From Mittens to Legwarmers

Yesterday I was sitting in church freezing and I thought, "I need to knit myself some legwarmers". I have 2 ankle length skirts so no one would see I am wearing them. I figured black would be good since one of my skirts is black. I found a pattern that says they could even be used as support hose, that's how snug they can be. That is exactly what I want since I don't want them to be bulky or slip down my legs.

I went to Knitch today to look at yarn and thought I found what I wanted. It was wool that was $5 for a 50 gram ball. Good price, but then I got home and went to Knit Picks because I knew they had cheap wool. Well, I can get 4 balls of wool at Knitch for $20. But at Knit Picks I can get the same amount for $14.95 and that includes shipping! I have the money so I just have to order the yarn. I figure I should have it either late this week or early next week.

I'm anxious to finish these mittens so I can start on the legwarmers. I feel bad because I have a hat for Joel to remake and a shawl to finish for Grace that seems to be turning into a black hole. There is just so much I want to knit for myself. I also really want to make myself a pair of socks in worsted weight so bad so I have some thick warm socks or bed or for wearing with my boots. To much knitting and no time!

Second mitten progress

I am past the thumb opening on the second mitten. This one seems to be looking better but it's still far from perfect. I still love this yarn! I wish I could knit everything in it. I've given a lot of thought as to what to do with the first mitten. I decided last night I am not going to rip it out and start over. I am quickly getting tired of knitting mittens. I decided that I am going to rip out the thumb and try to widen it. With the second mitten, the pattern says to put 12 stitches on a holder. 12 is not enough, it is to snug. So I put 15 on a holder. Much better. I am also going to lenghten the thumb a row or two. But other than that I will not rip anything out. I will cover up the holes and weak spots. When these mittens are finished I will go outside and rough them up in the snow and get them wet trying to get them to felt. I want to wear these mittens more than I want then to look pretty. They are work mittens.

My mitten...sigh

Well, here are pictures of my mitten. It is turned right side out. As you can see there are unseemly seams

Picture #1 is a full shot of the mitten side one
Picture #2 is shot of mitten side two
Picture #3 is a bettter shot of the seams and lines

As you can see it is not perfect. I am disapointed. I was hoping this would look better. I haven't sewed the cuff yet. Basically what I did was knit the cuff on straight needles then I transfered the stitches onto 2 circular needles and followed the pattern. I just don't know why my knitting is so sloppy. I am working on the second mitten. I can't tell yet how it's looking but the cuff looks totally different on this mitten than the first. Sigh...

Progress

Here is the mitten with about an inch of ribbing.



Here is it with the ribbing done and I am working on the hand. The wrist is not seamed up since I did it on straight needles. Then I put a lifeline in (the green yarn) and put the stitches on 2 circular needles. I was worried I would have to buy 2pairs of size 5 circular needles but I found 2 in Joel's hat. I am going to rip out the hat again and start over. I am thinking this mitten will be a bit tight. I wish I would have increased the stitches by 2-4. The ribbing will really need to stretch to fit aropund my wrist. Maybe I can increase the wrist by at least 4. Progress is quick so if I do decide to rip it out and increase the stitches I should be able to do that. The weather is supposed to be good and only possible flurries on Thursday.

I can do ribbing!!!!!!!!!!!

I figured out I can do ribbing but it seems only on straight needles. it's looking good! I am relieved because I was starting to be convinced I couldn't do it. I don't know why I can't do ribbing on circular needles. It's looks awful! I forgot to say a couple of things in my last post about the yarn. It has a rustic look and feel to it. I asked Hannah to smell the yarn adn she said it smelled like animals. I can't smell it. But lots of people who knit with this yarn love the sheepy smell to it. I think it fades after you wash it. The yarn is also undyed, so it comes right off the sheep with a minimum of processing. The color is a creamy light beige. It's quite nice. I am glad I was able to buy some. I think I will love my mittens.

I have been going through a knitting slump because I have so many projects going and nothing is getting finished. I hope these mittens will give me the motivation I need to keep tackling my projects. I love this yarn. Ok, back to ribbing, I have at least 3 inches to do.

Oh, if you would like to read a review on this yarn click on the link.

http://www.knittersreview.com/article_yarn.asp?article=/review/product/080911_a.asp

Needless to say I am in love with this yarn and dreaming of a sweater in it...after I figure out how to get $16.00 x 8-10 balls or more of the stuff!

Mitten maddness

Ok, take 2: I was writing this post when I hit a key a froze the screen and had to restart the computer and lost what I had written. Anyway, I decided last week I wanted to knit myself a pair of mittens. But I wanted mittens I could shovel snow in and get wet. I bought a very very nice well made pair of alpaca mittens in October at the sheep and wool festival. I do not want my alpaca mittens to get wet or felt or anything. They are the warmest mittens I have so far. So as we are in a small heat wave of 35-40 degrees for a few days, I wanted to get a jump on knitting mittens before the next snowfall comes.

My yarn store had a sale today on yarn I wanted. I wanted Rowan Purelife yarn. This is special yarn. The wool is from British sheep thus the British yarn! My skeins have Shetland Moorit, Masham and Suffolf sheep fleeces in it. I have not heard of any of these breeds before. The yarn is not baby soft but for a pair of rustic feltable mittens they are perfect. I want to let nature felt the mittens naturally. I could do it myself but I'm to lazy. I read somewhere that mittens that are felted are water resistant and warm. We shall see.

I made 1 practice mitten awile ago with Red Heart yarn and liked how it came out except for my crappy knitting. I decided to go rogue and try and adjust the pattern for the thicker yarn. I decided to not change anything. I used worsted weight for my practice mitten and this is the next step up in thickness. I figured the extra thickness would reduce or eliminate the bagginess and looseness my practice mitten had.

The problem is I wanted to use 2 circualr needles. I do not have 2 in size 5. So I decided to try and knit them on straight needles. The pattern calls for it to be knit on circular needles. We will see if it will work. I should know soon if it will. Why does knitting have to be so difficult? They are just mittens. I will keep you posted.

Ribbing frustrations

I started reIknitting Joel's hat on 2 circular needles. When i made the hat the first time my ribbing partially looked liked ribbing. This time not at all! One half looks like sideways garter stitch and the other half looks like a jumbled mess! What am I doing wrong!!!??? I know how to make the knit stitch and the purl stitch. I put the yarn in front for purling and in the back for knitting. I am seriously consdering ripping it out and trying it on straight needles. I will have to buy a pair since I don't have a pair of size 5's. Well, actually I do but they are metal and I prefer to not use them unless I have to. If that doesn't work, I will either give up or try to find a pattern that doesn't have ribbing in it. The first hat I did on size 7's, this hat I am trying size 5's. I am beyond frustrated. How can something so simple be so hard? I may have to break down and take a class on how to knit a hat or rather how to do ribbing with knitting a hat as a bonus. My hat pattern works-I knit the hat I just can't do ribbing!