It seemed appropriate - Slytherin gloves

I don't think I've ever shown my Slytherin fingerless gloves, but in honor of this morning's brief snowstorm, another winter knit seemed appropriate for blogging.



I made these for a friend of mine, who dresses as Professor Snape basically all the time. They are my own pattern which is very simple, and my own Slytherin snake graph, which I'll post when I am feeling not so achy and tired as I am at the moment (coming down with something).



The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino - black of course - two skeins and size 3 DPNs I think. Size 3 is pretty much my favorite size needle for mitts and gloves. I just get in this place where I always use the same needles for things. I use 1.5 for socks all the time. Size 8's for hats!

On Monday, I had to drive to the coast to present at an educational meeting and as I was wandering lost (as is my common practice), I saw a yarn store in a small strip-mall by the road. Charlotte's Web! Wow. I'd always wanted to visit this store - the only one in my state I hadn't been to - so I was very excited that I had extra time before my meeting. (I have such a bad sense of direction that I often go way early to places just to allow for the aimless wandering and re-tracking that is inevitable)

I loved this store! It had more than I could explore in an hour and was full of yarns I can't find anywhere else. But best of all, the woman at the counter was so friendly and nice. She talked to me like I was a friend: "what are you working on?" "How is that going?" and she was like that with everyone who came in. Pretty soon we were all laughing and talking.

Before I knew it, several skeins of Malabrigo lace weight had jumped into my basket! I got this colour for myself:


Then I got a dusky green/brown for a vest for my sister, and picked up a couple more skeins for a swap with a friend - in a velvety deep blend of colours that are stunning. After collecting some pattern booklets in a desperate attempt to find ways to reduce the stash I keep inflating, I had to wander on...Far too little time.

Time for me to take Tylenol and crawl under the comforter... {{{groan}}}. I have some nice mint water and Aunt Dimity and the Duke to comfort me.

Seattle's Bracken

I had a request for the pattern to my Bracken Seattle Bus Mittens and as I was searching for them, I realized I had never posted them to my journal! I made these in mid-winter early 2007 as gifts for my sister and her boyfriend.



His pair was made from a hand-dyed yarn created by my local yarn store in a colour called "Bracken". It is a green-brown so dark it looks black.

Her pair is a varigated Malabrigio - I love the deep greens and light greens, like light through the forest branches. Both pairs have a foliage theme....



As you can see, they have a little opening for searching for change, bus tokens, and cards in your pockets. I also made the thumbs open (a modification I made to the original pattern) because its hard to fish for change without that opposable thumb! Another modification - I didn't knit a ribbed cuff on these, but just knit straight from the wrist up.



I'm happy that I was asked to look for this pattern again, because I'd forgotten how great these were! I need to make a pair for myself and my boyfriend!

Dog-Walking Mitts

A very quick Christmas gift - finished over the past 3 days: the Garter Stitch Mitts, by Ysolda (who's website is on my "Inspire" list, left). This is a brilliant short-row pattern on the order of the Grackle Grackle hat that I made last month (or, as its more commonly known, the ZeeBee...).



I used less than one skein of Garnstudio's sock yarn, Fabel, on size 6 straight needles. These mitts are for my sweetheart who needs fingerless gloves for when he walks his dogs. I put the suede palms on them so the dog lead wouldn't rub against the yarn directly.



The pattern was written up perfectly - it went so easily! I used the large size, and added one 8-row repeat to make sure they'd fit my sweetheart's fairly large hands.



For the second mitt, the author suggests knitting as given and turning inside out to get the thumb on the other side. Instead, I followed the directions backwards because, with this yarn and its distinctive colour patterns, it didn't look the same on the back side as the front side. It turned out just right!



I hope I'll be able to save these until Christmas! We have a snowstorm coming on Sunday and I know I'll be tempted to whip them out and say, "See what I made you!"

Gothic Lolitas

Just in time for Halloween, I've finally written up my pattern for the Gothic Lolita Elbow-length gloves. Although I don't have a good picture of these in the true Japanese Gothic Lolita style, they do fit well over layers of cute sweaters and blouses, because they're gently belled...

They're also a good beginning pattern, because they're knitted flat on straight needles without a thumb gusset and then seamed up the side.

Beware the disappearing skull! It looks so cute and toothlessly smiling in the pattern, but when you print it out, it disappears! Don't ask. I have no idea....

[EDIT: I fixed the chart. It should now print out with the correct spaces marked for the little skull...]

I do think that these gloves would look lovely in a Halloween costume that also included Knitty's Hallowig in the same bright salmon pink!

Broccoli

This week, circumstances have lent themselves to much knitting, primarily because I had to go to a conference for work. I had helped organize for it beforehand, but on the day, didn't have to present or anything. So as I was sitting in the audience, I rummaged in my bag and found a take-along project that I usually knit on in waiting rooms, etc., like when I'm getting an oil change (something else that happened this week). So I finished! And here they are:

Broccoli Driving Mitts

1 skein of Kuigo (a discontinued green)
size 4 DPNs and one tiny clover plastic circular sz 4
suede mitten palms (from Fiber Trends)
This is my One Skein of Koigu Gloves pattern...





and the palms:


Now, a mystery shot of something I'm working on, because I want you to see my pretty Japanese tulip blocking pins! I got these from Knitpixie.com...

