Beige and Blue...Knitting Ennui Ensues

It's mid-February and we all know what that means here at chez woolly.   That's right, I'm tired of everything I'm already knitting and I'm longing to cast on something new.

Right on schedule.  This happens every year like clockwork.  I start the month strong, knock something off the needles that's been hanging around 95% done, then turn my attention and focus to the next things on the list...only to rediscover why they weren't done to begin with.

Jess' Cowl is coming along -- I'm about 9 of (probably) 15 repeats in. (I say 'probably' because Jess, who is considerably ahead of me on this endeavor, made it to 15 before running out of yarn.  Gauge being what it is, my mileage may vary.)

Carl's socks aren't much further along than they were -- which is only to be expected as they were only meant to be purse knitting anyway.

Rowan's sweater, you'll be relieved to hear, is not only back to where I started before the Great Frogging last weekend, but actually a bit beyond.

If it doesn't fit him this time, I may make him eat it.

I spent most of last week plugging along on these three projects feeling terribly ho-hum about all of it.  There was so much sighing you'd swear I was a teenager suddenly cut off from cell-phone privileges.   Then it hit me.

Take a close look at those three projects.  Notice anything?

Like how they are all blue.  Or beige.  Or blue and beige?  Like how they are all three gift knits? 

Yep.

Now, mind you, I'm happy to be making all three, and willingly undertook to do so.  I love the people I'm knitting for and will be pleased as punch to hand over the completed goods.

But I'm an inherently selfish knitter at heart.  I don't mean to be, but I am.  Once I realized the cause of all my knitting malaise I realized there was only one thing to do.

You can't see, but there's a hippo in there.

Much better.

A Wiser Knitter

It's been a kind of a weird week here at chez woolly.  We are mostly back in our bedroom -- in fact I made it a point to get the boots out of the bathtub yesterday. (Still not a euphemism).

The light isn't great, but take my word for it,
that's one handsome floor.

My February is for Finishing is moving along, but I'm at the place where you can't see it.  This is what I get for finishing three projects in the last week of January.   The Mullspice hat was a doggle.  Everything else is going to be a bit of a slog.

I've been working on my best Jess' BFF Cowl.  Shown modeled here with the only thing that makes "purl 5 together" seem like a good idea.

TGIF, y'all

It was barely begun when February started, so it is going to be a while yet before we start seeing real progress.

I've also picked Rowan's sweater back up.  Now, I really did understand that when I agreed to knit a sweater for a 13 year old boy that I was risking a lot.  I mean, I get it. He could be fickle, he could wipe chocolate sauce all over it, he could leave it on his bedroom floor and affix a wad of gum to it.

Anything can happen when you're 13.

Like, you could grow for example.

Yeah.  That happened.

So, yesterday afternoon I pulled back more sweater than I care to admit to.

This is an example of anti-progress.

That was an unfortunate happenstance.  A wiser knitter would have tried it on the child before knitting the bulk of the body of the sweater.  A wiser knitter would have chosen a larger size for the sweater in the first place.   A wiser knitter would have married a tiny man, and borne tiny offspring.

Alas, I am not that knitter.

I am, however, a knitter who has properly em-biggened the sweater by adding several more increases before separating for the sleeves.  I've re-separated them and knit about another inch beyond that of straight body.

And yes, he's already tried it on.

It fits.

This week.

FO: Mullspice

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single hat in possession of a good cable, but lacking suitable decreases, must be in want of finishing.

Or put another way, it's funny how fast things finish up when you pick them up and knit them, idnit?

This was the Mullspice Hat on January 31.

Coincidentally, this was also Mullspice on Oct 28, when the picture was taken.

And here is the Mullspice hat on February 3.

I have no idea why my hat is suddenly this color.

During the four months that I have been "working on this" I physically laid hands on the hat on six days.  Serious knitting occurred on three.  I can't even with myself sometimes.

