The Fall of Mittens

I have been making steady progress with my mittens in the last couple of weeks. Frostrosen were nearly complete last weekend, and would have been, if not for an unfortunate setback. I have actually knit this pattern before, but somehow picking up the top stitches for the thumb didn't make sense to me this time. I didn't feel that I'd picked them up correctly, so let them drop, picked them up again and ended up completely confused. I took them to my Grandma who is a much more seasoned, expert knitter than I, and she said she thought they looked OK, that I should continue and watch for problems as I go. I'm still leary of them, so will hold off for maybe a week or so until my anxiety wanes before finishing the thumbs.



Besides my Frostrosen fiasco, I've been working steadily almost every night on the very basic pair of mittens I mentioned I was using the angora from Playing with Yarn for. They're going quickly, in spite of a few rips, and I'm finding it extremely comforting to knit such a plain, standard pattern on rainy evenings after work and homework instead having to think over color work. I have several notes on the pattern I am using, but will wait for the final post to discuss them for the sake of brevity in this post, and complete information in the final one.

My only note on my photo of this mitten is that the thumb looks extremely long and pointy, which I'm quite sure will come down at least somewhat when I actually sew that end in rather than hiding it, as it is in the photo.

Irish Hiking Scarf

Pattern: Irish Hiking Scarf

Yarn: Lion Cashmere Blend

Needles: size 8 bamboo dpns and cable needle

I finished my first IHS over a month ago and have finally gotten around to taking pictures and posting it. It ended up about an inch or two shorter than the pattern because I ran out of yarn, but I'm happy enough with the length. The only thing I did differently from the pattern was that I ended on a row earlier than 7, maybe 4 or 5, so that the edge I finished on looked more similar to the beginning edge.

I really enjoyed this project. It went quickly and the pattern turned out nicely with the cashmere blend yarn. It's extremely soft and warm, and I can't wait to wear it this winter.

I'm also over half way done with my second Frostrosen mitten which I have been working on for far too long. I'm hoping to finish it within the next week or two, time permitting. I've been extremely busy as I'm going to school part time now and working full time, so I'm splitting the little free time I have at night between knitting and reading. Progress has been slow, but steady lately. The fall is definitely putting me in the mood to knit more though, so hopefully I'll be getting more projects done more quickly.