One of my WIPs

So here's the half-done first Garter Mitt. The project is similar to Ann Budd's wristwarmers from Weekend Knitting in the sideways construction with short rows, but Ysolda Teague adds an ingeniously constructed thumb. The pattern is written for sport weight yarn, but I wanted to use Jo's handspun so they would be in the same yarn as my scarf. The yarn is fingering weight, so I doubled it and I was getting pretty close to the pattern's gauge, but the resulting fabric was too dense, and using up the yarn too fast.

So I went up two needle sizes and the fabric was much nicer -- still firm enough to keep out wind and precipitation, but drapey enough to be comfortable. Unfortunately, the stitch count was now off, which I expected, but I didn't adjust for it enough (hand was too short, wrist/arm was too long). Frog! So the third time I was very careful and, except for having to tink and reknit the thumb a couple of times, it's worked out much better.

Have I mentioned how yummy this yarn is? The colors are so rich and deep, and the garter stitch makes it feel even smooshier and lovlier.

I've taken a break from the scarf to knit these up, since I don't know how much yarn I'll need. If I run out before the pair is finished, I'll rip back the scarf a little. It's plenty long already, so loosing a few inches won't hurt it.

I'm so glad the weather is cooling off and it will soon be time to wrap myself in wooly goodness!

Quote of the week, from Rose. She said to me yesterday morning, "It's Fall now!" I said, "Yes, Fall is coming soon." "No," she said, "Fall is when the children go back to school, and I'm going back to school today [after the weekend], so it's Fall today." :) According to Rose logic, we'll have Fall once a week until June.