Home Stretch

I'm trying to calculate the medals I'll accumulate by Sunday, and I think I'm definitely going to be getting two for the mittens, one in the Mitten Moguls category and one for the Nordic Colorwork Combined. Once these mitts are completed, I'll be performing a triple lutz, followed by a double salchow jump and finishing with a perfectly executed camel spin to get those socks done and sack another medal in the Wips-Dancing event with my picot edged socks.

There was much cursing to finish that thumb. There were too many needles, yarn ends and active yarns to manage with a more ladylike and calm demeanor.

I know that some of you have better winter views than me, but this was the best photo I could snap of a tree that looks like my mitts that didn't force me to grab winter attire to obtain said photo. All I had to do was prop open the back door. Close enough for me.

Part of my problem in the pairs program, is my short attention span for finishing the second item of anything. I'm not patient enough to work mittens and socks side by side on two circulars, or heaven forbid, figure out how to knit one item inside of another. Subsequently, I really suffer with an accumulation of orphaned socks and mittens. Besides the socks I want to finish for these games, I can think of 4 other socks suffering from such a fate right now. I don't know why--especially since I could use an infusion of hand knit socks in my wardrobe right now. There is one pink sock, one rust sock, one blue multicolored sock and one green sock all lacking mates. I'm hoping to get to them sooner than later.

Proof that a mate for this mitt is well on its way.

However, this is not the fate for my Deep in the Forest Mittens. I have cast on for the second mitten and plowed through the complicated cast on edge and braid. I've even done the finish work on the first mitten by weaving in ends and hemming the cuff. Next time, I'll knit the hem like I do when I make a picot edge on socks. Duh. When they're both done, I'll block them.

While these mittens may not be everyone's cup of tea, let me just say that as pretty as they look in the photographs, they're absolutely gorgeous in real life. They fit, well, like a glove. I'll definitely make these again, and I'll do them again in the Merino Mia yarn. Purchased solely for the color, I've found myself a new yarn to play with that has it all going on with shine, bounce, softness, stitch definition and ease of use. It doesn't have a single wart, which is more than I can say for a lot of other yarns in this price range.

That's enough fooling around for me. It's time to hit the color charts again.


Just as soon as I shovel.