One Week Mittens

It's been really cold here in Ohio and it's been snowing more or less for 2 weeks. Luckily we didn't get anymore snow yesterday or today and the sun has been out to melt it off the roads and parking lots. Anyhow, the point is that all of this cold weather calls for cold weather gear! Like new boots!

On Sunday my mom and I went to Cincinnati to the Ikea store to buy my brother a bed frame. We stayed for 3 hours and we bought a lot of other things. I love that store! When I move out we're furnishing our apartment with Ikea furniture! Another point of the trip was that I was still wearing flats with no socks around and I needed some boots. Some translated into 6 pairs, 5 dress and 1 warm pair. This boot is from Columbia and it was majorly on sale! Yes!

I also needed a pair of mittens! I've been wearing my Under the Tree Mitts, and they worked find until it started getting really cold and now I definitely need some mitts with tops! That's where the Snapdragon Flip Tops come in. After aforementioned snafus, I cranked these guys out in only 1 week and they are currently ready to go. Well, after I dunk 'em in some wash that is.

Specs:
Yarn: Buckeye Alpaca worsted, Natural from "Kalynda"
Needles: Size 6
Pattern: Snapdragon Flip Tops [Ravel it!] by Ysolda Teagues
Mods: I added an extra round of increases because I have big man hands
Thoughts: LOVE!!



Also I mentioned that I was going to order the Madeline Tosh yarn that the original mittens were made of. IT CAME TODAY! OMGOMGOMGOMG!

I love it. =) It's not quite as orange as I had hoped, but I still love it. I also ordered some of the Malabrigo Twist in "Azul Profundo", their Aran/Worsted weight plied yarn. I have plans for this. Very specific plans. We'll see if they work out.

*ETA: The Madeline Tosh photographs oranger than it is, it's really more of a yellowy golden color irl, still quite lovely and squishy, though.

And last but not least, I started a sweater from the Briar Rose yarn that I got at Rhinebeck. Hopefully this is a quick knit as well. I have so many things that I want to make... if only I could grow another set of arms!

I almost forgot! The Madeline Tosh/Mal came with a scratch off ticked from Eat.Sleep.Knit. (Where I ordered it, the only place that had the Madeline Tosh in "Gilded"!) and I WON A $50 CREDIT! WOO! I never win stuff like that so I am very, very excited about it. =)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

New Year

Okay so how bad is it that I'm almost breaking one of my resolutions already? I resolved to post at least once a week this year. Since the 1st was on a Friday I'm counting this as the first post in the first week.

I've been very absent in my online life lately. I really just blame it on one thing... I bought The Sims 3 the day after Christmas. I. Am. Addicted. It's a great knitting game, as long as you're not doing anything too complicated. I've knit 2 wash cloths (in a great bright blue for the BF they were supposed to be for Christmas, but we won't talk about that) and most of a mitten so far.

I seriously considered doing a Sims 3 blog, but I think that's just way too much work. There's all the screen captures, uploading and editing the photos, so The Sims are just for me, and I'm okay with that. =)

The mittens I'm knitting are Snap Dragon Flip Tops by (who else) Ysolda. It's a really great pattern, and I've actually probably knit the cuff at least 2.5 times by now because A) The yarn I used originally, I think I'm allergic to. That made me really sad because it's from the Hope Spinnery, which uses natural dyes and wind energy to spin the yarn. That was the yarn I chose exclusively for the mitten/hat set. B) I kept not paying attention the charts and having to tink back. Usually I can just get the jist of a chart and be on my way, but the cable charts don't go exactly how you'd think so I kept making little mistakes.

The yarn I'm using now is from a local Alpaca farm named Buckeye Alpaca and it's soft and lovely. The mittens are going to be super warm and I'm pretty happy with them. There's only one problem. The color. It's a natural brown color and it's lovely. However, I fell in love with the eye popping orangey yellow of Ysolda's originals. I'm actually considering making another pair with the exact yarn that she used... There's just something about the color of it that I absolutely love.

Anywho, one of my Christmas presents was a new camera (Yay!). It's a Nikon (YAY!). It's not like an SLR or anything but it has 12 megapixel resolution, where my other camera only has 7. So you can look forward (hopefully) to some new and improved photos!

