FO: Spattergroit Mitts

I have an actual finished knitting project, people! I spent a couple hours last week watching The Voice while I sewed on buttons and wove in ends on my Spattergroit mitts.

I think I’ve mentioned previously that even though the pattern is called “spatterdash”, I keep referring to them as “spattergroit” instead.

This pattern is perfect for a variegated yarn – this particular one is Dyeabolical Alter Ego in Katatomic. Such a great color. These mitts are just fun! I seamed the edge down on mine before I sewed the buttons on, as I knew there was NO WAY I’d go through buttoning them every time I tried to wear them.

I would definitely make these again, although there are several ends to weave in on each mitt, which meant I finished knitting them WEEKS before I went about weaving in ends & sewing on the buttons.

Pattern: Spatterdash wristwarmers by Dagmar Mora (free on knitty), size M.
Yarn: Dyeabolical Alter Ego in Katatomic.
Needles: Um, I forgot to note which ones. I’m gonna guess it was a size 3 (or maybe 4) since I knit tight.
Ravelry project page. :)

Crafty update: sticks, string, needles, & thread.

One of the wisest things I did this semester was decide to take only one class. I knew two things before the semester started: 1) this class involved a lot of work; and 2) there was an excellent chance that I would be increasing my hours at work. Both of those things have proven to be true & have taken a toll on my crafty time, but I still manage to squeeze it in there once in a while (probably still more often than I should).

Recently finished:

A disappearing TARDIS bookmark, gifted to Rachel for her birthday. You can find the pattern at Dalek’s Teahouse.

Harry Potter trio cross stitch, pattern from Wee Little Stitches. I started this ages ago & got distracted. Finally spent some time finishing it while looking for my knitting mojo. No idea what I’ll do with it yet, but I also have Harry’s Friends (1 & 2) to stitch up if I want to do an HP cross stitch triptych. Again, no idea what I would do with it, but I do enjoy stitching the pixel people quite a lot.

I made the Eternity Cowl as a gift for one of the ladies at work, though I haven’t gifted it to her yet. I keep meaning to block it first, but I’m starting to think I should just gift it, as I seem to be terrible about actually getting things blocked lately. I want to make one of these for myself sometime soon.

In progress:

I’m only 3 characters away from having this finished for Mindy. She created the pattern before there was one available at Wee Little Stitches & it’s taken me a very long time to get it stitched up. I only have Sarah, Jareth, and Toby left to do, though.

These are the two projects responsible for my loss of mojo, I think. I need to finish this scarf & baby sweater, as they’re both gifts, but I’m feeling selfish at the moment. They’ll get done, just not quite as soon as I’d hoped.

I finally got over the cast on hump on the Hermione’s Everyday Socks & managed to get a good start on the second.

I started these Spatterdash mitts on Tuesday & am loving the way the Katatomic colorway knits up. I also keep calling them Spattergroit mitts, but that was the disease Ron’s parents were to say he had when he didn’t get back to Hogwarts in year 7. Apparently it all comes back to Harry Potter.

There are still many other projects on the needles, but these are the ones that have my attention at the moment. Well, these four and the one in line to be cast on.

I scored this yarn in a ravelry destash after falling in love with it eons ago and it’s begging to be made into a Millwater. Right now. As in it’s possible I started it as soon as I got home from knitting last night.

I also just acquired these lovely little mini-hanks of Dyeabolical Super Ego in highlighter colors. These will be paired with a neutral to make a stripey infinity scarf. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

So, there we have it. That’s a lot of crafty for a girl who should be reading up on her dissertation topic and the other readings for class. And as if that isn’t enough, I had been thinking for a while that the world needed a dose of Ziggy the Wondercat every day. I mentioned it to Rachel on Sunday & she encouraged me to do it NOW. So I did. If you want to get a daily fix of the Ziginator, it’s at The Daily Ziggy. :)

FOs: It’s Mitt-tastic!*

It all started when the Commuter mitts I made last year felted up & started pilling horribly. Then all my other fingerless mitts went missing and the ones I did eventually find weren’t thick enough to keep my hands any semblance of warm. So I had to do it. I needed a new pair of fingerless mitts.

I just didn’t need 3 new pair all at the same time.

The cashmere mitts happened when I saw someone post them on a ravelry forum. I had this lone skein of Plucky Knitter aran cashmere that had previously been mitts that didn’t fit, so I frogged them. But then the yarn sat for a very long time – what can one do with approximately 80 yards of yarn?

The pattern is One Cable Mitts from blue sky alpacas. As I had a bit less yardage to work with than the pattern required, I made a few modifications to make the mitts slightly shorter, which worked out fine. These mitts are nice and toasty warm – perfect for those chilly days when you’re outside long enough to get cold, but not long enough for your fingers to freeze off. (ravelry page)

Then there were the scrappy mitts – or Scrappily Ever After, as I called them. These are more fashion than function, but I still have so many leftover bits & bobs of yarn that I keep trying to find things to do with it. I decided to make these fraternal twins just for fun.

