Showing posts with label mittens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mittens. Show all posts

Sunday, March 04, 2007

A little bit of Luxury

I was so super excited to get those yummy little angora puffs that I couldn't wait to make them into something. But pathetically they only contain a meager 50 yds each, imagine trying to make a sweater or even a scarf, the number of balls it would take plus the cost makes me feel a little faint... So I sat around and thought of a nice project that would make the skimpy amounts of angora into something usable and enjoyable (what's the point of an extra soft mouse cover or finger puppet or pony tail holder right?) and finally came up with these little spiffy things.Each one is made from one ENTIRE ball of angora. As I worked on them I had some people say to me, "Oh you should make them go all the way up your arm!" at which point I want to smack them in the head and yell "DUH!" because I only have 2 balls and I could just make one that goes up to about my elbow and then only have one or I could make 2 short ones and have one for each hand. Hmm, which do I choose? Like these people think this stuff is cheap or angora grows on trees or something. I made my own pattern using a little lacy 11 st wide edging from Knitting On The Edge (Nicky Epstein) along with a made up rib with a mini cable that was a p2, mc, p2, k2, p1, k2 rep worked in the round on size 5 dpns over a total of 44 sts with an Elizabeth Zimmerman cast off.

My only qualms with this yarn, other than it being the softest most pleasurable to knit with yarn ever in the history of yarn is that it breaks SO easily. Tug a stitch a little too tight to try and close the ladder between your dpns and POOF the silly thing has torn apart and it wasn't as if it was pulled very hard. It is very, very weak yarn. Also, at the cost of 10 cents a yard on super clearance lucky sale price and with a full price of about 25 cents a yard, I wasn't going to make a swatch and leave it swatched. I swatched it then unwound it, boy howdy, once you knit with it and unwind it (perhaps even as you make a project and you have made a mistake and must frog) this yarn is even weaker after. It falls apart just tensioning your stitches as you knit. Still, sesory wise, it was nice to knit and I feel grateful to have just this little bit of luxury (boy will I be typing in style...) and I will revel in it and enjoy it because it will probably be the only piece of angora luxury I will ever knit.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

A Post! Finally!

Well, Full Thread Ahead had a totally fun 1/2 time superball sale this Sunday which Teenuh and I went to. It was all you could carry for a whopping 45% discount. It was pretty funny watching people carry around arm loads of yarn and dropping them as they went along (Teenuh's Love yarn was particularly good at escaping). This was my haul.
2 skeins of Plymouth Fiesta (sea green and aqua colors) destined to be another fuzzy scarf, 1 skein of Cherry Tree Hill Cascade Silk Fingering in the Monet colorway, 2 skeins of Tofutsies (Yaye for soysilk and Chitin!?) in Put Your Foot Down 723 on the left and Tender Foot 727 (Thanks Tina!). 8 Skeins of Misty Alpaca dk in brown and 8 in cream.


Here finally are pictures of my convertible mittens in the Broad Street Mittens Pattern. They are made from Colinette Jitterbug. They are very nice and soft and warm.Here they are flipped up. They were supposed to have this dorky little loop at the end of the mitten that you could button up when you flipped them. I couldn't stand the loop so I just closed it up on the end no loop. The flaps stay up pretty well by themselves. The other minor change I made, I added a mini cable in the k2, p2 rib, so that I had a k2, p2, mc, p2 rib instead. I think it makes it 2% fancier! I like that. The cable is also on the rib on the flipped part, but It is on the other side, so when the mitt is closed you can see it, but when it is open you can't, I realized WAY too late I should have put it upside down. They haven't been washed yet, before I took the pics, but they will be soon since they absolutely REEK of vinegar. The Jitterbug looks great but the smell is very vinegar heavy. I have not decided on a new traveling project yet. Although I will have to come up with one soon, we are supposed to go to my BIL's house this weekend and I am thinking. Bore fest, watching DH and BIL play video games for a couple of hours *yawn*. Well, happy Friday people.