Susie's Reading Mitts - Finished

Pattern: "Susie's Reading Mitts" (click for free Pattern from designer)

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donnagal Luxury Tweed 85% Wool/15% Angora
Needles: Size 5 dps

I'm not sure how I feel about these mitts......

They are quite "earthy".......aren't they???

Originally, the first mitt had the pink candy ribbon.  I felt it was very juvenile-looking and decided to change it.

I was at Jo'Ann's buying the suede ribbon when an 8-year old girl started asking me about the mitt and told me how pretty she thought it was.  That confirmed my thoughts.  This little girl was so sweet that if they had been a smaller size, I would have given the mitts to her.  She told me she was taking ice skating lessons.

She was extremely patient while her grandma and I had this long conversation about crafts. 

I'm a little taken lately with trying out new cheeses in moderation.  Bonne Bouche won the 2010 best aged goat cheese in America award.  I'm proud that it is made here in Vermont.  The grey that you see is actually mold that happens in the aging process.

I was at the health food store and looking for a good cracker to go with the cheese.  The name on these caught my eye.  Seaweed!!!!  Right up my alley with my blog name and my roots that go back to the Coast of Maine.  

I was not disappointed!  Delicious!!!

Oops!  forgot that this is really a knitting blog.  I started a new hat today.  Pictures coming mid-week.  It's a quick knit using alpaca yarn and I am loving it.

BTW...the mitts means I have another UFO finished.  The cooler weather was the incentive I needed.

Happy Knitting!

"I Heard The Bells" Mittens

"I Heard The Bells" mitts now available at Knitpicks.  This poem was written by Longfellow who was from my home State of Maine.  In future updates, I will tell you more about the history of this poem and why it is so meaningful to me.

There are two easy color themes available.  One is red, white and green, the other is yellow, blue and white (?)The downloadable pattern is only $1.99.

"Knitting In Color" is the designer.  Her blog offers a tremendous amount of information on fair isle knitting.  Check it out.  The picture below is from her web site. 

I spent the day yesterday at my favorite knitting spot....The Sand Bar State Park.  I knitted just beyond what you see in the picture below.  I have the first round of words completed.  It's difficult to put this project down.  I am so loving it!

I love my 4" Knitpicks Harmony needles.  However, I found the points to be so sharp and hurting the palm of my hand.  Using the point protectors helps a lot.  The points on these needles and the yarn glides along just the way I like.

Inside looks pretty good, you think!
 

We are experiencing the three "H's" in Vermont.  "Hot, Humid, and Hazy" with temperatures above 90 degrees for three consecutive days is what is needed to fit the description.  We are on a "roll" with no relief in site.  

So hot today that I wanted to go through the car wash just to have a sense of being cool and give my poor car a break. 

So yesterday, feeling totally dehydrated after a day at the lake and the soda just was not quenching my thirst, I stopped by McDonald's to get a Reese's Snack Size McFlurry.  The kicker is that I asked for a LARGE ice water and was told I could only get a small.  In the McDonald world of "supersize" I couldn't get a large water because it is not in their computer system.  Go figure....huh!

Happy Knitting!

How About Yarn Selection!

Have you ever glanced at a picture of a knitted item and moved on only to see again later knitted by someone else and it really catches your eye?

Here is a perfect example!

When I selected the Koigu yarn for these Delicato Mitts pattern, I knew they would not be as nice as the pair I had already knitted.  I wanted a pink pair, loved the yarn and wanted to compare the difference and show in the knitting class I was teaching that just finished last week.

This blue pair was completed months ago with yarn from "Dye Dreams".  Everyone loves this pair and so do I. 

Notice how lace, faux cabling pops out much more in the blue pair.  The beautiful pattern is sorta lost in the pink pair.

So, when looking at patterns perhaps you put on your goggles with a different filter to view your potentially finished project.

Happy Knitting!

Susie's Reading Mitts

Pattern:  "Susie's Reading Mitts"  (click for free Pattern from designer)

Yarn:  Debbie Bliss Donnagal Luxury Tweed 85% Wool/15% Angora

Needles:  Size 5 dps

I'm not sure how I feel about these mitts, especially the pink ribbon which may eventually be removed.  The colorway for this line is beautiful but I didn't especially enjoy the feel of the yarn.  For the price, I would not buy this yarn again. 

