Done and done

So I finished both the Garter Mitts and the Chevron Scarf last week, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, respectively. It took all weekend to get the pictures taken, and then this long to have a half an hour to myself at the computer. I'm disappointed by the color in this photo; it's not quite accurate. The photos in my last post show the purply-greeny-bluey blend a lot better.

They're lovely, mooshy, smooshy, comfy mitts and I can't wait until it's cool enough to wear them. Actually, I could have used them last night!

I did have to frog the scarf back a bit to finish up the mitts, but it still ended up being 70 inches long. The pattern called for a 77 1/2 inch scarf. I think it's quite long enough, though.

It really blocked out well. I love the changing waves of color. This pattern was an absolute pleasure to knit, especially in the current state of my life. It was just interesting enough to keep me coming back to it, but mindless enough so that I could set it down at anytime and come back to it at anytime. I could have kept knitting this for a while, which is really saying something for a scarf made from fingering weight yarn.

It's likely I'd use this pattern again; I liked knitting it that much.

So I've started swatching for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan -- so excited! And still slogging along on the Charade socks, sigh.

Hey, Happy October! I love the Fall!

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.

Fall Startitis

It got cool for a couple of days and I got a pretty bad case (for me) of Startitis.

To wit:

One pair of Christine's Baby Booties for Jamie's baptism (nearly finished).

Mom made my nephew Noah's baptism outfit, and now Jamie is going to wear it. She told me she couldn't find the bonnet or booties, though. Luckily, we were gifted with a hanky bonnet, and, well, booties are never a problem for a crazy knitter! I love the pair Jo sent me so much I used the same pattern with some white yarn I had left over from Jamie's sweater.

I also started a pair of Garter Mitts. No photo since I've started over about four times to make various adjustments for gauge. Also since it's been raining and the light is lousy for picture taking anyway. I think I've finally figured out what needles and stitch count are going to work for the yarn I'm using, so there should be a photo or two in the next post.

I also bought enough yarn (and then some) for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan from IK Fall 2007.

Rachel and I attended Ewe-Nique Knits annual Fall sale and I promised myself I'd only buy yarn if I had an actual project in mind for it. I've known that I needed to knit this sweater since I first saw it a year ago, but I was waiting to start until I was wearing pre-pregnancy clothes again. Then to find all this Silky Wool on sale! The only thing keeping me from casting on is I have four projects on the needles, which is one more than I normally like to have. I can't wait (but I'm going to)!