February Baby Sweater!

I saw this gorgeous baby sweater made with handspun yarn, and suddenly I knew what to do with some of my handspun yarn as well. Baby knits!

" Some Babie's Things" from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac - February

yarn: my own handspun: merino/sea cell, 2-ply, 4oz, 1 skein/ 364yds, color "Sea Leaf" from Dyed in the Wool Handmade, with left overs for booties

needles: 3.75mm circular needles, 5 DP's for the sleeves

start-finish: after the two shawls I wanted to knit something fast, but cute, and this was it, April 3-4

This sweater is soft and cuddly, exactly what you want your baby to wear, when you hold it in your arms. And before you even think of asking, no , there's no baby on the horizon in our family. I just think it's a great way to knit some of the handspun, because it gets boring to knit hats, mittens, or scarves all the time. Ooooh - it just hit me! I made a garment! I made a top down sweater! I made something to wear!

Never mind that it is April already, this sweater is called "Baby sweater on two needles; practically seamless" anyway. Mine is totally seamless, which is really a good thing. I knit the sleeves in the round, and picked up stitches to connect them to the main body. This sweater is so much fun, and EZ to make, I'm definitely going to make this one again. This little cutie has been knit countless times, in all kinds of variations, mine is without the gull pattern. With this yarn, there's no need for lace patterns.

Using my handspun was fun, but I'm not impressed with my spinning skills.The yarn was thick and thin throughout, and as you can see not even washing and blocking evened it totally out. Doesn't matter, still love it.

There's no actual baby I knit this for, rather a big Teddy Bear, who welcomed the expansion to his wardrobe. Sitting there in his orange Baby Surprise Jacket, he thought was too girly anyways, made him quite happy with this green new sweater. I don't know what size this sweater would be in actual baby size. I made the body longer, because I had enough yarn (there's still some left over, maybe for some booties?), and because I like how it looked better.

It was not off to a good start however, since I didn't follow my own advise, to read a pattern through before starting to knit, so I was way too far, when EZ told me to put in some button holes. Of course there should be button holes! At first I thought, oh well, I'll start with the buttons after the garter stitch yoke, and fake a button without a hole on top. Yes, that was my first thought. >shame<>

If I had used this yarn for socks (way to soft for that), they would have made nice stripey socks, you can see that on the sleeves. I seriously think the brown stripe on the front is ugly, but that's how it is. Everything else blends together nicely.

I didn't want to get out and buy some cute baby buttons, for a sweater which will maybe never warm a baby, so I rummaged through my button boxes, which are in desperate need of refilling. I think the ones I found will do.

What's on my needles now? "Have a Heart" socks by Marianne Archer (almost done though).

Any spinning done lately? Yep - after a break for two weeks (while knitting the shawls I did nothing else), I've started spinning my Cotswold again. Remember, I had 1kg of it, have half of it done. Nope, doesn't get boring, even with the natural grayish color. Love it! A bobbin a day, keeps dust bunnies at bay.... or something like that.

Mohana shawls!

I don't have time tomorrow, so I'm posting today.
First, before I forget, and I do that quite easily, I wanted to thank you for the overwhelming response to the Grasshopper scarf/Blog Anniversary post. Thanks for visiting and for all your kind words.

Second (since there was a first) - I was sure that you would call me a crazy chick, but thanks for being so understanding and kind to my self doubting babbling in the previous post.

Letting go, let me sit down and start writing the pattern (I'm funny that way, I say I wont do it, and after that, I'll do it.), which is not easy, but I can see myself doing it now. I've got the bare bones down, and have to find a way to do the charts, and there are charts, but easy ones. I'm not writing it up row by row, I'm crazy enough as it is, but that would drive me over the edge. :o)

Angelika agreed to test knit it for me (she's an expert test knitter), and she will help me figuring out the whole thing, so everybody can understand it. She of course, gets to deal with EZ style notes, very pithy, so far. Now to see what I'm talking about (maybe you saw some pics on Ravelry), here are lots of pictures of both shawls: As you know Maggie asked me to knit a lace shawl with her sock yarn, for Knitters Frolic 2008, and I was delighted to do so. Since she let me choose my own pattern, I thought why not give it a try and design something myself.

