Seahawks Mitts and Other Awesomeness

Can you believe it? I actually finished Mary's birthday present ON TIME. I even had enough time to block her Seahawks Mitts and let them dry before giving them to her. I am absolutely in love with the way they turned out!!! I've drooled over this pattern for so long but dreaded jumping into stranded colorwork, especially when a deadline was involved. Really bad idea to do them 2 at a time on 1 needle, but I survived and it was worth it. I definitely want to make another pair for myself one day!

I should probably mention that I changed the pattern up a bit. I really didn't like the look of the ribbing on the hands in the original pattern, so I decided to switch them to stockinette. It worked out really well since I was using the same weight yarn, same size needles, and same number of stitches that I did in my Tenth Doctor Mitts and I knew they fit Mary so I just made the hands the same way. It worked out great! Next time around I think I'd probably switch to size 2 needles for the last few rows of colorwork to make the wrist a little bit tighter. Other than that they fit both of us really well :-)



Mary (aka BFF) showing off her new Seahawks Mitts and Birthday Babe beads

Not that this should surprise anyone, but Mary was really lucky that she even got her birthday present. As soon as I tried them on I wanted them for myself! My mitts that I wear on a daily basis are only wrist length, but the Seahawks Mitts go practically to my elbows and are super squishy and warm. This leads me to believe I need a longer pair for me and soon (especially since my desk is freezing today) so I've started on a pair of Rose's Wrist Warmers that should go about halfway between my wrist and elbow. It doesn't have anything to do with this month's Gallifreyan Time Travel Challenge of crafting something inspired by your favorite Doctor Who companion. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

And now for something that *wasn't* crafted by me... A couple months ago the super awesome LisaD sent me an amazing ice cream swap box. It was full to the brim of all kinds of fantastic goodies including an ice cream cone cat toy for Bella. She sent me a message asking me to take a picture of it since she forgot to before she sent it, but I couldn't right away because I did something monumentally stupid. You'd think that I'd have learned by now that I need to take pictures of swap goodies before giving them to Bella, but obviously I haven't. I opened the box, gave it to her, and didn't see it again until yesterday. She just loooooves to hide her toys, especially those containing catnip. Apparently she was craving ice cream yesterday so she pulled it out from wherever it was hiding and played with it a bit. Luckily I was around when this went down and was able to snap a couple of pics. The little bugger hid it again before I could get a picture of it all by itself, so these are better than nothing. Apparently she just doesn't want to share her stash.

Mitts, Mitts, and More Mitts

The past couple of weeks have been fairly stressful for me, so blogging hasn't been done as regularly as I'd like, but I still have been knitting away! Seems like the only thing I've been working on lately are pairs of fingerless mitts!!!

Tenth Doctor Mitts
Once I started over on these I was in love. They went sooooooooo much faster since I actually enjoyed working on them and I finished them in just under a week. Perfect timing too because my desk just seems to get colder and colder in the mornings and my hands have been freeeeeezing! Suppose that's to be expected in October. I actually finished them the same day that my "It came out of nowhere..." shirt from woot arrived - a Thursday right before casual Friday when I get to wear t-shirts to work. I was totally stylin' with my Doctor Who shirt and mitts :-D I've worn the mitts every morning since then and I still love them. What a treat to actually make something for me!!!

Shantelle's Birthday Mitts
When I brought the Beauxbatons mitts into work to show off over the summer, my boss really liked the pattern and asked me to make her a pair in black. Time passed and I didn't get to them. Eventually she changed her mind and decided that she'd actually rather learn how to knit and make her own. I taught her how and right now she's working on a scarf for her daughter to practice before she starts working with fingering yarn and tiny needles. Unfortunately this leaves her hands cold until she's ready to work on her mitts, so I decided to go back to the plan of black Susie's Reading Mitts and made them for her birthday. Now her hands don't have to freeze while she's still learning how to knit :-)

Seahawks Mitts
BFF Mary's birthday is this coming Tuesday and it looks like I'll be able to finish her Seahawks mitts in time!!! I finished the colorwork portion at knitting group last night and I love how they're turning out. This pattern is so awesome that I'm going to have to make a pair for me one day...

In other non-mitt-related news, I got to hang out with Nicole this past Sunday which means I was reunited with the Traffic Cone of Doom I crocheted and gave to her this past spring. He has a place of honor sitting on her dashboard and reminds her not to go hitting innocent traffic cones. Awesome :-D

You spin me right round, baby

I've hit a bump in the road with my crafting mojo. Hate it when that happens! I finished the triangles of Dragonflies and now it's time for the gusset, but the pattern isn't working like it's supposed to and I'm frustrated. I'm used to this with knitting, but I can figure anything out with crocheting except for this damn gusset. Now I'm in a funk and it seems to have spread to all my other yarny projects. Erg.

