Market Mitts and Tric progress

Yesterday I talked about Melbourne's weather being up and down like a yo-yo, and true to it's form today's temperature dropped 10℃ from yesterday's 26℃! Oh well, at least it wasn't as freezing as last Sunday when I was at the Gisborne market. It was a miserable day with rain and wind, my hands were so cold that I'd taken one of my handspuns from the stock and started making myself a pair of fingerless mitts. I only had a crochet hook with me so I started with a crochet mitts pattern, but my hands were so numb that I just couldn't continue to make the mitts to keep my hands warm.

I still couldn't continue with the piece after I got home because I didn't like the look of it, so I ripped it back and started again. The pattern I chose was the Garter Stitch Mitts by Ysolda Teague, it is a simple pattern worked sideways using short-row shaping.

I really like how they turned out, the handspun is very squishy and soft, they should keep my hands nice and toasty on cold market days. I only cast on 38 stitches and they worked up quickly. The project only used 58g of the handspun, so the pattern is a perfect fit for that single skein that you don't know what to do with. Raverly project page here.

A project update for Tric that I started back in August for my friend Elaine, it's been slow going due to the intricacies of the pattern (pattern recap: top-down seamless with collar and set-in sleeves worked simultaneously). At last I can report some progress:

Only the sleeves to do now so hopefully I will finish it soon. Some of the project notes on Ravelry noted that the piece grew after blocking so I'm keeping the length as it is and will take take when blocking so it doesn't grow too much.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

I'm a lucky winner, and some FOs :)

I received an email during the week from the wonderful Denise of Voie de Vie that I was one of the lucky winners to receive her new eBook: Accessories: Autumn 2012. This was such a lovely surprise I was over the moon! All the designs in this collection are gorgeous but I'm particularly taken with the Piaf Scarf and the Enveloped Cowl. I can't think of any yarn in my stash that I want to use for these projects (naturally!), but hey, I can spin now! So I'm going to spin some yarn, maybe home dye too, off to the drawing board to make plans... will report back later :)

On the knitting front I managed to finish couple of projects, a sideways jacket for my aunt and a hat for my goddaughter.

Sideways Jacket:

Hat for Ericka using my rainbow dyed yarn :)

That's it from me this week! Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Millgrove Sideways Gloves and Hat

When JJ brought back the list of items he needed for his camp to Millgrove a week before he was due to leave, I nearly had a heart attack - on the list there were specific requests for a woollen jumper, woollen gloves and a woollen hat. Whilst I have been a knitting addict for the last 3/4 years I have never made any pure woollen items for my own children, partially there doesn't seem to be the need for these in Melbourne... Okey it does get cold here but the boys are happy with their fleeces which can be easily washed and dried... Anyway, the note says ALL items on the list are MUST, and woollen clothing was especially chosen for its ability to keep warm when wet and the note says they WILL get wet. OK, fair enough, but how on earth am I going to finish a woollen jumper, a pair of gloves and a hat all in a week? Luckily the old man had a flash of brilliance (he does that occasionally) - the Savers! Indeed it saved us,  luckily we were able to find a 100% woollen jumper that not only fit him but also got his nod of approval, which was a huge relief for me as I was psyching myself up for a week long super knitting marathon. We weren't so lucky at finding the gloves and hat, but I was confident that these were more manageable.

I remembered seeing gloves made sideways on Ravelry and thought they would be a better choice as I didn't fancy fiddling with making fingers when under time pressure, so I chose this sideways gloves pattern and cast on using some sock yarn from my stash. The glove pieces took 5 days to knit and 1 day to sew up, I really enjoyed making them as the instructions are clear and simple and the construction ingenious. In fact I think I will be making more of these for my charity knitting this year. The hat only took one day to crochet, I didn't use a pattern but mildly based the design on this sideways hat.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the results and JJ was nonchalant as usual, oh well, what can you expect from teenage boys!

The finished items:

Millgrove Sideways Gloves

Millgrove Sideways Hat