48 Stitches

Apparently I can't do math without a calculator...



That's supposed to fit around my upper arm. Yeah... 'nuff said.



(Let's hope it magically stretches out once I remove the provisional tail yarn. Keep your fingers crossed for me!)

Mitten Redux

Okay, so here we have version... I've lost track of what version I'm up to... the latest version of the modified Axel Mitts. I think I have it perfected now, though it has yet to be blocked. And NO IRON this time! But something tells me I'm not going to have enough yarn to finish the second mitt, hmm...

The problem with mittens...

...is that you have to make two of them!





I'm happy to report that I finished my first camo mitt last night!. Whether or not I actually get the second one done is kind of up in the air. (See Exhibit A:)


Exhibit A. Has been in a state of 95% completion for weeks.

In theory it should be easier, since I have the pattern finalized (with a nice little crochet edging and everything) and figured out the button placement. But somehow the second one never wants to get done. It's totally a psychological thing because I feel like I got through an entire project, but then comes the realization that I'm only halfway through. Bah. Right now I'm wearing the one mitt in an attempt to give myself incentive to complete its mate. I was able to convince myself to get started on it this morning, but we'll see how it goes... ha.

Operation Button

I've moved onto a new project. A fingerless mitt camo-along got started on Ravelry so I went out and bought some Red Heart camo yarn. I'm generally not a fan of their stuff, but it was either that or Bernat (which I would have preferred), and the Bernat camo looked more stripey than camo-y. So in the end I had to go with the Red Heart. I read somewhere that the yarn softens up if you wash it, so maybe it won't be so bad.

Anyway, here's what I have at the moment. I got sick of DPNs from the last fingerless mitts that I did (which I actually haven't finished yet... nor have I completed any of the projects from my last post... -_- ), so I thought it would be a cute idea to have it button up. I actually had this one completed and bound off everything, but I realized that I did the button-holes wrong!! So I unraveled about half of it and started again. Isn't it cute though? I'm glad that I decided to knit flat, because the edges have more of a camo look, versus the middle which just comes out stripey. This is actually my first time working with a striped yarn, so it's an interesting experience.



So yesterday I went button-hunting. Had to find the perfect buttons for my wristwarmers. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I would know immediately once I found them. Made a trip to Daytona for size 8 DPNs and figured I might as well take a quick look around the store before heading over to M & J for their huge button selection. But just as I was about to leave, something caught my eye, and there you go, I found my buttons. Mission accomplished!

So Many Projects, So Little Time

1. The reversible Rangers scarf is finally coming along slowly but surely now. But remind me never to do reversible anything bigger than a potholder. This is taking forever!!





2. I decided that one can never have too many fingerless mitts, so I did a search on Ravelry and thought the Axel mitts were really cool. The cuff idea is awesome! It's like the layman's convertible mittens, ha! But I wanted to knit from my stash, so I'm doing my own variation of it with good 'ol worsted weight yarn.





3. Also started Argosy a couple of months ago, but kinda forgot about it for a while... I also forgot to take pictures of it.

4. Short version of my lace-up armwarmers to match this scarf. I finished this a few months ago--though as you can see they're not really finished because I was to lazy to weave in the leftover yarn... -_-

Perfection to a Fault?

Is it crazy that I'm taking this apart because I decided it's 4 stitches too narrow and 2 stitches 4 st 6 stitches too short on the bottom? (notice the different pattern versions in the background :P )



And look, it's reversible!


Sigh, can't finish a scarf if I can't even get it started.



But in the meantime, here are a couple of pics of a recently finished project: fingerless mitts to match my brown stripy scarf! These were done quick and dirty because it suddenly got cold a couple of weekends ago. Tried to recreate the XO pattern on the first attempt, but it looked too sloppy, so I stuck with a simple stockinette for the most part. Had just enough leftover yarn to make the mittens. They're a little worse for the wear now, but soooo warm. Plus, I can still knit while wearing them!



"action" shot :P

It's never too warm for...

Yes, it's been a while. But I haven't been neglecting my knitting, just the blogging part. These babies took me about 3 weeks worth of commutes to finish. Had to tweak the original pattern to get the perfect fit, but that's what the test armwarmer was for. Next will be the mini navy blue wristwarmers version to match my navy blue scarf, once the yarn comes in. I'll have to make sure I have enough ribbon for that. Finding the perfect ribbon to go with these armwarmers was a real pain. There's a whole long story about having the perfect shade of burgundy, but being 1 or 2 feet short, and then discovering that the last of that ribbon was gone, and that the new spool at the store was a different dye lot and all wrong--but I won't get into that now.

(As an aside, bamboo needles are so much better to work with than aluminum. Made the first glove using a pair of aluminum DPNs and got fed up and bought Clover Takumi needles. I was holding out for a nice pair of circular needles, but apparently they don't make size 2 circulars, oh well.)

Test #1: Complete!

Armwarmers test #1 is finished! I was so excited I didn't even bother blocking it or finding a ribbon. Leftover yarn works just fine. This is such a cute pattern; I can't get over it. Though I think I will have to tweak it a bit first before I move on to phase 2. I was a bit nervous while I was knitting, because although the pattern said that it would stretch, it just looked way to small to go around my arm. But it seems to be a good fit and I haven't even blocked yet. Though I do kind of feel like I'm losing circulation now... Of course I am, in effect, wearing a corset around my hand. Take a look!

Getting Warmer

Here's my armwarmer progress report. Test armwarmer is coming along nicely. Good thing these things are small because it takes forever to knit with #2's. As an aside, trying to knit on the train with non-circular knitting needles is quite annoying. It's hard to avoid poking people when you're packed like sardines...



(I seemed to have gotten it dirty already, oops. This is why I like navy blue!)

Before and After

I feel so accomplished; I actually did what I said I would, when I would! (Most of) my yarn has shed its previous home...



...in favor of a much more sturdy and organized locale. Unfortunately I couldn't fit all of it in, but I crammed in as much as possible, as you can see. Hopefully the lid won't pop on me.





And here's a bonus pic of the armwarmers I started yesterday. Not sure how far I'll get in these warm months, but I like the way it's coming along so far. It's basically a seed stitch border with stockinette for the main part, and a row of purl to separate them. I'm going with the cream color for my trial run because, well, it's thin and I had extra lying around. One of the Lion Brand baby yarns, nice and soft. Now to figure out what color ribbon to go with it...

Knitting Slump

Hi there. I've been a bit distracted lately, so I haven't devoted much time to knitting or blogging. I guess I'm just a seasonal knitter after all. I did find a blueprint for my next project in a very risque knitting book. A bit too much for me, so I'm just going to wait to borrow a copy from the library, but they have a lovely armwarmers/opera gloves pattern.



Actually, I wanted wristwarmers, but this makes for a good starting point. I'm gonna use navy blue to match my scarf--though technically I made the scarf to match the really cool imaginary wristwarmer pattern in my head. It was originally inspired by the lace-up fingerless gloves pattern in Leigh Radford's "AlterKNITS" but that particular pattern seemed ...sloppier than what I really wanted. I just love the lace-up part.