As a side note, it's hard to get decent photographs of knitting during the week in the winter when you work an 8-5 gig in another city.  I should have just brought the hat to my office and taken a picture of it there.  

Project Notes

Pattern:  Mullspice by Alicia Plummer

Yarn:  Verdant Gryphon Traveller (DK weight) in the "The Bamboo Grove" colorway

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) 16" circular, for the ribbing and US 6 (4.0 mm) 16" circular for the rest

Special Tools:  Brittany cable needle

Size: 22"

Started: October 27, 2014

Finished: February 3, 2015

See my Ravelry project page here for more (also mostly terrible) pictures.

So that's one down!  I've picked up Jess' Bestie cowl next, and this weekend I plan to gird my loins and rip back Rowan's sweater.  There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  And possibly some liquid fortification.  We'll see.

Annual Airing of the WIP Pile: February is for Finishing 2015

February is all about finishing here at chez woolly.  I started doing this years and years ago -- in fact, a quick search in the archives would seem to indicate that I first started posting about it in 2006.

You will all be proud and relieved to learn that none of the projects on that first list are still hanging out and waiting to get finished.  Though I will confess that the Absolutely Fabulous afghan didn't get finished until 2012.  But let's not dwell on that!  Instead, let us turn our focus to what I'll be turning my needles (and hooks) towards this month.

Being an accounting of all projects currently extant and in progressio.

1. Knitting in Red. March 17, 2012. Long time friends of the show will remember that I started this shawl as an Intentional project with a lot of meaning attached.  I think the fact that I set up the project with such meaning and then walked away from it hasn't entirely been good for me.  Sometimes you need a rest, and sometimes you let things linger and stagnate.  This is not on my radar to finish this February, but I will be finishing it this year.  I pulled it out on January 1, during our cast off/cast on knitting and life planning party and did exactly two rows.   So it has some fresh energy in it, and I'll be adding more as the year progresses.

2. Emelie.  June 23, 2013. This was meant to be a sweater for me, but it just never gelled.  The gauge isn't quite right, and after everything I learned last summer knitting sweaters, this particular iteration of Emelie is doomed to the frog pond.  I may knit it later, but likely not with this yarn (nor in the size I cast on).

Yes, this is the same picture I used last year.
Yes, this is still exactly where I am on this sweater.

3. Circles to Squares Afghan. July 9, 2013. You'd've thought that my success with my Neat Ripple Afghan would have inspired me to pull this fellow out and finish it.  But you'd've failed to take into account my love affair with Lucy of Attic24, and not counted on the Cosy Stripe Blanket (more on that below).

4. But Not the Hippopotamus.  August 3, 2013. Crocheted, modular, adorable.  What's not to love?

And let me break here a moment and point out that these are the only projects left that were also on last year's list.  Once Emelie is frogged that leaves me with only three projects older than a year.

Normal people would probably not be impressed with this revelation, but those of you who were here for the February of 2011 and it's 25 projects, or who held my hand while I frogged the Watergarden Cardigan after 6 or more years of inactivity... those of you who know these things, you should rejoice with me.

5. Besties. September 5, 2014.  Jess and I are doing the BFF cowl by Ysolda Teague and Stephanie Dosen from Knitty Deep Fall 2012.  I'm farther along that this picture implies...but not much.

6. Little Pumpkins Socks.  September 7, 2014. I've got these hibernating because I can't even with pumpkins right now.  I'll pull them back out in June or July and finish them in time for next fall.

7. Striped Hoodie for Rowan (Emilien --  not to be confused with Emelie). September 28, 2014. I was cruising right along on this, and had most of the body done when I got Rowan to try it on. Dude grew.  Of course he did.  I got more yarn, and I'll be ripping back to where I separated the arms to embiggen it.  There were great lamentations when I realized this was going to be necessary.

So. Much. Frogging.

