Finished Mitts! With Recipe

Only a week late for Teachers Appreciation week…

They’re sitting in the (very hot) house drying as I write (from my air-conditioned office).

Super easy to knit.  Gorgeous yarn and so lovely to work with, I’m sorry to be finished.  I wondered if I’d be sick of them before I finished all four.  Silk Wool yarn naturally dyed by Tactile Fiber Arts.  I’ll be looking for more of the same.

While you’re waiting for me to add a photo, would you like the recipe?

Easy Mitts Recipe

With gorgeous worsted weight yarn, cast on 36 stitches. 

Knit 3 Purl 1 rib.  Knit as long as you want on your wrist. 

Start the thumb gusset:  Knit 1. Make 1. Knit 1. Make 1. Knit 1. Purl 1. (you’re increasing two stitches one stitch inside the K3 rib).  Finish the round.  *Next round, knit and purl as the stitches come (gusset will be stockinette).  Next round, again increase 2 stitches.  Knit 1.  Make 1. Knit 3(5, 7, 9). Make 1. Knit 1. Purl 1. and finish the round. Repeat from * until thumb gusset, including outer 2 knit stitches is total of 11 stitches.  Place those 11 stitches on holder.  

Make 3 stitches with backward loop.  And continue knitting K3P1 ribbing until mitt reaches desired length (I usually do about 12 rows after setting aside thumb stitches).  Cast off.  To ensure edge does not flare, evenly space K2tog three times as you cast off.

Place 11 held thumb gusset stitches on needle, knit across (leaving long tail for later weaving and neatening).  Pick up 4 stitches to come back to beginning of round.  Knit one round.  Then start Knit 2 Purl 1 ribbing and continue until thumb is desired length (I usually do about 8 rows of ribbing).  Cast off.  To ensure edge does not flare, evenly space K2tog two times as you cast off.

Weave in ends.  Use long tail at thumb to neaten up any holes (I usually do sort of duplicate stitch on the inside) and weave in end.  Wash and block/lay flat to dry.

The spindle came out

I went to Color: A Fiber Festival the other weekend and took a beginning spindle class. It was just what I wanted to get me going with the spindle. I like learning out of books, but when I’m just starting something new and a handcraft, it’s much better for me to watch, then try with feedback from the teacher.

We had bits of Finn (white) and Blue-Faced Leicester (natural brown) top to work with in class. Once I got home and finished off the bit of top, I managed Andean plying out of Spinning in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts.

Washed and hanging to dry from the grapevine.

One half knit into a swatch. The skein was short enough to pull across the room and have the kid cut it in half. I spent the drive to la playa fria swatching. I think I’ll make myself mitts with the bits and pieces of handspun. Knit back and forth in garter, with slipped stitch detail, striping the bits and pieces.

From Mom’s wool roving - white with a touch of grey, total two balls like this one. (I’ve got lots more roving just like it.) My husband watched me plying. I think the spinning spindle fascinated him in the hypnotizing sense, because he helped. Carried the spindle across the room for me. The kid was not happy, wanting to be the one to do it. Oh, the jealousies.

Hurrah for Abuelas y Tios and Puppies!

At la playa fria, we buried the kid. Or did we find toe seedlings coming through the sand?

We played soccer with Uncle’s puppy. Border collie and cocker spaniel, both parents mixed. Four months old, and a sweetheart. He wanted to play with the rabbit, who wasn’t too worried.

Abuela and the kid felted roving on a hot afternoon. Now we get to figure out what to do with it. The kid wanted to felt everything with his feet. Good idea, but we needed more endurance.

They didn’t stay long enough, even though poor Uncle stayed through Sunday morning to get over a nasty poison ivy reaction.  Oh, the blisters!  Oh, the horror!  Oh, the good food he cooked every evening!

Teacher Appreciation Week

(taken at dusk)

Next This(!) week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I have a teacher and an aide to appreciate in a concrete way, so I’m making them easy mitts in luscious yarn. The classroom is usually frigid in the morning. I think this will be a good gift.