The pattern for this is Happily Ever After Mitts by Susan B Anderson. The yarn for these was various bits & pieces of Plucky Knitter fingering weight yarns. Quite a few of these turned up in my Rayures, so you may see a few familiar colors in there. (That scarf, by the way, has been getting a TON of wear this winter. It’s warm & toasty, but not TOO warm and toasty.) I can actually see making these again with some handspun yarn or something that needs a simple pattern to let the yarn shine. (ravelry page)

Finally, inspired by our young Knit Nighter Madeline, I whipped up a pair of the Political Process Mitts out of knitty. Madeline wore a pair to knitting one night & we all ooh’ed and aah’ed over hers, so I needed a pair for myself. These are actually the mitts that started the fingerless party, but they were also the last finished because they were just a hair more complicated. These are my favorite of the three, though, and I feel they will probably get the most use until I wear them out.

I made a slight modification to the pattern, shortening these for two reasons. One, I feared I might not have enough yarn for the longer version, as I was using the partial hank of tosh dk in Ink leftover from Sarah’s Sammie sweater. And two, once I started working on these, I realized they would be SUPER long if I kept going with the second repeat of the cable pattern, and SUPER long may have been TOO long. So I just eliminated the second pattern repeat & started the thumb gusset on the same row of the first repeat instead. (ravelry page)

Naturally, I finished all these as we were in a cold snap that required gloves or mittens to be worn at all times. Good thing I got some bright pink yarn from Rachel to make myself mittens out of. And of course, I have an idea for a lined mitten out of the eco wool leftover from my Twenty Ten Cardigan – how lovely would a pair of mittens out of that yarn lined with a cashmere blend fingering weight yarn be? They would be soft and functional (and great for making snowmen or snowball fights. Not that I do that, but yes).

*Yep, corny title. I could not help myself.

FO: A Cardigan for Sarah

Back before the Mindy family ever left for China, I had picked out yarn and a cardigan pattern to knit up for Sarah. Of course, it wasn’t until they had been there for over a week that I actually started working on it.

Considering it’s a small stockinette cardigan, this took me far longer than it should have to complete. I finally finished it around Thanksgiving, but then took forever finding buttons. As always, I wound up with two different sets of buttons for the sweater because I can’t make decisions while I’m in the store.

The sweater fits quite nicely, though the sleeves are a little long for her at the moment (gives her room to grow, right?).

The pattern is Sammie by Terri Kruse and pretty much everything from the e-book this is in looks like great child/toddler wear.

Other details:
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK – Lepidoptra (about 1.5 skeins – main color) & Ink (well less than 1 skein (you could get by with scraps) – stripes).
Needles: size 6
Verdict: I totally want this sweater for me. Luckily, I am knitting a shawl collared cardigan for me. By coincidence, my sweater is a similar color. We’ll be twins! (assuming, of course, that Sarah hasn’t outgrown her sweater by the time I finish mine)
Ravelry project page

Knitting update: I may need a WIP intervention

Most of my recent posts have been about food. I know. Now that I’m back in school, there just isn’t as much knitting or crafting to talk about. My sewing table has turned into a makeshift paper-writing desk for the rest of the semester. My knitting projects are moving more slowly (a severe case of “cast-on-itis” this summer/early fall didn’t help matters there). But things are moving.

Let’s talk about the knitting, shall we?

Current WIPs are many. The selfish knitting is mostly put aside for the moment while I concentrate on holiday crafting. I said I wasn’t going to do that this year. I lied. I always say I’m not going to do it, but then I do. Unfortunately, I can’t show you any of those projects yet. Know that there will be updates on them later. I am kind of amazed that I have these as under control as I do. I only have 3 small-medium projects that still need to be done for the holiday & two of those are at least haflway done. I do have an infinity scarf that I’d like to get done in time to gift for the holiday, but it can also be a happy January gift.

I am anxious to get back to knitting for me, though. I need more socks – I have two pair on the needles & my feet are cold. And I want my Dark & Stormy sweater done so I can wear it (I am still on the first skein of yarn – this will not be done super fast, people). And the neckwear – like I said – a brief spell of cast-on-itis hit me this summer. I cast on EVERYTHING.

Recently off the needles: Two super fun holiday projects I can’t wait to share. I love them both so much. Leroy’s sweater is also off the needles now, though it still needs buttons & blocking. I may find myself at Joann’s this weekend for buttons so that Leroy can wear this soon. :)

Back on the needles: My Folded sweater. I tried to wear it a couple weeks ago & the neckline is just too large, plus the pleats that should be above my bust wound up underneath it. I frogged back to the row after I had made the pleats/joined the arms & am re-knitting the yoke with smaller needles. I didn’t want to frog back any further because (a) I had to do the pleats 3 times the first time because of knitter error (this is why you always read the pattern all the way through) and (b) I didn’t want to have to re-join the arms again. that was a PITA.

Up next: Cleaning up the yarn stash, finishing a few of the WIPs and more socks are on the menu until something shiny catches my eye & I need to knit it RIGHT NOW. That happens more than it should.