Monday, February 14, 2011

Two Pairs of Finished Mittens

Road tripping on Saturday and Sunday provided me with lots of good knitting time. I finished the gray and blue mittens for my sister -- in time for her to have a little wearing time before spring is sprung!


In addition to knitting in the car, I practiced a bit of subversive knitting on Saturday night. We went out to a restaurant/bar in the town where I have siblings living. The house band of the evening was led by the husband of my sister's friend and they were fun to listen to and watch. DH was particularly interested in the completely electronic drum kit - including electronic cymbals. Anyway, when we got there, I tucked into a discreet corner and pulled out my knitting until we got some dinner served. I can assure you that I was the only person knitting in the room!

On Saturday we were in Portsmouth, NH to have lunch with my son, his girlfriend, and her parents but got there an hour ahead of time so walked around a bit. I had done my homework and found out there was a yarn store in town, and had written down the address, so I made a beeline for The Yarn Basket. It was a sweet little shop with lovely yarn -- some I recognized and some new to me, which is always a good sign.

The Yarn Basket had a mitten tree full of what it called "Faux Felted Mittens" in bright colors and when I tried one on, it fit perfectly AND was in my favorite periwinkle color. I was hooked. The pattern was free with the purchase of appropriate yarn, so I bought a skein of Wisdom Yarns 'Poems' in purple and green and 'La Gran Mohair' in periwinkle. The wool was quite bright in color, but the mohair really softens that effect and is the main color. I managed to finish a whole pair last night and love them! The pattern is very straightforward -- I chose to go with just a "rolled" hem (that doesn't really roll) instead of the usual ribbing -- and it is bulky yarn when used together, so the knitting went very quickly. I was afraid I was going to run out of mohair, so made the cuffs 1/2" shorter than called for, and it worked out just right.


All in all, it was a lovely weekend. Time to visit people, travel to interesting places, spend time with family, do a little shopping (we stopped at Trader Joe's along the way), and lots of good knitting time.

1 comment:

margmor said...

gorgeous, and I'm jealous that you can whip up a pair of mittens in one day and I still can't get my bobbin threaded on my beginner's level sewing machine. Ah well.