specifics for "Mohana shawl # 1" (Mohana by the way, and I hope I didn't get it wrong, is supposed to mean "charming" and I hope you'll find this shawl charming:

yarn: Jojoland Melody (not superwash) 100% wool, color # Y23, 4.5 balls, one ball is 220yds = total 990 yds. About this yarn: I bought a bag of 10 balls, made 2 pairs of socks with it. I was disappointed with the color, it was more orange on the screen. It felts easily, but for a shawl it should work. However, I found 5 knots in 3.5 balls. After I cut out a knot, I found this weird cotton thread coming out of my ball, exactly like you see here. That reminds me, for this shawl I used a lifeline for the first time. After the first stitch pattern, I didn't know what comes next, and how it would turn out, so I'd rather put one in. It's very comforting to know it's there. I didn't need it though. I just hate knots in any of my yarn. I still have a couple of balls left over, but for now, I can't stand to look at it. Oh, by the way, I did some major "yarn butchering" for the edge. The garter stitch rows worked out so nice, and I thought I wanted to have a green only crown picot edge. So I cut out all the green one ball had, and from some left over yarn from the socks I made. This crown picot eats up a lot of yarn, be warned! But I think it's lovely, and since I had enough of this stuff, it didn't matter.

needle: 3.75mm circular addi lace needle (thank god for notes)

size after blocking: 76" x 40"

specifics for "Mohana shawl # 2":

yarn: medium fingering weight 100% merino, Dyed in the Wool Handmade, 2.3 skeins = 875yds

needle: 4mm circular addi lace, 47 " long

size after blocking: 80" x 45"

Since the second shawl was knit with heavier weight yarn I used less yds, and it was bigger after blocking. The less yds are actually due to me making some minor changes in the design (less rows at the beginning). I like working lace with sock yarn, especially for shawls. This was my second shawl knit with Maggie's yarn. I made the Alex shawl and it was such a pleasure too. I love her color sense, and her humour in naming her yarn, which is odd, since this yarn I've used here, does not have a name, at least it didn't come with a tag, so Maggie, what do you call this one?

Hm, anything else? As soon as the pattern is test knit and ready, you'll be the first to know! :o) I'm very excited about the whole thing.

Do YOU think I'm weird? (I do.)

I've some weird days behind me. For the last 2 weeks, I've been knitting this shawl, as a prototype for Maggie's shawl, which is blocking right now, and I don't have pictures yet. To knit the first shawl was quite fun, because I had to think about what's next, and how it all goes together, take notes, and knit, knit, knit. It occurred to me that I should write up the pattern for sale, since it was so much work. I used sock yarn for the first one, which I had in my stash, and enough of it (990yds needed) for this project. I did not know how big it would be in the end, but had to keep in mind that Maggie gave me 1,134 yds of her sock yarn to knit a shawl with. The yarn is thinner, and even though it used more yds, it's lighter than the other one. I'll show you pictures and tell you more specifics, once the other shawl is photographed. What the weird part was about all this, is that I started to write the pattern down, even found a willing test knitter, and was all ready to go. I even found a name for this shawl "Mohana" which means "charming". Still not the weird part - maybe a little bit.

I like to write down patterns, just for fun, now and then, but this time it was different. To get to the point, I felt so unhappy about the whole thing, that during the last two days I was restless, uncomfortable; I looked at my current project on my needles, and almost felt disgust, wanted to throw it across the room (but didn't, it's too lovely). Loosing my love for knitting? Of course at first I didn't know what hit me, and while tossing and turning I suddenly knew, I could not do it for money! Once I realized that I was fine. I think that's weird. Don't you?

Now comes another weird part.
This morning, Biko woke me up at 4:15 to go potty. I stayed up, and while waiting for the water to boil I checked my e-mails. I found a nice surprise in one of them. Marianne has sent me her Have a Heart sock, just because. I've been lusting after that pattern, which she is selling on her blog and you can find it on ravelry as well. Now that's sweet! I'm so ready to knit another pair of socks, I think I'll find some appropriate yarn for it and cast on this weekend.

