. Otherwise it would have bothered me, and I would have ended up doing it at some point anyway. We all know I'm crazy like that.

In other news, the knitting on the Spatterdash fingerless gloves is done and I was lucky enough to find buttons for them. I just need to block, weave in ends, and assemble. Yay!

Relearning the Weekend



It will be a fingerless glove, someday.

I’m still getting used to the idea of having weekends free. For years, having a weekend day off when I didn’t have anything else to do was pretty much unheard of. Even during my brief teaching career, when I wasn’t working any weekends, it always seemed like we were going somewhere or doing something. Weekends last this last one are still new to me (though I will probably see more of them, I’m trying to arrange my schedule so that I have two weekends per month totally off from both jobs. Normalcy will be somewhat restored this coming weekend as I work at the bank on Saturday morning and at the store Sunday morning, but the following weekend should be free (which, if my calculations are correct, might mean I have to work the Superbowl, but that’s not going to happen, even if nobody I care about is playing)

Anyways, Friday night I closed over at the motor bank, and stopped on my way home for some Chinese food (yippee for working two doors down from the good Chinese restaurant). Husband was gone for the weekend curling with the local Lion’s club (don’t ask…I never do). I started working on my latest pair of socks, but the pattern/yarn combination wasn’t working for me. I browsed around and found a different pattern to try and set those aside. I did manager to get some more of the lacy flap on the Spatterdash fingerless gloves done.

One morning's progress.

Saturday, I slept as late as Pippin would allow, which turned out to be 8:30 (which is funny because he always seems to sleep later for Husband). I proceeded to spend the day doing what most would consider absolutely nothing, but I considered absolutely perfect. I knit, and knit, and knit. By the end of the day, I had completed the cuff and leg of the sock I started just that morning. I also enjoyed having complete tv control. I adore Husband, but we don’t always enjoy the same things. I tend to sit quietly and let him run the remote, and sometimes look forward to having the opportunity to watch what I want. I took advantage of this chance to finally get to check out the AMC series, The Walking Dead, which I had been hearing great things about. It did not disappoint, but then again, I’ve always been a fan of zombie apocalypses. Not really sure why, but something about being part of a heavily armed band of survivors battling the walking undead is appealing to me.*

Saturday evening brought dinner with my mom and stepdad, I’m not one to turn down a free steak when one is offered to me, playoff football on the television and a couple of drinks with a friend. Nothing too exciting, but a good day overall.

Sunday, I overslept and missed mass, and Husband was back from curling much earlier than I expected (but when you only curl once a year, your team doesn’t usually make it to the finals).  We headed over to my parents for the Packers/Giants game, where Husband decided that I wasn’t rooting for the Packers to win, which added to his sullenness and pouting.

Completed sock, three days start to finish!

At this point, I do feel the need to defend myself. I will admit it, I am a Giants fan, (not really sure how that happened, but even good kids from nice families go astray) but my first loyalty is to the Packers. Yes, it is close to a 50/50 split, but the Packers win out. However, I don’t really enjoy watching those two teams play each other, and won’t really cheer for either team, instead I used the opportunity to sit quietly and make additional progress on the sock. Husband interprets this as a sign of disloyalty to the Packers, and if you’ve ever encountered Husband after a Packer’s loss, you know better than to argue.

Husband was sullen for the remainder of the evening, both over the loss and my perceived disloyalty. I figured it wasn’t the best time to point out that if his theory was correct, he really was denying me the opportunity to celebrate that what he felt was “my team” had overcame the odds and is continuing on to the NFC championship, and a quarterback that I’m a fan of who gets a crap load of criticism any time he makes a mistake had an excellent game. And his denying me a chance to celebrate wasn’t really fair because I would have never done that had the Packers won (again, this is all just going along with the faulty logic that I would prefer a Giant’s victory over a Packer’s, which is not the case). Instead, I let husband stomp around the house muttering things about supporting the 49ers (which again, had his theory been true and the game went the other way, I also would not have done). That pretty much made Sunday night a big fail after a fantastic weekend. (I’m guessing some of you might be surprised that I would risk the wrath of husband by posting this on here, but he reads my blog maybe 50% of the time, plus I’m pretty sure he knows that he was being ridiculous.

*I feel the need to offer a bit of a side note hear, if my posts sometimes seem disjointed and rambling, it is usually because I don’t really edit them too much. Posts are usually a bit of a dumping ground for whatever is going on in my head. I tend to get off of the topic.

Project Talk: I'm Going to Go Ahead and Blame the Weather

Cubist Socks-Done!

The weather around here has been absolutely ridiculous, it is early January the temperature is going to be almost 50 today. Global warming, the beginning of the apocalypse, forewarning of the impending zombie uprising, or freak weather abnormality? It is hard to say. Most of the people who come into the bank seem to be enjoying this freakish weather, but I am not most people. I love winter, I want to look out my window and see snow drifts, icicles, and frost; not brown wilted plants and dreary gray skies.

Because of the unusual weather (or not…most likely not, but hey, we all need something to blame), my knitting funk has continued. I’m doing better than I was, but I was focusing almost exclusively on the Cubist Socks. As of Monday, I have these socks completely done and off the needles. Which, of course meant that I had to base my outfit choice for Tuesday solely on the new socks.

I’m learning from past experiences, and decided to frog and reknit the Spatterdash fingerless gloves using a size bigger needle. I've roughly gotten to the point where I was when I decided to frog, so they are moving along well now. And, I finally got a picture that almost accurately represents the colors in the yarn.

Close Up of Spatterdash

I still haven’t even cast on for the second sleeve of the Sheepcote sweater (or taken the first sleeve off of the needles for that matter). I don’t know if there is an actual reason besides my laser like focus on the socks. I have discovered, however, that both Ms. Bode and Ms. Lily are big fans of the yarn I’m using for this sweater (Valley Superwash Merino, I’m a big fan too, it is super soft) and are willing to climb things and dig in baskets to obtain said yarn. That is going to make completing the sweater very interesting.

Today, I also spent some time on Ravelry and decided on the next pattern and yarn combination for socks. I'm going to knit Brainless (rav. link) by Yarnissima, I'm knitting them out of Knit Picks Essential (now called Stroll) in the colorway called Peacock Multi, a combination of purples, blues, and greens. Hopefully the yarn/pattern combination works out.

According to the weather reports, things should be returning to normal (or at least closer to normal) over the next couple of days, so I'm going to run out of excuses for not knitting. That should mean more pictures of finished products up here soon!

In other news, the new job is still going well. I’m feeling more and more comfortable, and have to ask less and less questions about how to do things. I’ve actually engaged co-workers in conversations (or at least attempted to, small talk is nowhere near a strength for me), which is a pretty big step considering my chronic, acute shyness, and have still managed to avoid letting them know that I have the sense of humor the your average fourteen year old boy, or a massive fear of birds. But we all know I can’t keep that one hidden forever, at some point, my true colors always show.