The mittens, they are multiplying!

Note: Mentally insert Jaws music here.







Doh! Yeah, he bit (and paw thwacked) the mittens (wish I'd gotten a better picture with more teeth showing) : ) I had to retreat for a bit to preserve the puncture free state of my fingers...

He was probably getting me back for this:






Don't they look like furry feline Marge Simpson impersonators?




Thrummed Mittens (Interweave Knits, Winter 2006)
Shaefer Yarn Company Lola, 100% Merino Wool Superwash (280 yards / 114 g per skein), what I'm calling "rooster colors," 0.46 skeins
merino wool roving for thrums (~ 1 ounce)
US 3 & 5 dpns

I knit these pretty much as directed except I started the thumb a bit earlier (I didn't figure out I liked this better until the second one, so I did surgery to remove the first thumb and reattach it - fun stuff). I like the wild combination of yarn and thrums. The only thing I wish I'd done differently was to make the thrums more robust. From the written description of thrum making in the pattern, I thought I was making my thrums on the large side... little did I know. Unfortunately, they don't do a great job of blocking the wind as they are, so I may try to use a crochet hook to add more fiber to my thrums at some point.

However, if we have any really cold days in the immediate future, I will be reaching for these gorgeous things in lieu of the ones I made:



Can you believe my luck! Rosina made me the cushiest, warmest, most all around wonderful thrummed mittens for Pay It Forward. She saw them in my queue and started before she knew I was making some, and I'm so glad she did!

Just take a look at these (Moana helped me unwrap them):





Now, those are real thrums! (compare to my stringy, anemic ones above) ...and they are so buttery soft (being BFL, and all). The yarn (Berroco Ultra Alpaca) is super soft, too!

But what's this?



She also made me a bag ! The wool fabric is recycled from a skirt. It is definitely perfect for "toting around a small project" (as she suggested in her note to me). Check it out:






I love the lining, and it matches the mittens so well:



I am so impressed with everything! (I hope my downstream PIF folks aren't disappointed with my meager offerings - don't worry guys, I didn't forget - they're in the mail!)

Since I'm already exceeding all rational limits for photos, I'll save my Entrelac Wrap reveal and some other stuff for a future post (hopefully soon).

Now for a few more gratuitous cat/mitten shots courtesy of Bug (cue the Jaws soundtrack again, if you wish - those mittens are sneaky!):








Yep, Bug thinks they're pretty darn comfy, too : )

Of yarn and... other things.

I made a rather significant purchase recently. I'll give you a hint -- it was integral in turning this:



...into this:



Here are a few more hints:





Meet my new wheel! (Woohoo!)



It's a double treadle Original Lendrum Spinning Wheel, and I think it's lovely (and it spins nice, too!).

I have been doing a lot of research lately and wanted a versatile, reliable wheel that didn't cost a huge amount. I had narrowed it down to this wheel or the Ashford Traditional, but decided on the Lendrum.

Here's my first attempt with it (Bug and Moana helped me out quite a bit with the fiber prep):

















You can see that I had some issues maintaining an even thickness in my singles - I need to work on my drafting : )





My Husband's Hat

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while.



My husband used his Berroco Jasper in the lovely "Copper Silk" colorway to make himself a really cool hat! He prefers to purl, not knit, (so the hat was done in all-purl stockinette) and he likes to wrap the yarn clockwise which produces a biasing rib-like effect in combination with the singles yarn. I've dubbed his hat "Purl-Crazy."

I really love this yarn (even though I didn't get to use it!), especially in this particular colorway. I may have to make something out of it eventually myself (although I'd need to get more, since he used most of the two skeins we had) : )





Love the reverse stockinette inside, too...

Of course, Bug isn't content to let me photograph knitwear in peace, so he had to get in on the action:






Thrummed Mittens

I started some Thrummed Mittens from the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.



The yarn (which I won) is pretty wild (it totally reminds of rooster feathers!), so I think it's a good match for mittens : ) And, to maximize the craziness, I am using cotton candy pink thrums:






I've finished the first mitten, except for the thumb.


Doh, Tagged Again!

I've been tagged by Susan and Tammy. Here are the rules (notice I'm not a stickler for 3 or 4):

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here are 7 (more) things about me:

1. I love cheese! (although I admit I had some trouble with the Morbier I tried once)

2. I've had a piece of graphite from the tip of a pencil embedded in the palm of my right hand since elementary school.

3. I really enjoy the music of MIA, Northern State, and Primus, to name a few. My musical tastes are pretty eclectic, though I tend to be turned off by "ballads" / slow cheesy love songs that take themselves too seriously.

4. I tend to say goofy things around people I'm not very familiar with (shyness...gah!).

5. My favorite genre of books is science fiction / fantasy (well.... it's at least tied with "knitting books").

6. I have trouble finding comfortable shoes, so I mainly wear one pair over and over and over... it's very attractive : )

7. I like yarn. (Hey, I'm running out of ideas - this is hard!)


If you would like to participate, consider yourself tagged!