Hand Warm-y Thoughts

I've been preoccupied lately with knitting mittens (and other hand warm-y type projects). This is a photo of some things in my gift stash. Clockwise from the top right are Sue Coffin's Fingerless Mittens (from 101 OS Wonders), Eli Stubenrach's Herringbone Mittens (on Ravelry),
Robin Melanson's Jack-in-the-Box Mittens (from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves), Diane Soucy's Super Fast, Super Bulky Mittens, and creativeyarn's Mohair Handwarmers.

And then this week I've been working on Welig, another pattern from Knitting New Mittens.

Like the other pattern I tried from Melanson's book (Jack-in-the-Box), this one is really well written and the yarn (Nashua Handknits Julia) is a perfect match for the project. It's warm and soft and if I'm going to gift these as planned, someone may need to pry them out of my hands.

Christmas Knits

Seems like these days I can knit, or I can blog about knitting. But there's not time to do both. Two planned presents hit major snags this week (no pun intended). Above are some FOs (from L to R): Dashing (in Crystal Palace Aran), and--from OS Wonders in Malabrigo (my new fav. yarn)--Mel's Funky 3-Way Hat, and (my umpteenth pair of) Easy Mittens. All of these patterns are great gift knitting!

Among my other holiday chores? Taking Katie to the groomer so (as they put it) she can "look nice for Santa."

Some Faves

This week I tried a couple new yarns that have been waiting patiently in my stash. (Yes, this means, I have two new FOs, which puts me at 9, I think--just over the average recorded in Knitting Daily's recent poll.) Below is the beginning of the Anthropologie Inspired Capelet from Peony Knits

I'm using Kraemer Yarns alpaca, bulky weight, in rose gray on size 10.5 circs. This yarn is buttery soft, and I look forward to using it for other projects. As for this project--it's quick and easy. I added 5 extra stitches (which gives me 55 total at the cast-on edge and works out to one extra for each section--i.e., two front panels, 2 sleeves, back) since my gage on these needles is slightly fewer stitches per inch than in the original pattern. This may make the capelet too big-- I'll just have to see.

And then below is another pair of Easy Mittens from OS Wonders. I really like this pattern--and, actually, I really REALLY like it with this yarn: Paton's SYS. (GK tells me that she finds this yarn too splitty. And it is. A little. But for me the fuzzy softness is worth dealing with the occasionally splitty strands. Also? So far, it's not pilling. Gotta love that.) I knit these in the smaller size on #6 DPNs.

Truth? They're just my size, which means that they'd probably be a bit snug for a person with average sized hands. If I were making these for someone else, I'd probably go up a needle size.

And, last but not least, can I just say that I recently spent a TOTALLY pleasant afternoon at The Knit Knack in Maplewood NJ. This shop is fab, in no small part because of the friendly owners and the wonderful selection of very beauteous yarns. GK and I spent a very cozy couple of hours knitting (and catching up) as we sat in the comfy chairs at the front of the shop. I also came home with more than a few things to add to my stash, including the most lovely Trekking XXL, which I've nearly finished knitting into a pair of socks. Just for me.