8. Mullspice.  October 27, 2014.Just a wee, cabled hat.  I got the yarn at SAFF last year.

9. Warren Creek Cowl.  November 2014. I've barely started this.  I basically just cast it on and then set it down.  No idea what that was about.  I didn't even start a Ravelry project page, so I'm ball-parking the cast on date.

I haven't even taken a picture of it yet.

10. Cosy Stripe Blanket. January 1, 2015. I adore everything about this.  I got 18% done and then set it aside to finish up some socks and my Denver  Cowl.   I won't finish this in February, but I may put a dent in it, depending on how things go with Rowan's sweater.

So cosy!

11. Carl's Big Dude Socks. January 22, 2014. It must be love, that's all I'm saying.

12. Stargazer Lily Hitchhiker. January 31, 2014. I may or may not have cast this on yesterday so I could work on it during February.  I admit nothing.

So there you have it.  Twelve projects, eight of which are from this past year.  I know I'm frogging one, so that puts me at eleven.

First up are the Mullspice hat and the BFF Cowl.

FO: Red Hot Toe Up Socks

Can you get over this finishing streak? Earlier this week Morgan cocked her head to the side and said with no little bemusement, "It's not even February yet."

Don't worry kid, I got more coming.  February will be plenty busy.

Pretty sure the only thing sock blockers are good for is posing socks for photos.

Project Notes

Pattern: Double Gusset on Bottom Toe Up Sock by Carrie Ramirez
Yarn: Lion Brand Sock Ease Prints (I know, right?!) in the "Red Hots" colorway  (Don't judge, it was $3 on clearance and I am a sucker for orange.)
Needle: US 1.5 (2.5mm), 2 16" Knit Picks Circulars
Size:  68 sts, which in retrospect is probably 4 too many.  I used to knit myself 72 stitch socks. I'm not sure what happened there.
Started: November 23, 2014
Finished: January 31, 2015

I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy bind-off, and it performs exactly as advertised.  Overall, I would say that this was definitely a "positive toe-up experience."  I am not likely to become a full convert to toe-up socks, but my knitting pattern options just got a whole lot bigger.

See my Ravelry project page here for more pictures.

FO: Denver Cowl

As promised and predicted, I bring you another FO.  I got my Denver Cowl to within a row and the bind-off Sunday night before I decided I was too tired and went to bed.  So last night it was just a wee spot of K1,P1 and a bind-off that was looser than your mom on a Saturday night.

Have I mentioned the light is pretty good in my office?

 I tried to get some nice FO shots Monday night, but between the lighting and an unenthusiastic model who would frankly rather be reading...

It is a good book.  I can't hardly blame her.

I cast this cowl on on January 1 as part of my Intention setting for the year (that sounded funny, cast on on ... but you know what I mean) so I am really glad that I got it finished in a timely manner.  Begin as you mean to go on, etc.

It was also part of the Yarniacs' "Self Indulgent Knitalong" -- I would definitely count my first exposure to this delicious yarn (yarn I bought at my first SAFF) as self-indulgent.  We are pleased.

Project Notes

Pattern:  Denver Cowl, a free Ravelry download by Veronica Parsons
Yarn:  487 yards of Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein in the "Coffee Break" colorway (if ever there was a yarn made just for me...)
Needles:  US 8 (5.0 mm) ChiaoGoo 32" Circular
Size:  260 Stitch cast on (me sized)
Started: January 1, 2015
Finished: January 26, 2015


See my Ravelry project page here for more pictures.

Everything is Moving Just a Little Too Slowly

We are deep into remodeling and I am more than a little over it.  On the one hand the allure and romance of sleeping in the living room and not knowing where my pants are is starting to fade a bit.  On the other hand, I used a table saw for the first time yesterday. RAWR.  Other power tools I've wielded this weekend include a drill and an electric sander.  

The real hero of this story is Carl though. He's busted his tuchus all week long to get us this far.

This was taken on Friday.  Since then we've completely
finished laying the floor and cleared away most of the mess.