Under the Tree Mitts

Today, dear readers, I will embark on a mission... Okay, not really. I'm flying to Florida today and tomorrow I'm boarding a cruise ship! So exciting!! =D

Okay, now for the knitting. First of all, I just want to say that I LOVE THESE MITTS!! They are quite possibly one of my all time favorite FOs. I don't know what it is exactly, the gray Malabrigo, the cute owl cable, or that they fit perfectly, or something else. I just love them (lets just say to the point where my boyfriend thinks I'm a little obsessed). Too bad it's too warm out to wear them! Oh well, I guess I'll just be prepared when the cold weather rolls around!

The first time I tried to knit these I used the suggested size 6 needles. However since I have wide man-hands, this didn't work out overly well and I ended up ripping and starting on a size 7. Ahh, much better. since my hands are so wide I ended up doing a round of increases after the ribbing as well. I increased 4 because I figured that would be enough so that the ribbing at the top wouldn't be a problem. However I forgot about the column of knit stitches going up the sides of the hand which put the second column at a purl part of the ribbing, interrupting it. It ended up being not so bad, so I didn't do anything tricksy to fix it.

I ripped back quite a few times on these mitts. Just a couple rows at a time, for the increases and I did the cabling wrong once or twice. Mainly just on the first mitt. I did the second mitt (mostly) from memory, using the first one as a guide.

Under the Tree Mitts:


Specs:
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, "Frost Gray"
Pattern: Under the Tree by Erqsome
Mods:

• I used a size 7 needle
• I did 4 pfb on the second purl round after the ribbing
• I used reverse stockinette on the palm instead of regular
• I tweaked the tree branch cabling different to make up for the extra stitches I added
• I used 2 x 2 ribbing on the thumb
• I used a sewn bind off

Thoughts: It's a really adorable pattern and I am in love with it! It's super easy and it was a quick knit. I started 6/19 and finished 6/22. Lovely. =)

Original Photos?!

It's been quite a while since I've written an entry with original photos. I generally like to include photos because they are what I like in other people's blogs. So I figured out the reason for this in class on Thursday (it was a fairly boring day). I didn't enjoy anything I was knitting.

It's too cold to knit lace, so I hadn't made any progress on either of those scarves, and I don't like the Windowpane Coat. Really. I really like the stitch pattern and I really like the yarn, but the two of them together just wasn't up my alley. I kept trying to tell myself that I liked it, and that I would be glad to wear it when I was finished because it would be snuggly and warm. But I just wasn't enjoying it. I don't dislike it, but I don't love it either. What's the point of knitting something for yourself if you don't love it? So that's headed for the frog pond. Instead, I think the yarn will become Amused. I think I'll carry the cables down the front and make it a cardigan.

Also in my 'I don't want to knit anything I'm knitting' state, I purchased some Noro Silk Garden Sock that I'd been eyeing since it came in. The colorway is romantically named 'S84'. It's bright and colorful and I love it.

And it's becoming mittens. Well, convertible mittens. Meaning fingerless gloves/mitten tops that flip back. I'm kind of just making it up as I go along, so I may have a pattern when I'm finished. I'm going to rely on a free glove pattern for the fingers, so we'll see.


Ysolda released the pattern Ishbel (Ravlink) and I saw it and thought "I want that. Now." So I bought the Whimsical Little Knits Collection (Why not? I liked several of the patterns =]), and some Malabrigo lace that I almost bought with the Noro but didn't because I didn't have a pattern for it.

The colorway is 'Pearl Ten' it's a lovely purple/gray/brown and it's so soft. I know, I said it's too cold to knit lace, but this will be pretty warm when I'm finished with it. Plus it's soft and I love it. =P

Also, I have my first FO of 2009! It took long enough, didn't it? I finished the Ranger Hat for Mason and he really likes it. I'm really proud of it as well.


Ranger Hat (Ravlink)

Specs:
Yarn: Moda Dea Bamboo Wool
Pattern: Ranger Hat (Ravelry)
Mods: I changed the decreases and only did 1.5 of the diamond repeats.
Thoughts: I love the pattern and the yarn, I think it's a really good match and I love this hat! =)