Fiddling with a delicious brown.

About a year ago, my mind set itself on making some legwarmer-type spats to go with my brown heels.  I purchased a few skeins of Cashmerino Superbulky by Debbie Bliss in a particularly delicious & complementary shade of chocolate brown.  The project turned out to be quite a bit of FAIL.  Some things are not meant to be.

Undaunted, I ripped them out, bought some very complementary burgundy mohair as an accent, and knitted myself a set of Cleaves from Knitty.  Great pattern.  Great concept.  Great look.  Impossible to work with my personality & style.  I move too much, I swing my arms when I walk, I can't make the ribbed collar stop flipping up all the way around.  They made a wear & half at one Homecoming & were retired.

So they sat on a chair in my bedroom.  For over a year.  Now with my trip to Northern Europe, I'm looking to swell my collection of knitted woolen accessories.  The Cleaves created by a San Fransiscan resident were in no way reasonable for the trip.  The yarn, however...

Frogged for the second time, the Cashmerino yarn was held doubled with a single strand of the KidSilk and knit on size 13 needles in moss stitch with 11 stitches cast on until I ran out of both yarns.  Or so I thought.  I got a scarf 6 inches wide & seven feet long of what should prove to be exquisite warmth.  But I also ended up with a 5th skein of Cashmerino & no KidSilk to go with it.

After a bit of fiddling, I've decided to attempt for a hat made of unorthodox construction.  First, a strip of fabric going from crown to nape.  Then pick up stitches around either side & work a section of hat decreases on either side.  In theory, it should work, but we shall see how it turns out...

Mi-love... Dactylled Mittens

In December, I'm going to northern Europe.  Kitty & Arne live in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, and I haven't been to visit them since 2004.  The last time I laid eyes on Kitty was when she came back to the states for a bit in 2005.  I haven't seen Arne since Germany.

The plan is to do some traveling in Denmark, Sweden, & Finland while I'm there since I'm in the general area.  As with all of my extended trips, I'll take along a blank book of some sort & log most everything I see & do.  But as I'll be so far north as winter descends, it will be COLD.

To prevent frozen fingers, I sorted out a hybrid of mittens & gloves.  Based off of a pair of my father's old leather work gloves in Maine, I've recreated something that should allow me to write without exposing my tender finger tips to the cold. 

Knit from the fingers down with three skeins of CashSilk by Laines du Nord, there is a quasi-mitten for the outside fingers and a single shot for my forefingers.  Hooray, dexterity!!

All three skeins were used, with about a yard and a half left over.  Thumbs were slightly offset to allow for better fit, and the gussets have double decreases every third row (instead of every other, as I usually do).  K2p2 rib on the underside of the wrist for a bit of spring & to minimize the stockinette roll-back.

All that remains is a bit of tidying up of the interior loose ends...

Red Stockings of Awesome. COMPLETE.

Yes, that's right.  After 4 months of knitting sock yarn on size zero needles, I made it over the knees, up the thigh, and into buttonholes for the garter belt.  I. Am. DONE.  And it feels so good. 

A few inches past my knee, all shaping done, I started the band right before the button holes for the garter belt.  At the very end, I added a bit of leftover dark brown Koigu sock yarn for extra heft.  It made for a slight flare at the very end, but I don't mind.

Buttonholes are 5 stitches across each, one each on the front & back of the stocking.  After wearing them all day, I find that they don't quite line up with the connectors, which makes for a bit of a twist by the end of the day.  Again: not a problem.

I am so-so-so happy with how these turned out.  The calf shot shows a bit of the shaping that went into making them fit so well.  A bit maddening at the time, but completely worth it.

Seriously, excited to the point that I made an announcement after a break in class.  Standing on the arms of the stadium seating to show them off & everything.  (Big deal for me.) 

Four months, over 1300 yards of sock yarn, needles the diameter of toothpicks.

So much awesome in one place I can hardly stand it.