Let Summer Begin

Let's cut to the chase today... guess what is off the needles in just the nick of time?!

Pattern: Papilio Mittens by JennyPenny (great name!)
Yarn: Pink- Schachenmayr Regia Trendpoint 6618 in "pink lady" and White- Knit Picks Stroll Glimmer in "white"
Needles: US 2
Notes: This pattern has an after-thought thumb, which I don't like the feel of... so I charted out my own thumb and began knitting it at row 26.  Here's a rough sketch of the chart if you'd like to add it to the pattern.

 

I had a very enthusiastic mitten model to work with this time... (except his focus wasn't on showcasing the mitten...)

They are quite lovely.  I was especially pleased with how the yarn softened up after it's blocking bath.

  

The SECOND these were blocking and I was officially free to work on something else, I cast on a baby blanket.  (Pattern is Baby Heart Blanket by Deborah O'Leary)  I had been just itching to knit something simple and quick and this fits that bill.

I have a boat load of acrylic yarn sitting in my stash right now.  I bought giant Lion Brand "Pound of Love" yarn balls when I had planned to knit baby blankets for my cousin... however the contrast wasn't sharp enough and so it's just sitting there... collecting dust.

 

I haven't decided if I'll keep this for a potential mama down the line or donate it to Oddball Baby Blankets.  This is a very simple pattern that shouldn't take me a long time to knit and I will certainly have enough yarn to knit more than one blanket out of it.  So who knows, maybe one for me and one for charity.  We'll see where the path leads me.

I also decided to get the random Christmas stocking I started working on to show someone else how to knit a stocking on back in December finished.

Pattern: Christmas Stocking by Stephanie Taylor
Yarn: Patons Canadiana North America Solids Red 10707 in "Cardinal" and Green 10708 in "Leap Frog"
Needles: US 7
Notes: I knit color blocks of 12 instead of 10 that is called for in the pattern.  I actually have enough of this to knit a second stocking... so maybe I will and the kitties can each have their own stocking at Christmas.  It was a quick and very simple knit.  Also, as far as acrylic yarns go- this Patons stuff is actually pretty nice to knit with.  I'd buy it again!

In general that's the goal this summer- to chip away at the acrylic, using simple projects and charity blankets, to get the acrylic down to small size and pick up with the wool in the fall.  Let's see where it goes!  In the mean time, I feel like this pic of my son's last night of soccer (last week) sums up how I'm feeling about knitting this summer.