Longing to stay home and knit!

last night Marky, my dear friend in Australia, sent me photos of the gloves I knit him, so you can see that the same glove that fit my little hand (3 inches across my palm), fit his bigger hands:



He says that even though the Koigu is a lightweight wool, it is very warm and perfect to use in an unheated computer room! Yay!

Nadine, in Germany, (these are some well-traveled gloves!) is testing the pattern in a beautiful variegated blue Koigu and I hope will post a photo here in the replies when she can. She found some issues with the thumb directions, so I'll be working that out before I send the pattern anywhere.

I am so inspired by the knitting designs I want to create that are zinging around in my brain that I just want to stay home and try them out! But classes start in three weeks and I have to write some new ones that haven't been offered before so its work work work...

Small things in life...

My friend Mark has received his gloves in the mail, so I can now post photos of them. This is what they looked like when they were finished:



But - magic! They open up to fit almost any size hand (mine are illustrating the small size....)



This pair was made from one skein of Koigu Painters Palette Premium Merino (one of my favorite yarns right now, although my LYS is seriously out of it until the fall). Marky says he will take a photo of them on his hands. I'm really anxious to see how they fit their intended recipient!

I love making fingerless gloves, and have designed four pairs now. I've written them up to submit to one of the on-line knitting magazines....sometime...

Here is the pair I made for the Professor (it seems like a long time ago now, but I think it was a year ago)



and here is the pair I made for another blogging friend last winter. They have rose leaves on them, circling the wrist. I really love them, but I think I could do better and have plans to refine this design... Both of these pairs were made with 2 skeins each pair of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn (merino and cashmere).



This pair I made for my Silver-Apples website. But I think if I make them again, I'll re-design them... I made them in pink and another pair in black. That's a little skull on them, not an alien head! These were made with two balls of Balzac wool, which is a dream to work with...



I've been dreaming about knitting, and planning knitting, and designing knitting, and visiting yarn and antique stores and yarn websites... I found some vintage stitch markers for my friend Nad, who can't get funky knit accessories in Germany, and I found two silver ones for myself!

Its also been very important to mark the natal milestone of my very important friend who turned 17 yesterday!! Yes, that's right, it is... (drumroll please)...



SAUSAGE
Happy Birthday, Darling!

morning tea and reading

This morning I began reading Socrates in Love by Kyoichi Katayama, the all-time best-selling novel in Japan. It is about a young man, Sakutaro - Socrates - who is remembering his few years with someone he loved...

(excerpt:)

"Four months. Everything had happened in the time for one season to change to the next. In that time, one girl had disappeared from this world. If you thought of it as one person out of six billion, it didn't mean a thing. But I wasn't there with the six billion. I was in a place where one death had wiped every emotion. That was where I was. I didn't see anything, hear anything, or feel anything. But was that where I really was? If not, then where was I?

...I glanced at the small urn in Aki's mother's hands. That urn, nestled in its beutiful brocade bag...was Aki truly in there?

After the plane took off, I fell asleep and had a dream. It was about Aki when she was still healthy, and in the dream she was smiling, with that slightly embarrassed smile of hers. She called out to me - "Saku-chan." Her voice lingered in my ears. I wished the dream were real, and this reality a dream. But that wasn't the case. And that was why,whenever I woke up, I'd be crying. It wasn't because I was sad. When you return from a happy dream to sad reality, there's a chasm you have to step across, and you can't cross it without shedding tears. It doesn't matter how many times you do it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m eager to get on with my knit designs because yesterday, i finally found the yarn i want to use for Marky's fingerless gloves! yes, it's Koigu, in a nice colourway similar to those he pointed out as his favorites: deep reds, burgundys, blues, and yellows. there was only one skein and nothing else even came close in colour, so I’m seriously hoping this will be enough. I think I should do a 3x3 rib all the way to make sure its stretchy enough for his hand.

and all of this reading of Japanese novels makes me more inspired to design new knitted and crocheted pieces! i went to Borders and poured through two books on Japanese fashion: Fruits and Fresh Fruits. these are basically thick paperbacks filled with full-page photos of street fashion from Japan. The handmade pieces are so imaginative! someday, when my college loans are paid off, I’m going to work part-time and devote myself to design...

Holly sent me a present!! The History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931499373/104-5327618-7650332?v=glance&n=283155

needless to say, I am now obsessed with historical knitting patterns, and especially historical SOCK patterns! I have in my mind a design for an adaptation of an ancient pattern that goes over the knee and has embroidery on the ankle. I had thought that the first knitted hose was from Queen Elizabeth's time, when she was given a pair of hand knitted black silk stockings made by her maid and based on Spanish knitting (24 stitches and 36 rows per inch!!!), but I’ve found out that remnants of knitted socks have been found in Egyptian tombs and one of the first examples is housed in the library collection at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. I must visit! of course, some people would think it was crazy to want with all your heart to take a train trip across several states to gaze at three indeterminate shreds of soiled and deteriorated knitted cloth that may or may not have once been a sock...but I know that many of you will completely understand.



This image is from the German Hosiery Museum...lucky Nad, who lives in Germany!
http://www.german-hosiery-museum.de/hosiery-museum.htm