Can you tell that I'm happy again? I've got lots to show you, but that will have to wait until next week.

And here's a shot of BOTH dogs sleeping, while I'm knitting, and see, I'm NOT the one on the floor taking the picture. Those are my legs up on the coffee table. This big paw belongs to Biko, Sam is snoozing in the background.

I feel a load was lifted off my chest. I'll be finishing up the February Baby Sweater (on my needles now), knit with my hand spun yarn! Pics soon. Have a wonderful weekend!

PS I'll see what you'll say about the shawl, after I show you all the pictures. If you like it, I can still write it up for you, but with much less pressure (from myself of course).

April is Blog Anniversary month!

In April two years ago, I started blogging, a few month before that I picked up knitting as my hobby again, after a long break of two decades, of non knitting. So much has happened since then, and I've learned so much, and found many online friends. I had a few times were I thought, "why am I doing this?", but these times passed quickly. I'm not ready to give up blogging yet.


I was thinking of doing a contest, but then thought, I would like to give something to all my readers, that's when I thought of writing up a pattern. I know, it's Spring, and everybody is thinking of warmth, sunshine, and lovely summer knits, so my scarf pattern might be not the best choice, but when I thought it up, it was at the beginning of March, still snowing heavily, and naturally, the next winter will come eventually. So here it is as a 'Thank You' to all of you for reading my posts, and commenting:

The Grasshopper Scarf:

specifics:

pattern: my own, especially written for blog anniversary, the lace pattern is very easy to memorize, there's not enough seed stitch to get annoying. The number of edge stitches before and after the markers are not the same, that's not a mistake!

yarn: Highland Wool from elann.com, 4.5 balls = 490.5 yds, color # 1477: The lace pattern in this shawl needs blocking. Acrylic yarn would not be a good choice. Gauge is not important. Thinner yarn and smaller needles make a thinner scarf. I would have loved to make another one with a totally different yarn, but time got away from me. So now I'm waiting to see, what others will use. :o)

needles: US 6 (4mm), worked 11 repeats

size before blocking: 9.5" x 56.5"

size after blocking: 11" x 71" ( did not block heavily)

start-finish: March 1-4, 2008

download pattern now


I hope you like it.

Earth Hour!

I too ask: What did you do during Earth hour?

(Don't know what Earth Hour means?)

After a busy day, I choose to do NOTHING. Just lit a candle, sat and relaxed. I didn't even have the radio on, nor TV. How often do you do nothing on purpose for an hour? It's really not that long.

I was alone, since DH spent his day in Venice, Italy: March 29, that's how it looked over there today. I wonder if the Venetian participated as well?

cell phone picture

Gifted sock yarn socks # 2 - Hundertwasser socks.

I'm back! Did you miss me? I bet you didn't even notice, that I took a tiny Spring break. :o) I tried to stay away from the Internet, boy that was hard. If you are not actually physically away from a hooked up computer, it's just magnetically drawing you close, at least that's how it is with me. Anyway, I've been knitting my test shawl for Maggie's shawl. It's done, and blocking now. I already know that I have to change some things, but little things. I didn't realize how hard it is to design a shawl from A-Z, with no help from E.A. Clark's little booklet. I'm terrible at taking notes. I've made several pages of notes, with chart drawings, and so on, and as I started to knit the actual shawl yesterday, I had trouble remembering, what the heck I meant with all my doodles. But more of this, when it's all done. I'm here to talk about my Hundertwasser socks:

Don't think they are anything special? Au contraire! I made these 2-at-a-time on one circular needle! YES! I liked it too. I was not faster however, didn't think so anyway, but my mom, who just started knitting socks on 5 DP, finished one pair, and hearing of this magical technique, wanted me to explain it on the phone, in about five minutes. "And is it faster too?"she asked ever hopefully. Nope, when you think about it, how can it be.You knit 2 socks at the same time, instead of one. She was disappointed to hear that. That's my mom, always on the lookout for shortcuts. :o)

I did not do the tutorial socks in the book, but started right away with these plain, and simple socks, but really, with those colors, what else could you do? No stitch pattern could bring out those gorgeous colors any better. I wanted it to be simple. I think this is the first pair of socks, with the exact same amount of rows. I don't count the rows with my other socks, I know I should do it, but I don't. Well actually, I think if I remember correctly, one sock is half a row shorter, it's just the way the technique works.

