Fearless Fingerless Mitts

For Valentines Day I jumped head first into a color work pattern. I didn't even bother to swatch. I figured if they turned out a little bigger or smaller than they were suppose to it was no big deal.



Pattern: Companion Mitts- Coordinate with Fair Isle Tam
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool in Red and Blue (greenish blue)
Needles: US size 4
Mods/tricks: I shortened the thumb. Used a slip stitch to minimize the jog on stripes, and knit the first row of a ribbed color change all stockinette so that I wouldn’t have purl bumps of the wrong color sticking out. During long floats I used this method of weaving in as you knit, to carry my float along with me. This was great for long floats, but I didn't find it to be secure enough to actually weave in ends. The lack of security may have been a short coming of my own instead of the technique's, so I will try it again someday.



This was honestly not the best choice for a first color work pattern because some of the floats are quite long. Also between my lack of a swatching, and my small hands these mitts are huge on me. I could easily wear a pair of thick gloves under them.

I'm very proud of them regardless of their flaws.

These also count as my first PS3 fire FO!

Huston, we have a problem

My Dad's sock is too small... on me. I can assure you that his foot is bigger than mine. Plus, the sock just sucks overall.

Here are all the gory details:

First we have the funky Dutch heel which bags out even when I scrunch my toes so I can pull it up correctly.


Then there is the loosey goosey cuff. It is knit on significantly more stitches than the foot (a whole 3/4 of an inch more stitches). The cuff is loose on me, and Dad is not exactly a man of thick ankles and calves. The cuff would be forgivable if the rest of the sock didn't suck so much.


Look how funky it looks. Yes it really does want to crinkle up on its own like that when left to its own devices.

The sock ended up being about 8 inches long. It should have been 9.25 inches long. Now I did make a mistake and start the toe a quarter of an inch too early, but that doesn't explain the other missing inch! I think it is the heels fault, the way it pulls everything in all funky makes it hard to measure how long the foot is.

The short explanation of all of this is: I hate the heel, and blame all of the socks problems on the heel. ;)

Now there are a few things I DO like. The longish ribbing has grown on me. I found the purl stitch it has you do on the back (like a seam) to be interesting. I also enjoy the way the toe decreases make the bar along the toes. I didn’t like the suggestion of threading the yarn back through the stitches to close the toe. I felt there were too many stitches left for that method.

What really baffles me is I seem to be the only one who has problems with this sock. Everyone on ravelry claims theirs turned out just fine. Poo on them!

I'm ripping the whole sock out and starting anew.

Project Spectrum - the elements

There are five elements, and those elements seem to change depending on the culture. For example in Chinese culture the five elements are wood, metal, fire, water, and earth. In Japanese culture they are chi (earth), sui (water), ka (fire), fū (water), and kū (void/sky/heaven).

The elements that I'm most familiar with are the western elements common in the pagan culture: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Spirit. Project spectrum is utilizing fire, water, earth and air as its color inspiration this year. February and March have been assigned to fire.

Fire: Love, passion, destruction, rebirth, warmth, cleansing.


From the Celtic Dragon Tarot

For project spectrum the official colors of fire are red, orange and pink. I've never really thought of pink, but it fits. I also include yellow in the fire category.



I have some yarn that fits in nicely with project spectrum. Top right is knit picks WOA Bulky in storm, over dyed with cherry Kool-Aid. Top left is knit picks palette in red. Bottom right is The Knittery in Orange Blossoms, and the last one is knit picks WOA in holly berry left over from an Irish hiking scarf.

I also have one more red yarn, but it’s in use and you'll see it later this week.

Consequently, I also just completed a blogstalking! One of the recent blogstalking tasks was to photograph your favorite color. My favorite color just so happens to be red. :)

Go Team!

I hope everyone enjoyed National Knitting day! To be honest I didn't get any knitting done. I was too busy hanging out and cheering. That was one exciting game!



I did make some awesome cookies. Danny in his ultimate football dorkieness arranged some of them into an actual football play. The guys had fun picking up cookies and saying "I'm going to eat player X", or "I think I'll eat a wide receiver".

Female roomie who is a non football fan simply cheered "Go Team!" at the appropriate times. This insured she did not accidentally cheer for the wrong team, which surely would have been a death sentence. ;)