Split Finger Mittens

Darliss to the rescue.  Those black gloves that were too big (scroll down if you click)?  Remember I frogged them.  But I still owed my daughter her glubs.

And Darliss had just finished for herself a pair of Split Finger Mittens.  Here's the finished product.  Fun to make and quite cute tho they look out of proportion until you put your hands inside.

The "L" is for "left hand" and the right hand has a red thumb.
No confusion here.

Sorry, but no link for the pattern since it's from Darliss' storehouse of creative ideas.  The yarn is Patons Canadiana, stash from the 5 Christmas Hatts.  (Here).

I love the bright contrasts and the stripes.  The colors are the school colors for Concordia Lutheran School in Tacoma, where grandson is in 4th grade and his mom and dad are loyal supportive parents.

However -- adding color always means lots of weaving in of the ends, unless you can carry the contrast  without cutting the yarn (which I didn't do.)

Messy messy and lots of ends, the pesky kind.  I'm listening to S.J. Parris' Heresy, more English turmoil during the days of the Reformation.

Here it is "sorted" as the Brits say.

Hoping the Conductive Thread works so the wearer can use mobile devices even while wearing the mittens.

It's twirly twisty 'thread' and hard to sew with.
I hope the 'blob' will suffice.

Meanwhile, the clown quilt is ready for backing and quilting.  This has been a fun project and went very quickly.

 Busy week ahead with quilting and sewing some projects.  Hoping you each have a pleasant week with a minimum of chaos.

Abundance -- Stashbuster

      It's a hat for a Seafarer.  I will ship it to The Seamen's Church Institute of NY and NJ as part of their Christmas-at-Sea program.  If you wanna participate here's the site.  www.seamenschurch.org

Though, honestly, it looks like a mushroom, probably because of the color I chose.

Lots of ribbing and then garter stitch.
It's NOT knit in the round, but back and forth
on straight US6, with worsted.

I had a full skein of Bernat Waverly, an acrylic I love because it's soft and knits up smoothly.  The color is Bark.  You'll need about 3-3.5 oz for the hat, in worsted.

After the decreases are finished (for the crown)
then the remaining needles are placed half on each needle.
Kitchener stitch is used to join the edges.

I can now log YAH (Yet Another Hat) onto my Christmas knitting list.  And just about the time I thought the list was ending, I discovered two more hat recipients.  More StashBuster projects.  

I am thankful I can knit.  I'm grateful for yarn, whether natural fiber or acrylic.  

Mostly I am thankful for the abundance which surrounds my life.

Yes, you too!

We knitters and fiber lovers  -- and yes, you too -- are all cut from the same cloth (terrible pun, huh?)  We love the look, the feel, the working with, of fibers.  We delight in yarn, yarn shops, owning yarn, touching yarn, piling it up and planning projects.

I proudly count myself among this august group.  Here are my latest additions to stash.

• I love the Monsoon because it's part acrylic with a great color wave.  Probably a scarf.
• I love the pattern.  Probably some Lamb's Pride Bulky from my stash if I can get gauge.
• I love the Cascade Fixation (upper right on the needles) and am playing around with toe-up bed slipper sox.
• I love the Frolicking Feet in the lavender color wave.  Probably sox for me.

I'm sure that, yes, you too have a good friend who shares your passion for yarn and yes, you too, have a stash that is growing after a wonderful excursion with that friend to several LYS's.

Yes, you too.  Don't try to deny it.

Another Lace Tag

In the distribution list of the tags for this blog, I noticed that "lace" appears right near the top. When I checked it was actually the most often used tag.

So it won't surprise you that I'm again knitting a lace pattern.  This time it's a Spring Cardi.

Spring has not arrived in Western Washington (USA), unless you count the daffs, the brilliant purple heather, and the pansies that made it thru the winter.  Oh, and the buds on the trees.

But hope prevails and so I have begun  -- for the second time -- my Spring Cardi.

The pattern and yarn are from Cascade.  Yarn is Sierra, a wonderful blend of cotton with a bit of wool.  This is a go-to yarn for what passes as 'warmer temps' in the chilly spring of the Pacific Northwest.  I also like the blend because the wool stabilizes the no-memory cotton yarn.

The pattern is the Luna Cardigan which tempted me from Cascade's FaceBook page, a free pattern using their Peruvian cotton (no wool.)  The pattern is nice because they include the best ways to add length to either or both of the body and sleeves.  

I'm into stash-reduction so retrieved my supply of Cascade Sierra.  Bot this last summer and actually knitted a garter stitch, top-down cardi.  Well, almost.  Got to the the sleeve and decided I did not like the somewhat sloppy nature of the all over garter stitch.  I'd trimmed it with a few rows of Feather and Fan at the bottom and planned that for finishing the sleeves.  But still . . . 

So I frogged the entire thing and when the Luna Cardigan showed up, I knew this one would work for me.

Here it all is together -- past present and a hint of the future.
Left side -- what's left of the garter stitch, top-down cardigan.
In the middle, with the flower pin -- the piles of frogged yarn.
Lower right -- the ribbing and lace pattern of the Luna Cardigan.

This one is almost seamless -- body of the sweater is knit from the bottom to armholes, then separated for fronts and back.  Sleeves are knit from rib to top of sleeve, which is a set-in sleeve.  

One last comment about Cascade Sierra.  The wool content is 20% and the colors are just glorious.  This one is called Moth -- who is that person whose job it is to sit and match the yarn color to its intended name?  Moth is a perfect match, a neutral with lights.

Still working on sox.  And that afghan?  I know how to sew it together now, but still a few blocks behind in the knitting.  Well, maybe more than a few.