We're so close to done I can taste it.  And far enough away that I'm pretty sure that there will be boots in my bathtub forever.  (Actual boots in my actual bathtub -- that's not a euphemism for anything.  I ran out of places to stow stuff out of my closet.)

On the knitting front, I've been uncharacteristically monogamous (if by monogamous you mean "loyal to the same three or so projects, with a brief first date with a fourth" ... and I do.)  I finished up my Beer and The Voice socks earlier this week; I talk about them here.  Once they were done, I got my second Toe Up Gusset on the Bum Thingamer sock on the needles, and I'm about halfway up the foot.

I'm also so close to finishing my Denver Cowl that you can expect an FO post on it any day now.  I spent a fair number of hours today un-knitting and re-knitting part of the cowl.  I may or may not have uttered several unladylike phrases during this process.  I'd buggered up the (very simple) stitch pattern somehow and ended up needing to tink back 6 full rows of 260 stitches.   

It's all sorted now, but if I hadn't done whatever the frack it was I did, I would be reporting an FO tonight, instead of vague promises of "soon".

Progress is being Made... Slowly

Anyway, the end is in sight on any number of projects around here, but none of it is happening quite fast enough to suit me.   Why can't I knit faster while simultaneously sanding hardwood?  That's what I want to know.

Oh, I also cast on a pair of vanilla socks for Carl.  I don't really plan to work on them until my toe-up pair are done, but since the hard part of any sock (for me at least) is starting the damn thing, I figured this will set me up for purse knitting in February.  I cast on 84 stitches (which seems like a lot, but I'm a tight knitter.  I took actual measurements and did actual math... and I'm not afraid to rip it back if it's too many.  It's only knitting.)

I admit it, I don't gauge swatch for socks.

In unrelated, acquisition news, I picked up a package of "Edu-Tiles Play Mats" from Amazon to use for blocking.  I've been wanting some for a while now, so I'm excited to get them out and use them (that'll have to wait until my house is a little less rife with sawdust, I'm afraid.)   I also picked up some Brittany cable needles but I didn't get a picture of them.  

Delightful child not included.

So that's my week in a nutshell.  Last week I said I'd be talking about February is For Finishing today, but I think I'll hold off on that post until next Saturday, the 31st.  I prematurely made some February goals in my on-line knitting community and I've accidentally already completed two and a half of them.  My project list is a bit of a moving target right now.

FO: Beer and the Voice Socks

Popping in with a mid-week post to announce that I've completed my "Beer and the Voice" socks.

My office has really good lighting,
but it looks like I should wipe down my desk.

These are plain-Jane vanilla top-down socks, knit according to a combination of the sock pattern that lives in my brain and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "A Good, Plain Sock" recipe.  I cast them on in December because I needed something I could work on while drinking beer and watching The Voice (hence the name).

Or as I overheard on the 2 Knit Lit Chicks podcast this morning, "There's some knittin' that's for thinkin', and some that's for drinkin'."  (Or something like that).

Project Specs:

Yarn:  307.5 yards of ONline Supersocke 4-fach Walking-Color in the creatively named "1527" Colorway
Needles:  US 1.5 (2.5 mm) 5" DPNs
Size:  64 Stitch cast on (me sized)
Started: December 5, 2014
Finished: January 20, 2015

See my Ravelry project page here for more details and pictures.

Topsy Turvy

I'm writing this a day late due to Great Doings that are taking place in my house.

The husband and I decided to finally lay hardwood flooring down in our bedroom, which of course means that we had to completely empty it out, and then when we popped off the trim, the paint needed redoing and then...

Let's just say it's a big job, and it seems intent on growing every time I turn around.

In other news, my closet is apparently a TARDIS, and I am a Time Lord.  And nearly 14 years is a long time to spend folding time, space, and stuff into one small area.  It is my fervent hope, desire, and intention to put back less than I took out.

My poor husband's poor office.  Also I can't find my pants.