The yarn is 50% silk 50% wool, worsted weight, 2 oz/125 yds, naturally dyed by Tactile Fiber Arts. The colour is greener in less light and more gold in brighter natural light. It held up pretty well to casting on six times in an attempt to get a measly tail (I don’t want to waste any). I want a sweater in this yarn. I want a blanket in this yarn. I want to live in a whole castle knit in this yarn. I want to run off to Gretna Green with this yarn. I don’t even care if we never make it to Gretna Green.

(taken an hour or so before dusk)

As of Sunday evening, I finished one mitt and half the second. And I only have another pair to knit (in a soft red, undescribable colour) before Friday. I might manage it.

I have a funny feeling I’m setting myself up for the next few years…

Finished Bunny

Naturally, I made a mistake on the last leg. But I didn’t care to do it over. Perfection is boring, no? Well received by the new grandmother.

Dalegarn Baby Ull, pattern Jess Hutchison Bunny.

Expressing anger appropriately

The sign by the bedroom door.

More kid socks

I seem to be working on a pile of stuff for kids at the moment. (If I’m looking at the actual working-on pile)

Classic Sock from Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks.  48 stitch sock on size 0/2.0mm needles.  Regia Kaffe Fassett design line, colour 4261, lot 23639, maybe Caribbean.

I don’t like to match the stripes.  I start the second sock whenever I finish the first.  This time, I wanted to see the stripes at the heel flap and gusset on the leg, as they’ve turned out.

I’d like to work on something for me.  A couple weeks ago (already!) I ripped out 4 or 5 inches of Unst sock (Knitting on the Road, Nancy Bush) in lovely chocolate Shepherd Sock (Lorna’s Laces) because it was too tight.

I bought another ball of Noro Kureyon Sock in purples and greens (as far as I can tell) because I was yelled at in Korean.  I thought about a solid colour lace yarn for a more complicated pattern, but then I realized that I can’t manage knitting much in the way of lace these days, weeks, months.  Tired brain.  So I bought the extravagant colours of Noro to make something simple but spectacular.  (I hope.)

I hear Nature’s Palette has a new lace weight line.  I want some (gimme gimme gimme).  I love the Nature’s Palette colours.  I need more lace yarn to dream about knitting.

And I want to make myself some more socks.  Maybe with a simple diamond eyelet pattern.  That fit the first time around, because I don’t feel like thinking so much.

But first!  Finish this sock.  I’m sure I’ve finished the rabbit by the time this posts, but the kid wants a rabbit for himself (made from a swatch square!).  And I need to move the orange sweater along a bit.  And then there’s the robot.  And my brother’s mittens (hahahaha) (I must finish them this year).

Robots

I really should knit up that robot for the kid. He’s been patient, but I think he’s aiming to take over the house. As long as he builds robots that clean toilets and put away stuff, I’m happy.

Rabbit

Jess Hutchison pattern, in Dalegarn Baby Ull, size 0/2.0mm needles.  Waiting impatiently for its legs.  Hopefully by the time this posts, I’ll have it finished.  A gift for my supervisor’s first grandbaby, all the way on the East Coast.

edited to add:  Nope, not done yet.  One leg knit, waiting stuffing.  One to go.  I’m thinking about adding a pocket with embroidered carrots inside.  Or a carrot on the hand.

Orange Snakes

I started a sweater for the Kid. It’s based on the Snakes and Ladder gansey from Beth Brown-Reinsel’s Knitting Ganseys. But not quite the same. For one, it will be a cardigan. For another, the kid wants a hood.

I knit through the garter welt and the first two pattern repeats. It seemed a bit big. I took it off the needles, and checked it on the kid. Seemed huge, but that was over pajamas, so not a clear indicator. I checked it against a sweatshirt/jacket.

Yup, a little big, but not so much, especially since this will act as a jacket. But I put the buttonholes too close together. And the side garter strips are a little wider than I like. So, three things I could live with on their own, but together I’m willing to rip and start over. Now I get to cast on again.

And I probably need to buy another ball of yarn. It’s Plymouth Galway Worsted. Orange, as you can see. Chosen by the kid because he liked the colour. And he says it’s sooo soft (he’s obviously illusioned by his love for the colour!). Still, I’ll be careful not to make it with a high neckline in front.

And size 4 needles to get whatever gauge I think I got. The swatch will become part of a robot. Eventually.