Cables

Fall is flying by and after the initial spurt of cool weather, my knitting has slacked off a bit. The dark evenings seem to suck away any motivation I have to do anything, even my favorite hobbies. It seems too soon for the daylight to end so early.

I have been working on the Aran Mittens from Folk Mittens, and am almost done with the tip of the first mitten. I'm enjoying the cables and have used several of them for the first time in this pattern. Frostrosen are almost complete as well, I just need to sew in the ends before I post photos.

Angora Mittens

Pattern: Mittens from Greenland and America from Folk Mittens
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Angora
Needles: Size 2 dpns

It has been so nice to knit these simple mittens in between projects that require more thought and technical skill. They remind me of the many pairs of mittens in a myriad of colors we always had around the house that my Great Grandma knit.

I like this pattern for a basic mitten; however, I disagree with the author's idea of a comfortable distance between thumb gore and decreases at the tips of the fingers. One thing I can't stand in mittens is when they don't fit perfectly down to my thumb, and the tips of my fingers are pulling it up. This pattern says to start decreases when the mitten reaches the tip of the little finger. I found that I got a perfect fit by knitting until the piece measured past my ring finger, as you don't get much more length once you've started the decrease rows.



I have one huge complaint about this book in general: yarn requirements are given in ounces and grams only, no yards! I ran out of yarn at the decreases of the second thumb, had to call the yarn store I bought it from months ago in a panic, and they saved one of their last skeins for me. The pattern called for 56.5 grams of angora or mohair for a pair of mittens, which seems completely off anyway, but I thought I would be safe with the 100 grams of angora blend which I used. Not so. I will have to reinstate my old rule of buying an extra skein for each pattern I attempt in this book.

A New Lace Project

This weekend I picked up this:



To make this.

I even splurged and bought new Addi Turbo Lace needles. I can't wait to cast on.

Apple Fest

This weekend my mom, my sister and I went to Bayfield for the Apple Festival. None of us had gone before, and it was probably a good weekend for our first time as it was cool and cloudy keeping the large crowd from becoming massive. Our trip got off to a good start as the first orchard/winery we stopped at had a wine tasting of all the apple and berry wines they locally produce. We each found a favorite and bought a bottle, mine was Schneewitchen, an apple wine made in an apparently traditional German fashion. Naturally I visited every yarn shop I passed, and bought three balls of Rowan Pure Wool on sale that I'll use for yet another pair of mittens - this time the cabled Aran mittens from Folk Mittens.



We all enjoyed Apple Fest, but also agreed that we could do without the throng of people and vendors cramming every inch of the streets. I think next year I'll go a week or two before the actual festival and visit the orchards at my leisure. For now I'm excited for some free time to get to baking with my Cortland apples and get some knitting done.