A Little of This, A Little of That: Part 3

I've finished the child-sized companion to the Heart Monkey Hat I posted about a few days ago, although the child has not yet tried it on so I only have the above to show for now. I've written out the pattern (including charts) for both hats, and will post the pattern in the sidebar once I figure out the best way to do it. Can't wait to get started on your Valentine's Day knitting? A PDF of the pattern lives here (or at least I hope it does--this is my first try with this kind of thing).

For J___'s hat, I wanted something a little softer and bulkier (i.e. faster to knit) than I used for the monkey's hat. My LYS (Renaissance Yarns) had Louet Gems Bulky in red, but no bulky pink so I used Cascade 220 for the light pink. I think that the hearts would look more "solid" in the bulky, and once J____ has had a chance to try it on I might duplicate stitch the hearts if they need some extra heft. The Louet bulky has an almost cotton-y feel to it, although it's 100% wool--it's very nice on the hands.

In other news, the second Bird in Hand mitten is coming along just fine:

I'm past the challenging braids, and found that by NOT doing all three in the space of 12 hours basically elimates the hand cramping that plagued me on the first mitten. Imagine that! This has moved from a Christmas deadline to a mid-January birthday deadline (sorry, E____ G____, I'm not talking about you).

And last but not least, I cast on the second Stripey Sock, and the stripes look like they are lining up pretty well so far:

The new toe looks like it might have a row or two more of the teal at the tip of the toe, but I'm willing to live with that. I'll try to make sure that the heel hits at the same row, and it will all even out on the feet.

Baby Bird, Come Back Home

The right Bird in Hand Mitten is complete, and currently soaking in woolwash. I think I covered this in my earlier post about the mittens, but I'm using Cascade 220 on US #1 needles. I weighed the yarns after finishing the first mitten, and I used about 22 grams of the cream and about 39 grams of the blue--I didn't weigh the skeins before I started, so there could be some variation. It isn't super apparant in the photo, but the back of the mitten is a little lumpy--the palm is much smoother. I think that some of the lumpiness will block out, though, and even if it doesn't I'm not concerned.

After the hand was done (including some of the finishing because I wanted to see the picot edge), I was torn between knitting the thumb right away or casting on the left mitten immediately. I couldn't resist the pull of the bird:

The thumb took longer to knit than it should have--I basically spent all morning on it, the knitting itself should have gone much faster. That little bird kept me going, though! The embriodery is a little bit fussy, but it's not too difficult. I used two and three plys of the yarn (instead of all four) for most of it to try to get a crisper look, but I don't think that it made a huge difference.

I have a lot of complaints about my gnarled, cramped fingers after knitting the Estonian Braid, but I can't argue with the results:

I really love the way the first braid looks, right above the picot edge. It made it easier to sew up the picot edge, too--it was easy to see which row I was sewing to in relation to the braid. I'm not quite as enthusiastic about the other two braids--they look nice, and are an interesting design feature, but I could take them or leave them.

I've got a couple of other Christmas items to work on this week, but it's mostly boring stuff--weave in ends, wash / block, etc. Oh, and then there are Christmas cards, which I normally start in November, but haven't started yet. I suspect that the left Bird in Hand mitten will provide an execellent diversion from all of this!

Bird Fly High By the Light of the Moon

I know it looks like I'm knitting this a little tooooo fast (and my finger joints would agree with you). But really, I've been working, and shopping, and doing holiday prep stuff, and getting the same amount of sleep as usual. Although if I could stay up all night, I'd probably be able to finish the main part of the mitten, and possibly the adorable bird thumb.

If I am Then Can I Just Fly Away?

So one way to battle Bee Fields Fatigue is . . .

. . . to start a new project. This is the right cuff of a new mitten, started last night. The pattern is Bird in Hand by Kate Gilbert, the yarn is Cascade 220, the needles are size 1 Addi Lace. This project started so fast that I'm still not totally sure what happened.

The timeline (Pacific Time) went like this:

5 pm: I see this post mentioning that the Bird in Hand Mittens are a popular outgoing link from Ravelry. I check out the post, and photos of the mittens in progress.

6:30pm: I purchase pattern (and this one too!), plan to start them after Christmas.

8:30pm: I wind a skein of blue yarn that I was planning to use for felted clogs, and dig out a skein of off-white yarn, and cast on.

10:30pm: My hands are cramped and twisted by the first two Estonian braids. I decide that I should stop knitting for the evening.

Midnight: I stop knitting.

Sunday, 7:45am: I start knitting again.

I think that these mittens will make a great gift, and at this pace (which my gnarled joints can't possibly keep up) will be finished quickly. The mittens are dense (size 1 needles + worsted weight yarn!), but that also means that they will be really warm. I have some other holiday prep on the docket today, and my hands really can use a break, but I'm now three rows into the main pattern and am itching to get back to the bird.