I did not have major problems, even without checking the errata for this book, I could work it out, because I was not new to sock knitting. I later discovered that what I thought was an error in the tutorial, really was one. The only time I got stuck for a minute was picking up the gusset stitches, there I was thinking I knew it all, and did not read the instructions properly, so entirely my fault.

I'm definitely going to knit socks with this technique again, especially with plain socks, when the yarn is busy enough for stitch patterns. But of course I could knit some of the gorgeous patterns from the book, or any other for that matter, but right now, I don't' want to. I still like my double point needles too much, to cast them away for good.

Specifics:

yarn: gifted by Hannah, Opal, 75% wool, 25% polyamid, 100g ~ 425m, colorway - 1434, In Variation nach Hundertwassers Werk 637A - Wartende Haeuser. I had left overs.

That's the painting, which inspired the sock colorway.

needle: one 2.5mm circular addi turbo
size: US 9.5, I cast on 60 sts for the cuff, decreased to 56 sts for leg and rest of the sock
technique: from book: 2-at-a-time socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
start-finish: February 22 - 25
destination: Hannah's feet


For the dog lovers:

How is Biko doing, you ask? Well, she's doing fine mostly, but at the end of the day she still is sore, almost every day, that's due to her being too wild, when outside. Even without playing fetch, she's just enjoying herself in the snow too much. In the evenings, when she's climbing the stairs, she yelps sometimes, or when getting up. I hope this discomfort will disappear too. It's been six weeks since her surgery.
That would be Sam underneath my legs, happily snoozing, while I knit. As soon as there's a pause in the click click click, his head comes up, and he's ever so hopeful that we'll go outside now. I must say, he's a very patient dog.

And what would a spring break be without some delicious cake? I saw something similar in a magazine, and since I like strawberries so much, I wanted my own version of it. I've used store bought angel food cake. This has been the second time I used store bought stuff like that, but I've never baked angel food cake myself. Anyway, I know it would never win a beauty contest, but this was not for show, but to be eaten right away. I've made the strawberries happy by letting them soak in sugar and some balsamic vinegar (I wish I had a bottle of real old balsamic vinegar. Once I made a reduction with regular balsamic vinegar, and it was divine, can't even think of how good the real deal must taste).

And yes, it's real whip cream, no fakey, fakey stuff. This is a wonderful combination, and it didn't last long at all. I'm kinda getting into baking again, I'm just sick of how the store bought stuff tastes. I think I have to look into how to bake Angel food cakes, because I liked this combination, but don't want to use the store bought stuff, if you know what I mean. So, now that I've watered my own mouth, I'm going to pour another cup of tea, and try to remember the taste. I think I'll bake Sacher Torte today, just because. :o)

PS My Blog Anniversary is coming up in April! :o)

Ugly yarn part 2!

I almost posted this to another blog, thank god there was an error on the page, so I could realize where I was. Maybe the dye pot fumes went straight to my head?

Well, it looks like this yarn has got the better of me, because it will not even try to please me. I think I should have left it alone, but who could have known, that it would turn out even uglier than before?

I punished it by throwing it into the hot water of my dye pot. I thought we'll start with a little lavender, which did nothing, such a subtle change, just made it uglier. Now I pulled out the color vermilion, which I really don't like, but it came with a kit. To my surprise it did not change the yarn, it just wasn't as vibrant as in the beginning. Now I pulled out a strong color, not even caring anymore: sapphire blue. That did the trick, to further punish it, I left it in the pot for an hour. It sure is blue now, right?! But even after that long soak, it did not cover it evenly.

