Lost Mittens and Christmas Knitting

Tis a busy time of year, so here’s a quick post to show some of what I’ve been able to finish.

The Christmas Ornament

A Pair of Socks

Yarn: Socks that Rock Heavyweight, “January One”
Basic Sock pattern K2, P1 Ribbing with a Mirroring Cable
Needles: Addi Turbo US#3 20″ circular needles

Unoriginal Hat (Yarn Harlot)

I switched to a smaller needle size after the first pattern repeat.

I was very happy to find some mittens I lost.  I knitted them last year but I thought I would  share.

Pattern: No.18 from Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Nature Spun 
Needles: Addi Turbo’s US#1, 20″circular and DPNs

If you didn’t notice, for fun I swapped the MC and CC’s for the second mitten.

Still have my sanity, but it might be a different story on the 24th. 

Yarn Binge

The yarn that I order while on the “yarn diet” arrived.  The yarn has the same drool factor as a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia for me… sorry to be so graphic.

 

The yarn is part of a kit for “Rosemarkie”a vest from Alice Starmore’s “The Celtic Collection”.

The yarns are Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 ply.  The yarn in this kit is different from the yarn original called for in the book’s pattern.  There is a colour difference. The original also included some chenille yarn.  The original yarns were made by Rowan and are no longer available.

The yarns seem to be more fuller and has a softer feel than the Jamieson & Smith 2 ply I have used. 

I really love the colours… I keep looking at the skeins and… uh… stroking them.

I have been coveting this vest for a couple of years and waited until my knitting skills improved before attempting to make it.  Sizing is what scares me the most.  For a good part of the year I wear turtlenecks and  fleece vests.  I want to make/have some nicer vest(s).  If this works, I know I will get a lot of use out of it.

The  yarn I order for “Christmas” knitting also arrived.

Well the yarn on the bottom is “Christmas” yarn, the other is for moi.

I am contented.

Some Standed Knitting

While I have been waiting for some yarn to arrive I finished another of my “forgotten” projects.

Pattern – Maze Socks from Sentational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn – Knit Picks Essential in Navy and Sock Garden in Geranium (no longer available) 1 skein each
Needles – Addi Turdo #1 Circular (2)

I doubled the Essential yarn when I knitted the toes and heels.
This was the first time I used some sock blockers and I like them very much.  I will be wearing the socks on Christmas.

Here are some detail pics of the socks.

One of the Christmas gifts I am working on now are some mittens for Grandpa Ted.  He is the grandfather of my one of my nieces (I have 18 nieces) and has just move to Alaska from back east.  He was born in the Ukraine some 85 years ago and I thought it would be nice to knit him some mittens.  I googled but I couldn’t a Ukrainian mitten pattern but I did find pics of the embrodery work of their traditional clothing.

The designs remined me of ones that I have seen in Mostly Mittens also by Charlene Schurch.  These designs are from the Komi region that is close by Ukraine.  So I picked Design 18 which has the diamonds with the same type of edging.  I choose to use black and red yarn (Dale of Norway, Falk) that are also traditional colours for the Ukraine.

I am not the best with guage,  so I will have to … gulp… frog this.

Oh well… I am still enjoying knitting these.

21 knitting days before Christmas!!