Mad About Mittens

As promised, I got my butt in gear this week and got the final pair of mittens out the door.  Let's cut to the chase....

Pattern: All the Water by Kerstin Kapur

Yarn: Illimani Yarn Silky Baby Llama in 9208 "beige"

Needles: US 5

Notes: This is a great pattern and it looks lovely.  My one gripe is the cuff.  I feel like the cuff, which is 1x1 rib, is underwhelming for an otherwhise lovely mitten.  If I do it again, (and I likely will) I'll probably try to figure out a nicer looking cuff.

Let's look a little closer at the cable shall we?

This completes the quartet of mittens I had scheduled myself to knit for the teachers/helpers in Parker's classroom this Christmas.  

Technically my Christmas knitting is done... I say technically because I'm thinking about adding another project... more on that in a bit.

The other thing I want to finish before the end of November is my charity hats for Rockyview Hospital.  I'm close.  I'm working on hat 11 right now and will likely (hopefully) have enough for one more.

All of these pretty little cabled grey hats are perfect warm additions for winter babies.  It will be good to get them done and really clear off that slate to begin something anew. 

What will that be exactly?  As I mentioned above I'm toying with an idea of adding another project to the list.  My sister bought a super snazzy fall cape (as we all did... haha) this fall and said she wished she had legwarmers... but for her arms.  Leg warmers for your ARMS you say?.... ask and you shall hopefully receive.  I'm thinking cables and grey.... but I haven't gone down the Ravelry pattern hole yet.  I'm also feeling pretty partial to those Sydanmaa mittens and might make MYSELF (for me!!!!!) a pair.  And then... maybe a poor neglected sweater I started LAST FALL and then got sidetracked there for a year.  Maybe, just maybe I'll begin again on that.

Can you tell it's getting cold?  I'm all about mittens and sweaters and anything that keeps one warm- so it must be prime knitting season!

Hello From The Other Side

Well I'm officially in the place I wanted to be... on the other side of the busy things that were taking me away from my knitting.  Halloween is in the books.  A fancy dinner party with neighbors is in the books and my house was NEVER more clean than it was on that day.  Mother in Law's birthday is celebrated and Parker's birthday is over.  And while I enjoyed all of these things and being apart of all of these things, I am revelling in all the things that DON'T need to be done now and enjoying the quiet before the envitable Christmas storm.

Parker's birthday party in particular was particularly knitting-time consuming... as I needed to put a lot of things together when his prying eyes weren't looking.  His party was Lego Star Wars theme and Parker's mama got crafty!

Whether it was pool noodle light sabers we used to fight Storm Trooper balloons....

Or personally molded chocolates for loot bags and cupcakes...

Or the "dark and the light" side cupcakes that we served our guests....

 

Or just the general decor and food prep.... (also.... this is NOT my house...)

 

I. WAS. BUSY.  (and so was my amazing family on BOTH sides who worked their butts off to help us)

I think Parker liked his party.  (He's five... he's not effusive with praise.)  He has that pool noodle light saber sleep in his room with him at night.  (Even though he has THREE actual Star Wars light sabers...)

Sadly- knitting progress is on the light side.  (I'm hoping to change that for the rest of this month in particular.)  It's there, but it's small.  Hey look I finished another hat!

AND- I got the mittens off the blockers this am... which means I need to cast on another pair the minute this blog post is complete.

Pattern: Sydanmaa Mittens by Hanna Levaniemi
Yarn: Illimani Yarn Silky Baby Llama in 9208 (beige)
Needles: US 4
Notes: Not only is this yarn buttery in texture, but it's warm.  SO WARM.  I loved this pattern so much (and it's quite simple) that I'm going to make another pair for me... because PRETTY!

 

At one point the ball of yarn was in my lap and I was like "why is my lap so warm in this particular spot?" and realized it was where the yarn was sitting.  Hoping they are liked by the teacher!

Okay... I'm going to go and sit and knit for a bit.  It's going to be AWESOME.