Sunday, November 4, 2007

rather fetching mitts

Last year I got an awesome light-weight wool coat from overstock.com. I made a coordinating hat for it from Valley Yarns' Berkshire using the Flowers on a Grave pattern from ¡TheAnticraft! I was pretty happy until I (inevitably) lost one of my black leather gloves, but with lots of gift knitting occupying my roster, I toughed out my cold hands until spring. Yesterday, the remnants of hurricane blew through the eastern part of the state, bringing us in the west some drizzle and a surprisingly cold wind. This inspired the need for mittens! Luckily, I was able to raid my stash for some Nashua Yarns' Wooly Stripes in Fuchsia Bouquet. Inspired by StoneAmazon on Ravelry, I decided to turn Knitty's Fetching handwarmers into full mittens, though I'm not making them a flip-top.

I'm using Grumperina's brilliant method for cabling without a cable needle (click on "Cabling w/o a cable needle) It's a little scary, initially, but its a real time-saver. I've been able to use it for all kinds of cables, including purl-background cables, as long as the stitches come off the needle in the opposite order they went on. I couldn't figure out how to do the cables in Widdershins, which are a little funny, but that doesn't mean it can't be done by someone smarter than me. I'll post my mods once I finish both mittens, that way they'll be consistent.

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