FO: Christmas Mitts

FINALLY! Second Christmas has passed and I can post the mitts that I knitted for my sisters this year.

(Apparently I could have done so earlier because one of them ‘doesn’t know’ where my blog is… huh.)

First, a pair based on Thea Eschliman’s Great Weekend Mitts. I used Drops Alpaca in purple, blue and turquoise. This is a lovely soft yarn, I used it last for my vine mitts and I still have plenty left in lots of colours!I knit the mitts in the round on dpns and concealed the jog under the button band. I picked up sts along the length on the mitt for the button band and sewed on the buttons through both layers to hold the band in position. When I couldn’t find enough buttons, I made the larger ones a design feature :) I also improvised increases and decreases for the palm as I’ve found before that straight mitts can be a bit tight going from the wrist to the palm.

Second, Miranda Grant’s Something Floral pattern, knit in red and pale grey Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4-ply. I am ludicrously proud of how these turned out, I was worried I would make a mess of all the stranding but after washing and blocking they turned out pretty neat!

I knit these almost as the pattern describes but for some improvised changes due to my absent-mindedness and reluctance to go back! I started the thumb gusset 2 rows late and had to alter the colourwork slightly when I forgot to start it. I also only knit the colourwork on one side of the thumb gusset so the mittens are not interchangeable.

I’m pleased how both the pairs of mitts turned out and it was nice to knit for someone else rather than knitting things that are more useful… there’re only so many pairs of gloves one person needs! Both recipients seemed happy with their presents :)

Recent-ish FOs and WIPs

Crazy amount of posting here atm but I want to make sure I have a record for myself of what I have done :)

First up, my first ever sewing from a pattern! I have made a few dresses and other bits and bobs before but never ‘properly’ and never anything that I actually ended up wanting to wear! I got the fabric for £1.50 from a charity shop – no idea what it is but I liked the colours. Turned out well I think, although unless you make them too small you can’t really go wrong with jammie bottoms!

With a special label in the back… :D

The other recently finished project is my vine mitts using the Kujeillen pattern by Tiina Kuu. As you might notice, they are not quite matching  as I wasn’t very good at counting rows in the pattern… since they’re only for myself I couldn’t be bothered to go back and fix it whenever I noticed the mistakes! These are knitted in Drops alpaca, a lovely 4 ply yarn in pretty colours.

As for WIPs, first is my Invisibility Shawl by Kerrie Allman from Charmed Knits. This is my first lace knitting and I’m using a beautiful mulberry coloured yarn – Drops Lace which is a lovely mix of 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk. The pattern is lovely and simple and though I’m finding the laceweight yarn a bit tricky to handle, it’s getting there!

And finally, a slow project of a big ol’ crochet blanket – made to use up odds and ends of handspun and dyed yarn ma has lying around from her early days of spinning. I don’t really have a plan but have made the colourful bits into granny squares and plan to use the larger amounts of grey and white yarn to bring it all together :)

Watch this space to see if these get finished! :P