The only thing I'm really interested in knitting is the Seahawks Mitts because they're so different. But they take lots of focus and I haven't been in the mood to deal with untangling the yarn. Next time I decide to do 2 colorwork mitts on one needle, please throw something at me. I'm up to row 21 now though. Go me.

My new Knit Picks order arrived today, and with it was the yarn for my Tenth Doctor Mitts - inspired by David Tennant in Doctor Who and using Marge's Mitts pattern. I've decided I need to make something fun for me. In hopes to get excited about a new project and reclaim my crafting mojo, I started them at knitting group tonight but they didn't seem to help improve my mood. Only got 3 rows into them and I'm not sure if I'm going to like the way the cables work up with this busy yarn. I'm feeling pretty underwhelmed by them.

The best thing about group tonight was that I learned how to spin with my drop spindle! Since I bought it a couple months ago, I haven't had much luck. But yewberry came to my rescue tonight and I totally got the hang of it. I love it when the light bulb clicks on. So even though I don't want to deal with knitting or crocheting, I have spinning to look forward to at lunch tomorrow - along with the book I just can't put down (Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich).

Learning Something New

After my frustration with the After Hours shawl, I decided to take a break from knitting for a couple of days. I've finished several more rows in Dragonflies and I think the end is finally in sight. I still have 75 more shells to do (and the dragonfly gusset), but there shouldn't be any problem getting this shipped off to my swap partner by the end of the month. Yippie!

The break from the needles didn't last too long though, and soon enough I was back to working on the Ggester at lunch. This hat is crazy huge, but I don't think it'll be too much of a problem for wearing. It's just a silly hat, so who cares if it's a bit loose. I know I said that I was only going to work on it at lunch, but this morning I just wanted something mindless and soothing to work on so I started and finished the first of the 3 "happy points." Unfortunately I was a bit too mindless while working on it and ended up screwing up the placement of the seam and decreases. The decreases are on the outside instead of the inside of the point which means it's not going to hang how it's supposed to. Also means that if I fix my mistake with the other points then they won't hang naturally from my head. I think I've figured out how to fix it, but I'm really not looking forward to the other 2 points.

The yarn finally came on Thursday for BFF's Seahawks Mitts! I don't remember if I've said this or not, but I decided on Transition Gloves for the pattern and this means I finally have to learn color work. This isn't a traditional Fair Isle pattern, but the same techniques are used for adding color. The ribbing is done only in green on tiny Size 1 needles, then it's time to switch to Size 3 and start adding the blue. So far I think I'm doing ok. My tension was off for the first couple of rows, but I think I've solved that problem by holding the green working yarn in one hand, and the blue in the other. It's really strange getting used to using both hands for adding yarn, but I think I've started to get the hang of it. Finished row 12 last night. Only a bajillion more to go. Oh, and for added fun, I'm doing them 2 at a time on 1 needle. It's how I've done the past sets of gloves and didn't expect any problems. That was before it occurred to me that I have 4 balls of working yarn hanging from my needles. Obviously not the brightest decision I've ever made, but after the first night and a tangled mess, I think I've got a rhythm down to prevent massive tangling. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I can't believe I forgot to post this with last weekend's pictures, but I've started on Swatch #3 - Seed Stitch. It was fun and relaxing for the first couple of rows (and I don't seem to be having any problems with it), but now I find it to be downright boring. I've been avoiding finishing it all week, but I should really get back to it so I can finish it and move on to something more interesting!

In other news, I've signed up for the Hogwarts Super Kit Swap 12 (HSKS12) and received my spoiler and spoilee information tonight! The term actually starts on Monday (I think) and since this is my first round with HSKS I'm super excited to get started. Unlike my usual swaps I know who my upstream contact is and my downstream knows who I am so it looks like I'll be making some new HP friends. This group really seems to focus on getting to know each other and creating really awesome and special swap boxes for the spoilees. This swap is based on book 7 (timing with the new movie) so our theme is horcruxes and instead of being sorted into houses, we were sorted into families. I'm part of Ron's Muddle-Headed Mates. Sounds about right, dontcha think? Instead of my usual Slytherin silver and green, we get new colors too: Maroon and Orange. This scares me more than a little, but it still has potential. Can't wait to see if and what my spoilee does with it!


Day 12, Triangle 2: 21 shells = 2 hours 20 min
Average: 6.6 minutes per shell (this was at Wednesday night craft group)
Day 13, Triangle 2: 12 shells = 60 min
Average: 5 minutes per shell
Total: 231 shells = 18 hours