In the following pictures you'll see three things:

1. Maggie's yarn for a shawl

2. Hannah's Mermaid socks

3. Obstinate ugly yarn

1. Maggie's yarn for a shawl: Maggie asked me, if I would like to knit a shawl with her yarn for Knitters Frolic. I of course, said yes, I would. I threatened to design my own shawl. Well, I have some time, I can always knit one from my books, if it turns out to be a disaster. I've been swatching, and ripping, and pulling my hair, but it's fun, really!

2. Hannah's Mermaid socks: They are called "Mermaid socks" because the colorway is mermaid. The yarn is Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino sock yarn. It's such a pleasure to work with it, not sure about how they will hold up to wear. It's 2-ply sock yarn, the yarn is soft. I was sceptical about the color, when I first saw it, but knit up I think it's wonderful. I like the color combination, and it kind of striped, not quite pooling, which makes me happy. If I hadn't promised these socks to Hannah (she gave me the yarn for Christmas, and I thought since she picked it, she must like the color), and I cast on only 56 stitches, I would have kept them for myself. Than again, I'm hard on my socks, so they would not last very long with me.
I knit them toe-up, which I haven't done in a while. I tried to do Judy's magic cast on, but it was more like a figure 8 cast on, since I could not remember how to do it. I was too lazy to search for the instructions, buried somewhere in a pile of print out paper. It worked , if not as well as I remembered. Same thing with the jojo heel. Haven't done it in so long. I guess, if you don't use it, you loose it. I was too stubborn to go look that up also. In the end it worked, it came back to me, as I was doing it. The second heel turned out much better, since I did a few things differently, so there would not be those holes. And, after finishing the first sock, I suddenly knew how to do Judy's magic cast on, like I just had it done yesterday. Funny thing, memory.

yarn: Celestial Merino, 2-ply, 100g/310yds, colorway: mermaid, I had left over
cast on: 56 sts
needles: 2.5mm, 5-DP, the label said to use 3mm needles, but I could have used 2.25mm and it would have been quite alright.
start-finish: March 17-19 - I was kind of in a rush, since there was already Maggie's shawl in my head.

3. Ugly yarn: I'm now quite intrigued, and would like to know how it looks all knit up. I think this will be punished even further, by being knit up rather sooner than later. Ha, and after that I'll put it away, to never see the light of day again. (Evil laughter.)

If you celebrate, I wish you Happy Easter, otherwise, welcome Spring!

I made ugly yarn!

My last fiber of the month club fiber from Spunky Eclectic was this: 4oz of South African Fine, called "Think Spring". Hm, not my colors. Very easterly, don't you think? I thought what I could do with it, and came to the (wrong) conclusion, that some raspberry 50/50 wool/mohair blend would go with it. That's also 4oz of the pink stuff, but a lot fluffier. I spun singles, and was not thinking how it would look like actually plied together: Candy striped, of course! A kind soul (Angelika)said, it looks like strawberry ice cream.

This is 2-ply, 193.5 yds, both skeins together. I tried to spin thick, really, really thick, and thought I'll be needing at least 8mm needles to knit this stuff, but once plied, it might be called chunky, or heavy worsted. I have to check the WPI, but it's thick and thin spun, thanks to the mohair/wool blend, which was a PIA to draft and spin. It had lots of dried veggies in it, could have fed a bunny with it. I do not blame the fiber, or even Amy for providing this colorway, it's not her fault, that I didn't understand until it was too late, because after I finished this yarn, I read the little label, which comes with the fiber, it said: Think Spring!

" The grey skies are parting for the pink sunrises and the brighter yellow days of spring. Can you feel it coming?" Amy

That very evening I let the dogs outside when the sun was almost down. The sky was pink, yellowish, grey, and white, just like the fiber. I appreciated too late. When nature can produce such lovely colors, and I loved seeing it, why didn't I like the dyed fiber?

Anyway, Maggie did the best you could possibly do with this fiber, have a look!

It blew me away. Doesn't her yarn look a little like clouds, and it also reminds me of colored Easter eggs.

It has been a few days now, and I've settled down. It IS yarn I produced, and it will be knit eventually. I want to be more careful in the future, and try to think a little before I get to work.