When I got home from work on Friday most of our bedroom was in our living room (there are yarn shelves in my kitchen -- which frankly is the least traumatic part of all of this, as far as I'm concerned...though I can see where others might disagree.  If by "others" you mean "my husband" ... and I do.)

This part is pretty nice.  Easy access!

Saturday was for hauling out the old carpet, finding staples and nails and pulling them out, and CLEANING.  Dang that was a lot of funk in that room.

Sunday was painting, and today I am at work whilst my dear husband is at home slaving away with laying down the floor.  (I have no pity.  He likes it.  And this is all his fault anyway.  So there.)

Cutting in the ceiling.  Like a boss.

You'd think that all of this industry would leave little time for knitting -- and mostly you'd be right.

I did finish the first of my Double Gusset on Bottom Toe Up Socks (pattern by Carrie Ramirez).

For NEW TECHNIQUE TUESDAY I discovered that Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off is both surprisingly stretchy and a bind-off.  Discuss.  (I don't think it was really a Tuesday, but I did try a new technique.  I used this tutorial, based on the article in Knitty Fall 2009.)

I also knit the second of my Beer and the Voice socks with a great deal of vigor.  So much vigor, in fact, that I earned over 2000 steps on my Fitbit.  Without a word of a lie I was sitting on my couch like a great lump (well, a great knitting lump) when the "You hit your step count!" buzzer went off.  I've never noticed that happening before, and all I can figure is that I was being REALLY REALLY PRODUCTIVE.

These socks are not going to last me on the needles until February -- I am thinking I'll need to cast on another Vanilla pair just so I have some good purse knitting.

I worked a bit on my Denver Cowl, but it basically looks exactly like it did last week... only wider.  I won't bore you with another picture until there's something to see.

Tune in next week for exciting news about February is for Finishing!  And maybe even a Finished Object, if my VIGOROUS sock knitting continues.

And maybe a finished bedroom too, please G-d.

I'm in Love

I am pretty much in love with what I'm working on right now.

Isn't that a great feeling?  Both the Denver Cowl and the Cosy Stripes blanket are just so lovely I can hardly stand it.

The Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein that I'm using for my cowl is soft and bouncy (which makes that damn K3Tog, YO, K3Tog into the same three stitches maneuver infinitely more doable), and the colors just make my heart sing.

It's full of browns, blacks, greys, creams, and the occasional flash of peach or ice blue.  I couldn't be happier.

I'm using Stylecraft DK (a 100% acrylic yarn that totally does not suck) for my Cosy Stripes.  I'm actually using the color-pack that the designer put together, and in the order that she did hers in.  I'm essentially crocheting it from a kit.  And I LOVE it.  The colors are perfect, and the yarn is really (surprisingly) soft and pleasant to work with.  The pack is available here, in case you wondered.   I did the math and the exchange rate worked out that the yarn was $2.60 per 100g ball, shipping included.  That is such a reasonable price.   It's pretty much as far from shopping local as I could get, but I'm still delighted with it.

So those are my two main projects -- both started on January 1.

I've also been plugging away at my socks.   I finished up one of my Beer and the Voice socks (just what it says on the tin -- I cast them on so I'd have something vanilla to work on when I need stupid knitting).  Anyway, Sock #1 is done, and in an effort to stave off the dreaded SSS, I immediately cast on its buddy.  I decided to go for fraternal rather than identical.  Mostly because I couldn't be arsed to pull out nearly 2/3 of the color repeat to find the place to start, and partly because I like to shake up my not-quite-but-almost obsessive need for things to be matchy-matchy.

The second sock starts with the blue.

I'm also almost ready to start the ribbing on the first of my Double Gusset Toe-Up socks.  I'm trying new things, and continuing my quest for what Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls once called a "positive toe-up sock experience."

It looks a little weird, but I couldn't get the sock to lay right on two circs.

