Mittens for Cooper

This is Cooper. He likes mittens. He also likes frogs. How could I resist making these frog mittens for him?

I couldn't.  At the request of his mom, I did an i cord too. He loves it!!

I Love Fair Isle

Off to a great start! 

A little more.... Just minutes later!

And more ...  An hour later!

All done!!

I really do love stranded knitting. Any sort of colourwork knitting really speaks to me but the technique of Fair Isle is something that makes my heart sing. I really think I could knit a full sweater sized garment with the entire design (not just the yoke or edgings) done in stranded knitting. 

I'm not sure that there are a lot of great designs out there that have this that would actually LOOK nice enough but ... Maybe someday. 
 

So in the meantime I'll have to be satisfied with knitting a fair isle hat. This design was so much fun to knit. It practical knit itself. The colour gradient yarn makes the fair isle extra special I think.  

 

 

 

Winter is coming

Winter comes quickly here in Labrador. The trees are almost bare. Except my favorite tree. That one still has leaves. I know I'm crazy. I have favorite trees. This one is really Interesting - if trees can be interesting. It's a dog berry tree (I think mainlanders call them dogwood)  

 I see this tree on my drive to work each morning. When all the leaves are gone off of the other trees, this one still has leaves. And look at that colour!! It almost glows. Whatever it is about this tree it somehow seems to be a month behind its counterparts. The leaves on this tree were still green when the others were all turned orange and falling. It's beautiful.  

Do you have a favorite tree? I have otter favorites as well. There is a huge poplar near our cabin that I love. There is also a larch tree that I pass on my way to work that has been trimmed to a pefect round tree. And this time of year the larches (or tameracs) are such a gorgeous shade of this golden yellow. They seem to glow in certain lights

In preparation for winter I am back on my mitten kick. I signed up for the mitten club from Blueberry Pie Studio once again. I was very happy with the colours of yarns received from there last year. The first shipment looks like this. 

The colour is called icecream parlour. I love it. I've already finished one mitten and have started the second. This shipment included a pattern for a multitude of sizes so I hope that each of my little boys will have a pair of handknit mittens from this seasons club. Sadly (not really) this colorway is a little too feminine for their parents who believe in gender based colours even though the little ones don't and think that pink and purple are perfectly good colours for boys. I want these mittens to be worn and the parents still have that control. 

So I may keep them for me or I may give them to my neice. But I've been knitting these mittens by Spilly Jane. It's hard to tell from this photo because I was holding the purple yarn in the wrong hand but, that's an octopus. I'm really thinking these will be perfect for my neice. I have to knit her Something since her brothers have (and will have) handknit socks from me. The second octopus is knit in fushia and I changed hands so the colour pops so much. 

The yarn is Jamison Spindrift. Kevin bought it for me when we visited a yarnshop in Mahone bay called "Have a Yarn"

What a lovely store in a lovely town. I highly recommend a visit if you're in the area. They had the nicest samples knit up. It made me want to knit ALL THE THINGS!!! I bought a Lucy Neatby mitten pattern that I've been resisting the urge to cast on. Seriously, I need to get some of the mittens off of the needles.

When you live in Labrador you can never have too many mittens. 

I really shouldn't brag

I cast on for these way back in March.  I bragged about how quickly they were knitting up.  I loved the yarn.  Malabrigo - whats not to love?  I loved the pattern.  Colourwork robots!!  Hello! Fantastic.  But here it is, now September and I'm just finishing them.  What happened?  To put it quite simply - summer.  Warmer weather inspired me to knit lace and baby items, not warm mittens.  But summer doesn't last long here in Labrador.  Its actually chilly enough now to start wearing these in the evenings on my walks.

I suspect I may have a hard time keeping these.  I know Amy wants them.  But she isn't getting them this time.  Amy, you do understand that right?  These are mine, all mine.

I think I may be in love

With this combination of yarn and mitten pattern.  I'm not usually a person to use the recommended yarn.  I almost always will try to substitute based on what I have in my stash.  I certainly never knit with the exact same colourway.  Except this time.  I purchased the exact same yarn brand - Malabrigo, in the exact same colours - Emerald blue and Carrot as the pattern is recommending.  And oh my, how I love it.  These mittens are so fun, they are practically knitting themselves. 

In other news, I joined a yarn club of sorts.  Its Leethal Quick knits Club, by Lee Meridith.  I love her patterns and her work.  She is genius.  She uses mostly recycled/reclaimed yarn and materials, which I love, love, love.  Her patterns are quick, quirky and fun.  I really wanted to support her work and join this club.  So far, I've received March's mail out which had a photography theme.  When I grow up, I want to be a photographer.  Some day I'll own a good camera, but for now, I love my little Canon Power shot.  The package included two mini skeins of yarn, two fun little patterns and some extras - one of which was this neat little mesh thingy that you hold over your camera lens to produce a nice twinkly effect with lights.  Here is a photo taken in my kitchen.  I suspect there would have been more twinkling if all lights in the fixture were working and if it were indeed dark enough to require lights.  And yes, that is a big pile o snow outside my window.  Late March does not equal spring in Labrador (even though we have had the mildest winter on record)


I'm not sure what is going on with Blogger.  I used to be able to somewhat format my photos, now they are just going in here all helter skelter like.  Oh well, I'm sure it makes sense to someone. 

Magnificant!

At least I think they are. I said earlier in the year that my knitting goal this year was to do more colourwork. Here is a fine example of this. They are called Smargagdi mittens - a free pattern that I found through Ravelry.


They are knit in Noro Kuryeon sock (thats the self striping part) and Knitpicks Palette (the grey part) The pattern actually calls for both parts to be knit in the Kuryeon but in all the finished mittens that I saw on Ravelry that used just kuryeon looked very different. That is, each mitten was beautiful, but looked nothing alike. Fraternal twins if you will. But, I wanted identical. So I used the Palette as a base. I ended up have to hack and slash away at the kuryeon to make the second match, but I think I did a pretty good job. Except..... they are exactly the same. And of course our hands are reverse images of themselves. So I have one mitten with grey diamond print on the palm and the other has the grey diamond print on the palm. The inverse image on opposite sides. See what I mean?



I should have realized that when I was so meticulously trying to match the colour runs. But its okay. They are still beautiful. They are even beautiful inside out.

Of course we have reason to be wanting mittens. This is the view of the mighty Churchill River from my workplace. Beautiful! A bit early for this crap, but beautiful nonetheless.

No blog posts for May?

I wonder why? I've been knitting. I've been spinning. I just haven't been finishing anything. I did make this hat.

Well, thats not a finished photo. I'm sure I took one, but I don't know where is it. I must remember to take another. I'm disappointed that I didn't have quite enough yarn to do this pattern justice. I ended up shortening the earflaps and the icords. The yarn (100% alpaca) is super soft. Next time, I'll but more.

I've started colorwork!@!! I'm super impressed with myself. I thought it would be dead hard, but it isn't. I'm knitting one colour continental style and the other english style. Thank you you tube for that little hint. Here is a photo of one fingerless glove that I've finished.