Knit Project: Travels Fingerless Mitts... PLUS, I WON!!! ~.^

Life is crazy! Tis the season :D

Between knitting, sewing, getting food organized for Christmas and trying to clean around the house... Life has been a non-stop whirlwind.

Since finishing my pair of Rathtrevor by Jane Richmond, my newest obsession has been on fingerless mittens. 

Let's start with a couple of new ideas...

Cozy Travels Fingerless Mitts
I found a ball of bulky yarn in my stash and looked up a bunch of different patterns in The Knitting Book that I got for Christmas last year...(Someone obviously knew me ~.^)and came up with these. They are so warm and cozy... They are a bit big for me but it's a cool first try! They turned out better than I had expected...

But then...

I wanted something a bit more elegant and pretty. So I used the same pattern, chose a finer yarn and adjusted the number of stitches and came up with...

Elegant Travels Fingerless Mitts 

I found a ball of Martha Stewart Crafts 100% merino (colour: Buttermilk) in my stash and thought "I just have the one ball so why not try it out." I have to admit it took me a couple of tries but I think I've got the pattern almost perfected. I finished one piece. I seamed it up and tried it on. The fit is comfortably snug. But I like the look of it. Because of the stretch it looks almost lacy... The width of my palm is about 9cm. I will play with the number of stitches so see the different fits I get.

PLUS!!!! 

I WON an ebook copy of Journey from reading Melissa's MisoCraftyKnits blog and entering the giveaway. Journey is a NEW book of knitting patterns by Jane Richmond and Shannon Cook.  All three of these fantastic ladies are incredibly talented crafters from Vancouver Island, BC. This TOTALLY made my Christmas! I am so excited to start on these patterns. Squeee! ^.^ 

Finished Projects for This Week!

1. Christmas Decorating? DONE!

I love seeing the house done up at Christmas... *sigh*

2. Marian Cowl by Jane Richmond? DONE!

I really enjoyed knitting this up. It is so warm and cozy. 

And because it calls for super thick yarn... it knit up in no time.

 I may have to knit up a couple more in different colours.

Love Love Love!

3. A Cowl for Mark

 When I started, I was  knitting up a hat. 

But when Mark took a look at it he thought it was a cowl. 

Which gave me the idea to turn it into a men's cowl.

I just started knitting it up a few hours ago... 

 Now... DONE! :D 

(Mark wouldn't model it for me... *pout*)

I'd say that's enough for this week. 

Time to rest up tomorrow so I can get ready

 to tackle the projects for NEXT week!

(which may or may not include the baking of some goodies)

^.^

Knitting: Moving on to... The Marian Cowl ^.^

In light of yesterday's weather development I decided that it was high time that I make the Marian cowl by JaneRichmond that I've been itching to make since last spring... I bought some Lion Brand: Wool Ease, Thick and Quick yarn in Charcoal, brought out my 12.75mm 24in circular needles and got ready to go.

I wanted to try out a few rows. So I started it late last night to see how comfortable it would be for my hands to handle knitting. I stopped after a few rows to take a few pics but kept going. I got so into it I forgot to stop. It's knitting up so fast and easy. I could have stayed up and finished it but my body was screaming for sleep so I got about 3/4 through it and put it down. Now I'm ready to finish it up!

But first... To Christmas-ize the house a bit!

Stay tuned!

^.^

Christmas: Advent Calendar Blues... :(

I bought a crafty advent calendar called Adventivity by Gina Carpenter (Author) and Laura Hambleton (Illustrator) a few weeks ago and was very excited for December 1st to arrive so that I (and maybe my darling son) could put together some cute paper crafts for Christmas.

However, as it turns out...  It is definitely not something my 5 year old could handle. The punch outs were a bit too intricate for his short fuse to take.Which is totally fine. Hey, more fun for me, right? :)

But what really got me was that as cute as these appeared, this calendar is turning out to be a disappointment and I don't think I will ever get it again.. For one reason and one reason only.

It CLEARLY states on the attached cover holder...

"Includes materials to make 25 projects."

When (so far) it actually doesn't. You need to provide your own materials to complete each project and make it work.

So far...

Day 1: a pop-out star for a card... they provide the paper punch out of the star and you provide the card. The star doesn't work on it's own without a card supporting it.

Day 2: (this one wasn't too bad) a candy cane mouse... they provided the paper punch out of the mouse and you provided thread for whiskers and the candy cane (of course).

Day 3: a light catcher... they provided the cut out and they EXPECT you to have coloured cellophane candy wrappers lying around to paste into it. for the stained glass effect. Wha? Even if I did eat candy with cellophane wrappers, before opening this up, I would never have known to keep them for this project.

Day 4: a paper guardian angel... they provide her head, wings and arms and you have to provide pink card stock for the body (not a problem) but also a paper doily... A PAPER DOILY. I haven't seen one of those since I lived with parents.

Day 5: (This pretty much solidified my decision not to get this again) an origami Santa. They didn't provide the origami paper. So YOU have to provide the origami paper. Specifically, origami paper that is red on one side and white on the other side.  So "technically" I cannot make this project because they DID NOT include the material to make it.

So the cover lied. So far it BARELY includes materials to make 24 projects now. I'm tempted to give up on it because so far it has only frustrated me.

The only defence I have for this book is that it was all open. Not sealed. The projects were all there, labelled and you could have (if you wanted to) looked ahead to every project to make sure you had ALL materials you needed to make everything. But for me, that totally defeated the purpose of this calendar. I wanted the wonder, excitement and surprise of having a small precious gift for the day.

When I opened that first window and saw that pretty picture of what I was going to make that day I was so excited. Then realized that I didn't have everything I needed to complete the beautiful project. And I had to scrounge around to see if I could find what I needed to make it work...

So it was no longer a gift... It felt more like a chore.

*sigh* Live and learn...

Knitting: Rathtrevor Fingerless Mitts... DONE!

Aaaand they're DONE!
I am so in love with these mittens! They are cute and cosy and I loved making them!

I made a couple of modifications to Jane Richmond's Rathtrevor pattern to my liking. For instance, I didn't make the forearm as long as the pattern instructed. I just wanted them just passed the wrist.

Also, the pattern instructed the "hand/palm" in a stockinette stitch then bind off but I decided to do the stockinette stitch until the last four rows and then ended with the same rib as the wrist. I think it ties it all nicely together. :)

Soooo... What next?

~.^