Slight segue -- I used to hate toe-up socks because my short row toes and heels looked like ass and the heels were invariably too shallow to fit well.    Long time friends of the show will remember that I was experimenting with this as far back as 2011.  I've recently knit the Mystik Spiral socks by Josh Ryks which use a version of the OMG heel.  That actually fits quite nicely, and so far so do the Double Gusset socks.  My horizons are gettin' broadened over here, y'all.

Of course, as happy as I am with current projects I'm already planning for what's next.  I plan to cast on either Brickless or Trillian soon, and I'm about to go wind yarn for a Color Affection shawl.  I'll be using Cascade Heritage sock yarn.    Koren and Jess both also have fingering weight yarns in Yellow, Red, and Brown so we're planning a wee "along."  Koren very wisely pointed that red bleeds like nobody's business, so a bit of swatching is in order.  I never swatch for shawls because I'm a rebel that way, but I will for this one -- I don't want to finish the entire thing and end up with Red all over my Yellow.

And last but surely not least, one of these beauties is destined to become a pair of Rivendell socks.   The green one on the left is Knit Picks Hawthorne in "Laurelhurst".  The blueish grey to the right is Rain's Obsessive Stichery.  It's the Fred sock base, in the "Lake on the Mountain" colorway.   I picked it up at Fiber in the Boro last year.

Oh, and one last thing -- did you notice the project bags in a couple of my pictures?  They are Erin Lane bags that I picked up at SAFF.   I love them to pieces, and they've rather inspired me to get back into my sewing room and to do some project bag sewing of my own.

Ripply Goodness

GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!  I totally finished my Neat Ripple afghan!  After I wrote my last post I went home and powered through the last little bit, got the ends woven in and tidied and managed to raise my total 2014 yardage count to over 10K.  Dang.  (Most of that additional 2,000 yards weren't actually worked during 2014, I feel compelled to clarify).

It's about 39" x 72".  I used 1.5 skeins of 6 different colors of Knit Picks Brava (bought back in 2012, so it was all Turkish).  I used a size K hook, which was way too big.  By the time I realized it, I was in blood too far stepp'd, etc. so I just carried on.  Next time I'll use a smaller hook.   I still have some old school Brava in stash so arguably there could be a next time.

It's squishy and cuddly and warm and lovely and I'm delighted with it.

On January 1 my two besties and I all sat around my kitchen table for several hours talking, planning, day-dreaming, and setting our intentions for the year ahead.  We've been doing this together for something like 15 years now, and it's become an important part of my yearly cycle.  This year we added something a little new.  In my last post I mentioned that I planned to cast something off and to cast something on both on New Year's Day.    All three of us did that together as we talked.   Koren worked on her delicious Malabrigo Cowl and Jess finished up her Endpaper Mitts and some socks on New Year's Eve.

I finished the Grace Lace Beret that I was making for Morgan.  (I used Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool from stash, and Size 8 needles.)

Google+ made this "auto awesome" montage for me.  I couldn't resist.

I also decided to bail on a project that I wasn't loving, so I had two things finished (frogging is a kind of finishing, after all).

So this is what I started:

The Denver Cowl in Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein in the "Coffee Break" colorway (this picture does not do justice to how delicious this yarn is.  DEE LISH US), and the "Cosy Stripes Blanket" by Lucy of Attic24.   It uses 15 different colors, and so far it is making me deliriously happy to work on it.  Each stripe I add changes the overall look and it is delightful.

What are you working on?

Looking Forward Looking Back

2014 was an outrageously productive year here at chez Woolly.
  

One of the main ways that I use the tagging features that Ravelry provides is to tag my projects with the year as I finish them.  (I don't worry about the year I started a project, mind you, just the year I finish it).   I have my projects organized by year of completion, and down at the bottom I get this neat little notice that tells me how many yards and how many projects are included.

In 2014 I knit 8,682 yards and 30 projects.  Dude.   Some of those projects are as small as 40 yard afghan squares, and the largest is my Alice sweater at 1100 some odd yards.

