pride goeth before a fall

Well, the mittens for my assistant are done, and wrapped up at work for giving on Monday. I think they turned out spectacularly, if I do say so myself, and I really, really wanted to keep them. I finished the knitting of the second one at my knitting group last Tuesday, and when I got to the thumb, it turned out I'd not picked up the stitches correctly around the base of the thumb, where it meets the mitten, and there was a huge hole. I had been working so fast that I didn't even notice. So... the second mitten has a bit of sewing up in the crook of the thumb that the first doesn't have, which makes it a bit bulkier, but otherwise, they are so cute! I had to wait to weave in the rest of the ends though, as the light in Starbucks isn't too good for working on dark brown wool.

I do not have a picture of the mittens yet. I blocked them Thursday, sewed on the buttons and took them in to work. I figured I would get her to model them when I actually gave them to her. I did tell both her and her little friend that I'd made them each something for Christmas. I can't wait to actually give it to them. Giving the scarf and mitts I made for my drum teacher was a little anticlimactic though. He seemed to really like them, but wasn't blown away or anything. I think maybe he was just taken aback, but hopefully he'll wear them. I hope the girls' reaction is a little more dynamic. Just to make me feel like it was worth it. We'll see. Honestly I do judge people's knit worthiness by their reactions. I like hearing about babies wearing what I've given (pictures are even better) and I like seeing people using what I give them. I know it's not real charitable to care about that stuff, and I'm not saying I want something back from them, other than their visible and voluble appreciation of the gesture. But it does make me feel good when people are excited about getting a hand-knit gift.

I also forgot to talk about my fall hat and infinity scarf. I've already stopped wearing them for the season, because it is now sooooo bloody cold, but I think I should document them here.

FO 21 & 22

When I was in Berlin, we visited Handmade Berlin, which just happened to be just down the street from our hotel. I was stoked about getting some German yarn, but the woman working just laughed and said that to differentiate her shop, she offered stuff from other countries. Hardy har har. But I ended up getting some Italian yarn that I hadn't seen at home.

Yarn: Flamm irrestringibile by Bertagna Filati. It's a thick/thin wrapped singles, but not really, more like wrapped fiber. It is pretty awesome yarn, and makes a great textured piece, but obviously it isn't for everything. I got three skeins--I had been thinking about making a big white scarf for a while, and I thought this would be the yarn! In fact, I only needed two of the skeins, so with the third, I made the Cordova hat.


Pattern #1:
Cordova hat



This is a great hat pattern, and I think the texture of the yarn I had adds another level of interest.



Plus, it's makes a really great hat for the warmer winter days. Not so good for windy days because of all the holes, but if it's not too cold, I love it.



Pattern #2:
Wisteria Scarf





Ok, actually I did the stitch pattern from the Wisteria Scarf (I own the book, thanks to my good friend Salwa), but instead of doing the fringe, which I didn't think would work very well with this yarn, I just ended up sewing the two ends of the scarf together when it was long enough to wrap around my neck three times. Y'all, I love it. I lurv it. I luff this scarf. It's squishy and cozy and pretty. Yes, it may be getting a little fuzzy because of the fiber rubbing off on my coat. No, it is not as warm as some of my other scarves because it is lace. Yes, I do look like I'm covered in whipped cream when I'm wearing the hat and scarf together. But I don't care! I love it. It probably won't last too much longer than this one season, but again, I don't care. I used almost all the yarn. I have one little ball of it left, and I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. Probably see if anyone on Ravelry wants to use it to swatch with. Obviously let me know if you want to take it off my hands.

Here it is wrapped once around the neck:




And here it is wrapped all the way up:



LOVE!