Perhaps I didn't buy enough yarn, or I just misplaced the 2nd ball, but I found myself with one completed mitt and no more yarn so I had to wait for my daughter to send me another ball as it was purchased at her LYS.

The cuff is so long, perhaps a little too much, that it can be folded up and pinned down and will still look very nice.

This ribbon reminds me of the strips of "candy dots" on paper that you could buy as a child.  Anyone remember those or is this another one of those generational things?

I have several other projects almost completed that I have not even mentioned such as the "Swallowtail Shawl", hat/scarf set for the "Head Start" kids' charity and more. 

In the last few days, after a startling amount of snow, everything has melted and we seem to suddenly have a volcanic burst of blooms on the ground and on some of our trees.  I'm resisting turning on the AC as it is 84 degrees F today.

I start my next round of classes, through my local Recreational Dept., this Tuesday.  By request, I will be teaching the Quincy hat by Jared Flood.  Once those classes are completed, the Delicato Mitts will be next. 

I have several new and exciting classes planned for this fall.  I'm trying to introduce new ideas, etc.  I have several students who have taken as many as five classes with me.  It's always a lot of fun especially with women I already know.

I have to recreate the button on my sidebar linking this blog to my "classes" blog.  I lost it when I tried to "rejuvenate" my blog.  Don't you just love "Blogger" some days!!!

Happy Knitting!

Delicato Mitts

Pattern:  Delicato Mitts from Dye Dreams
Needles:  Size 2 dp's
Yarn:  Fingering Weight (50 gr.)

These mitts were really fun to knit.  The pattern is extremely well-written.  I had difficulty putting this project down.  No SMS (single mitt sydrome) with this project.  I knit on my lunch hour and an hour or so in the evening and this project took me about 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to complete.  The yarn was purchased just a short time ago when I attended the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival.  Fiber content is merino and tencel.

Here's a close-up of the mitt.  It appears to be cables but isn't.  Not sure why Blogger is cutting off part of the pic when it is saved, but you get the idea.

I love the cuffs.  The cable look is achieved with K2tog and YO's. 

My "Beginner Knitting Class" came to a close this past week.  I had the maximum of eight women and they were all so very much fun.  Already, they are asking me to teach another class and telling me what they would like.  I also may soon be starting "private group" lessons in someone's home along the line of a "Tupperware Party".  This evolved because a previous student was disappointed that I taught only the one class this fall and the next one is not till January.  She wants to knit cowls in time for holiday presents.

I have several other knitting projects in the works.  One just needs buttons sewn on.  I've also started the "Spiralucious Cowl".  It's almost completed and I just started it yesterday.  I'll be knitting the matching mitts next.  The customer service from Anne Hanson at "Knit Spot" was fantastic.  Her patterns are beautiful and I'll definitely be purchasing patterns from her again.

Happy Knitting!

Pattern: Fetching (<--click for free pattern)

Wool: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes

Needles: Size #5 dps
More of these mitts. They take a couple of evenings to knit. A very fast and gratifying knit. A few blogs back I posted light blue ones which are my favorite. These burgundy (and not red) ones are for my older daughter, Amy, who has a very cold office.They are not bulky at all....just fat hands! Younger daughter complains she inherited her hands from me, though she is very petite.
This pair is for younger daughter, Emily. What I knit for one, I knit something similar for the other daughter. This pair was knit with Berocco Ultra Alpaca which was leftover yarn from the scarf I knitted for Brian late last winter which I don't think I ever posted....but I will soon.

Again, the fat hands!!! Whoever said exercise will make you thin, well they are wrong!!! Those fingers travel about 7 miles a day on the keyboard and they still aren't thin!!! (giggle!!)

I had not yet mailed these mitts and brought them in to my class to show the logic of selecting the correct yarn for a project. The burgundy mitts made of merino, though not as soft as they grey alpaca ones, really make the cables pop out!

I don't know why I never thought of making a thumb this way. You just cast on stitches of a different color yarn on the left needle, knit across and then remove and pick up those live stitches. Makes for a much neater thumb!

This weekend's theme at my home is "clean, clean, clean" as I am way behind on everything. Tomorrow is a "get together" with a friend of many years who is retiring on the 30th and moving away to Florida.

Happy Knitting!