To offer some context around this, in 2012 I knit 2,743 yards in 9 projects.  2013 was better with 7,320 yards in 29 projects.

Anyway, I bet that's all pretty boring to anyone who isn't me.  The key take-aways here are that I knit a lot and that Ravelry is cool.   My 2014 list of finished objects is view-able here.

If I had to pick a favorite project for the year I would really struggle between choosing my Harvest sweater, Multnomah (knit at Multnomah falls, out of yarn spun for me by Jess!), or these mittens that I just finished up for Rhiannon for Christmas.

The Pattern is "How Cold is It?" by Drunk Girl Designs.
I used Palette yarn, and size 3.0 mm needles (size 2.5 in US terms).

Yeah, I am that mom.  Hashtag No Regrets.

Looking Ahead

I have big plans for 2015.  I know that I will be finishing a project (casting off) and starting another (casting on) on January 1.   Begin as you mean to go on, and all that.  I will finish things, I will start new things.  Also, I'm being very deliberate in choosing what I want to cast on.  I will be casting on one of the following projects  (this is Nurmilintu, the Denver Cowl, and Brickless.  The yarns pictured on the right are from my stash and what I will use.  The photos on the left do not belong to me).

I'm looking at two different themes for my 2015 knitting.   First, my motto is going to be "Wear what I knit, and Knit what I will wear."   My underlying theme is:  Intention.

I will be approaching my crafting decisions with Intention.  I will buy yarn because I actually want that specific yarn for a specific project (not just because it was on sale, or because "yarn good."  I will knit projects that bring me joy, and that I actually want to knit (not just choosing projects that will get crap yarn out of my stash).

It's going to be about consciously making the right decisions about how I spend my precious crafting time.

What are you planning for 2015?  Do you have any goals or themes for your year?  What did you do last year that you're most proud of?

GNOMES!

So this is mostly a ta-da! post about the Gnome Mittens by Spillyjane (if you don't know Spillyjane and like fair isle or happiness then you are seriously missing out).

Anyway, I promised my niece Sarah that I'd make her these mittens for her 24th birthday.  For those of you keeping score at home that momentous occasion took place in April of 2013.  Road to Hell, good intentions, etc. etc., yadda yadda.

I cast them on in March of 2013, made it as far as about here:

...and then I bailed on them.  I don't know what happened.  Maybe it was the rows that involve three colors at once (damned gnome beards) or maybe it was the parade of other knits that caught my eye.  I'm not sure exactly what it was but as the months went by Sarah was getting less and less patient with my bullshit.

Me:  ::posts picture of finished scarf::
Sarah:  Hey that's nice!  You know what else is nice?  Mittens with gnomes on them.
Me:  ::posts picture of finished sweater::
Sarah:  Wow,  you're really cranking out those knits!  Feeling like a little mitten knittin'?
Me:  ::posts picture of fourth finished sweater::
Sarah:  FOR THE LOVE OF G-D, WOMAN!

So anyway, last Saturday I picked up the first mitten and by the end of the night, it was done.  "Well," I thought to myself, "that was embarrassing."

I cast the second mitten on the next day and did a bit here and there during the week.  Yesterday, I sat down, put on some podcasts, and finished it up.   BOOM.

Gnome Mittens by Spillyjane
Needles:  Knitpicks size 3, 16" circs
Yarn: Various colors of Knitpicks Palette, raided from my bestie Koren's stash
Yardage:  184, estimated by weight of 40g

Next up, I'm working on finishing up a shawl that I'm lovingly referring to as "Not Socks Then," knit from a Patons sock yarn that stubbornly refused, through three tries and four years to become socks.

(And a quick update to follow-up my last post, all buttons have been sewn on, and I've worn all the sweaters I knit this summer except for Ardys.  I don't have the right outfit for that yet, or haven't figured out how to wear it or something.  I need a white Oxford button down.  I ended up buying new buttons for Myrna, as neither of the options I found pleased me.)