Wooly Mitts

Encouraged by being able to wear the felted booties, I went to one of the LYS here in Charlotte and got some fuschia (see a trend in my color choices?) wool (the Berocco alpaca/wool blend) and am knitting a pair of fingerless gloves. I have teeny hands, so only cast on 28 stitches. I did the first 1" in k1p1 ribbing, did the main part of the mitt in stockinette, and ended with 1" of ribbing. I also knitted the mitt in the round, using two circulars. So I really did not follow the pattern; it was just a 'guide'.

Anyway, I finished one and wore it the cold day we had this past week and THEY DID NOT ITCH! And so warm. So I am knitting the second one now. Might even knit my daughter a pair if she whines a little!

Felted Booties

I attempted a pair of felted booties in bright fuscia for my daughter for Christmas. I made some mistakes in the pattern with the first shoe, doing stockinette rather than garter; the second bootie I followed the pattern exactly. I felted them in my fancy washing machine that does not felt well...no central post agitator, very low water levels, and a refusal to believe I mean HOT water when I punch the HOT button. One is significantly bigger than the other (the one that I followed the pattern exactly is the biggie). My daughter politely declined the booties. Yes, they do look funny. I was going to toss them when I decided to try them on. These things keep the feet and ankles so toasty. And my feet don't itch when wearing them. Evidently it is just scarves and sweaters that can't be wool for me. Anyway, I highly recommend these for cold winter floors! Maybe next winter I will try again and make some that don't fit me like clown boots.

Difficult Pattern

I fell in love with the Brea bag in the Berocco free patterns; an elaborate cable design. I made the one side of this bag very successfully when I was sick with vertigo. It is beautiful. Last night I sat down, very healthy mind you, and absolutely cannot duplicate the first row of the pattern. It is full of weird repeats. I guess when I was sick I was able to focus better to take my mind off how bad I felt. Plus, I was watching a movie while trying to do the pattern this time, and I came out with extra stitches at the end of row 2, THREE times. Maybe it is my mood....but I've decided that the purse is probably too small, plus am using an inexpensive acrylic from my stash that is not touch-friendly! I won't throw away my one piece...maybe the muse will strike again!

Spit Splicing

Thanks to a friendly Knitlist member, I have solved the problem of the knots in the wool/angora yarn I am recycling from the old sweater. Spit splicing. It works like a charm....now I have the tedium of unwinding the first ball of yarn I created, from the sleeve, and cutting the knots and splicing the yarn pieces and rerolling.

FYI, if the yarn is cotton or acrylic, you can use a Russian Join to splice lengths of yarn, although I confess to having forgotten this method. Instructions for Spit Splicing AND Russian Join both are easy to Google.

Knotty Problems

I started unravelling the angora/wool sweater from Goodwill and it seems that the seamline has felted a bit and so ended up with a good many short lengths that I tied together with square knots. I really like the feel of the yarn;wool has always made me itch and I am reluctant to spend good money on nice wool just to give it away, but I WANT a soft wool lacy shaw and plan to knit the shawl in Complete Knitting by Creative Homeowner Home Arts that my daughter gave me for Christmas...it is knit in squares and sewn together on the diagonal....I figure that little squiggles of yarn (knots) hanging off from the shawl can be a design feature. Hey, those purses knitted of knotted fabric lengths are popular, right? And you leave all those ends hanging.

You will notice a lack of photos in the new year. You will also notice a lack of entries in the old year. Taking photos, downloading and uploading is a pain and I figure I might actually keep this knitting diary everyday if I skip the photos. Up to now I waited until I felt like doing a photo upload to write an entry. I know it is more boring.........

Recycling Yarn

I visited Goodwill today and everybody is donating sweaters! I picked up a wool/angora/nylon turtleneck in pale aqua to 'unknit' and turn into a shawl. Maybe. I also picked up three other cotton and cotton blend sweaters that I loved the colors. I want to try to unravel these and knit something else. I keep reading about doing this online and I always am ready to try a new skill, especially when it is CHEAP. I also found a cardigan in a celery green linen that matches my kitchen and I can see it as a towel...unless I decide to keep the sweater. In December I visited the same Goodwill Store and bought several sweaters to take apart and instead am wearing them. The one that I was willing to pull apart, my daughter claimed!

I also picked up three purses that had handles suitable for knitting projects. We'll see if they ever attach themselves to a knitted purse!