Thursday, November 26, 2009

Lazy me!

Instead of being productive and finishing my mittens - that are 90% complete by the way - I'm surfing the net! Once again...

Have you seen the Minutia '09 patterns on Berroco's web site? They are soooooo... little!

Here is my favorite one - I think:
Isn't it incredibly cute?

I'm also shopping sock patterns, needles and yarn for the Ravelympics 2010! I've been convinced, last night in Rosemere, that a first pair of socks would be a great challenge for me! And I think it would be realistic for 17 days!

According to Ravelry, Monkey would be a good choice! Do you think it's a good idea for a first pair of socks?

And I need needles... Would you recommend nickel needles for socks? They are so pretty. Or should I go for Harmony wood needles - that I already love? Decisions, decisions ;-)

I should go train, right?

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Lonesome mitten!

It is supposed to be the "Handsome Mittens", not the "Lonesome Mitten"...

Seriously, I don't know if I took too long of a break from knitting this summer, but I seem to be a worse knitter than I was last year!

While I knit the first mitten in one weekend last year, I have been trying and trying - it must have been more than 10 times - to knit the second one.

First, I did not remember how to change colors. The instructions seem to confuse me. I don't understand why it says that I must bring the second color "from beneath" the first color. It turns out that I get the best results from just brining the second color in the front just as it is "from beneath nothing". I think it works out very well - see middle of picture below - even with the two increases. It's so simple in the end, no wonder I did not leave myself a note!

Second, I have had other times when one stripe became two - don't ask me how I do that! This morning, it turns out that the yarn was cut in the middle of the skein and when I wanted to undo a few stitches to have enough to weave it in, it resulted in having a stripe becoming two again... So, I tried and tried to correct that - without almost undoing the whole thing once again - but with no success. Hence, I started again the part with stripes. Grrr...

All in all, this is the current state of the second mitten. I've closed the TV hoping to concentrate better.

... and I will call the second mitten "Patience"...

I hope your projects are going well!

Have a great Sunday!