This was my last fiber from a fiber club. I'm officially Fiber Club free. I still have to spin the last installment of Electric Sheep Fiber from February:

Don't know what I'll do with that one. Amy (another one) had this lovely picture as her inspiration. I don't want to blow it this time.

I love getting mail...

... espcially of the fibery kind. Packages on Monday? Almost never heard off, and there are two today! (insert happy dance here).

What you see here are two kits from Yarnissima. Fratello and Spina Di Pesce. Getting these kits is wonderful. They are wrapped lovingly, with so many little things added, like the big sea shell, which comes with the Spina Di Pesce yarn.

Of course there's the yarn, Wollmeise, itself. I have three kits now, and I think they've become somewhat of collectors items to me. The pattern presentation is very professional; Fratello is like a booklet just for this one sock pattern. Amazing!

Last week there was a night, where I was a little bored, I think I even mentioned it here. You can only knit so much, and all the other things you've done, and what are you going to do? Surf the net, and shop. Ahem.

While looking to find new sources for my fiber addiction, I stumbled upon a name I knew. It's "Rose Haven Farm" owned by Linda Swaine. As I just read up on her homepage, she no longer operates her sheep farm, but has a yarn store in Piction. How do I know her? My daughter worked for her, several years ago, as a work experience program in school. Three weeks during lambing season, that put her off all things sheepy, except knitting finished yarn. ;o)

I e-mailed Linda to say Hallo, and finally ordered some 5lbs of selected fibers: South African Fine, Karaoke nature, Shetland grey, 50/50 kid mohair/Border Leicester, and Corriedale, all for me to spin and dye, or dye and spin, whatever I may fancy. Linda was out of most of her fibers, I would have loved to try some of her (now sold) sheep, but until she's stocked up again, I've plenty to keep myself busy.

Off to my spinning wheel now. I'm working on a project, which involves 1kg (~ 35oz) of Cotswold natural fiber. More about that when it's done.

Knitting Lesson!

My grandmother is teaching my mother how to knit socks! I'm delighted! :o) That warranted a trip to the LYS Serenity Knits to get some sock yarn for my mom. I was lucky and got a great deal on Lana Grossa Meilenweit. I'll send it over when my DH is going over to Europe on a business trip. Watch out mom, sock yarn is on it's way!
As Claudia said, I should mention that we have now four generations of sock knitters in our family! :o) (Omi-Mutti-Moni-Hannah) Ha! :o)

Doggies:


It's such a warm and beautiful day today. I opened the door to the balcony. Biko is enjoying the sun, even on the hard wooden boards. It just dried enough to go outside. Yesterday there were huge icicles, and snow coming down from the roof.
Sam wants to be outside as well, but he needs to know, what I'm doing at the same time. :o)

Cobblestone and Silver Dollar!

click the pic for closer look

All I did yesterday, was spinning, no knitting or any other fibery thing, 10 oz to be exact. Not this yarn though. This yarn was made with FatCatKnits merino in the colorway "Cobblestone" combined with one ply Dyed in the Wool Handmade "Silver Dollar" (I've about 1 oz of this fiber left). I've had "Cobblestone" in my fiber stash for so long, I forgot to take a picture of the fiber itself. It looked lovely, and as always so very different from the finished product. I like how this 3-ply turned out. I think its colores are very "manly"; my son liked it, and he usually isn't saying anything about my yarn. He especially liked the burned orange/silver grey parts, and so did I.

In the picture below you can see a small skein. I made some 2-ply (38yds) with the remaining "Cobblestone" singles, (don't know why I did not have enough of the "Silver Dollar", I weight it). I would not have liked it by itself, so I'm glad I decided to make the 3-ply.

fiber: FatCatKnits "Cobblestone" 100% merino, 4oz

Dyed in the Wool Handmade, "Silver Dollar", 100% superwash merino, 2oz (or so I thought)

yarn: 3-ply, 311yds, 12 WPI

destination: handpun stash

By the way, before I forget again, my daughter is on Ravelry too! You can find her under fipabella. :o)

Besides spinning, and all the other things I've accomplished I felt like I was really productive yesterday. I made some "Apfelstrudel" (Apple Strudel); it was delicious, but I can't seem to find the right flour for the dough, not like it really should be, but it was good nevertheless. I should take time to bake more often.

I was not the only one, tired at the end of the day. Sam took advantage of the free bed.

My camera has a hard time to focus in a dark room, that's why the picture is a bit blurry. But Sam is still cute. :o)

Kristi's Mittens

Everything has its time. I started the Kristi's mittens back in December as a gift for a friend (friend got a shawl instead). I went into this project with so much enthusiasm and energy, and right after i finished the first mitten, it left me abruptly. I have to confess, I don't like stranded knitting. I love how it looks, it's wonderful when finished, but doing it? - No thanks. Sigh. I have so many patterns I want to do, and still have the Tiit's socks to finish. The first one's almost done. I put them on my coffee table, so I can see them, and feel guilty enough to continue knitting, because they are next. I want to get them off the needles, to feel free to cast on something else, or several something elses.

Between knitting the first and second mitten, my tension changed dramatically. When finished the second was smaller, but I steam ironed them and now they are the same size! :o) They are not knit well enough to be given as a gift, so I guess I'll be wearing them next winter. For now I'll put them away in a drawer, and by next winter, I might like to see them again. :o)

Another thing, you'll notice the thumbs. You are supposed to decrease in pattern, but by that time I've had enough and used red only. I think it's a lovely mitten pattern, but I will NOT knit them EVER again. The next time I think I need to do stranded knitting, I'll be sure to find a motif, where there are not yarn spans over 11 sts. At first I twisted like a mad woman, but after a while I didn't care anymore. It was either that, or rip them out and forget about them. So here they are.

pattern: Kristi's Mittens by Nancy Bush, Folk Knitting in Estonia, p. 84 (fantastic book)

yarn: red: Baby Ull Dalegarn, 100% superwash wool

white: Knit Picks Bare, merino/silk fingering weight

needles: 2mm DP's

start-finish: Dec. 23'07 - March 11 '08

The yarn is not suitable for mittens. It started pilling still on the needles. Can imagine how they'll look, once I made a few snowballs, but done is done. Note to self, don't use that yarn for mittens (or socks) in the future.

Bunny Love - it's got nothing to do with Easter!

Another blog post so soon, you ask? I'm snowed in, what else should I do? I've spun, I've knit, I've done many other things, and now I'm bored. Don't watch TV, have nothing entertaining to read, was playing in the snow - several times, so there you have it: Bunny Love!

Meet Wilma and Fred.

Fred came first, but the real Wilma made me choose those names, for my Bunnies with Hoodies. It might have nothing to do with Easter, but I think it's no coincidence that I saw this pattern chequed on Ravelry so many times. I fell in love with the ears first, than came the tail, and of course the Hoodie! What a lovely, and simple pattern (not free, but worth it).

Pattern: Bunny with Hoodie by Barbara Prime

Yarn: 100% worsted wool: for Fred: turmeric dyed yellow, and Easter egg color green dyed by me; Wilma was made from Peruvian Highland wool.

Needles: 4mm

Size: sitting 7" high

The hardest part were the faces. I liked Fred's face right away, but had some issues with Wilma's. We were on our way to the Vet, when I blurted out "I'll rip her eyes out.", which startled my son, who thought I was talking about Biko, the reason for another Vet visit. Well, I thought that was hilarious. I redid her nose too, Wilma's that is. Biko's fine, just had us worried, because once again she must have done too much, but she's getting better. Almost as good as new. :o) She's had her last steroid pill on Saturday, and by Tuesday, the Vet promised they would be out of her system. I hope so. She's stalking me, when I go near the kitchen, and she's eating EVERYTHING!

Of course nobody could keep us from romping through the snow, with sunshine that bright, and snow up to our knees!

Photo was taken early Sunday morning.

To get back to the bunnies. I'm still very much Kitchener stitch challenged. It's the part I don't like about knitting toys. I wish they were knit more in the round.