The Knitting Experience Café

All progress on my CPH has stopped while I knit these:

(The pattern is Fiddlehead Mittens by Adrian Bizilia of Hello Yarn.) 

Peter had been complaining that he's never had a pair of mittens or gloves that have kept his hands warm.  Well, to a knitter, that is a challenge. (And I have a sneaking suspicion that he knew it.)

I pulled out a skein of 3 ply handspun (on the left) that I spun this summer from natural BFL that I got from Spunky Eclectic, and a skein of Cascade's Eco Alpaca. 

We looked around for a pattern and he liked the Fiddleheads the best. While they were designed in color, and I'm tempted to make a colorful pair for myself, I really like the natural combo for a men's pair. 

The thumb on the first mitten will be finished tonight.

I knit this one on double points - which I really like for knitting single mittens or socks - but in this case, it was a bit frustrating to manage the stranding work on the dpns.  I've been getting a lot more pulling and puckering than I would like, despite tremendous attention to my floats, tension, etc... . Because of all that, it just wasn't a relaxing experience. And I love the pattern. And the yarn.  Ok, so the yarn is part of the problem.  You see, my handspun is heavier than the Eco Alpaca - resulting in some of the uneven stitches I've been battling. I knew that going in, but damn it, those were the yarns I wanted to use. And I technically got gauge.

For my sanity, I'm shaking things up on the second mitten.

Magic loop, here I come. I figure it will allow me to focus on the yarn and pattern and not switching between all those needles. 

The first mitten took about 2 days. Then, the pattern calls for separate linings to be knit. Essentially, you knit another pair of mittens.

Am I going to do this? They would certainly be warm - especially since I would use the pure alpaca for the lining.  

One part of me is thinking, the unlined mittens are completely awesome and warm on their own (and I have other things to knit).  

Then there is the knitter voice that says I can't let the project out in the world technically unfinished. 

Of course, there's the voice that argues that if he loses these mittens, I will be doubly &*%$ed  off if I make the linings. 

What to do...

At least Connor has his scarf.

There are other projects on the needles that are begging for attention. Gifts that need to be completed soon, samples for the shop that are late in making an appearance, but I still couldn't help myself.  I had to try the Malabrigo sock yarn. 

It is like silk running through your fingers. The color is deep and rich, and shimmers as you look at it. 

To test out the Malabrigo Sock, I decided to use the new Figheadh cabled sock pattern

 for two reasons: 1. I wanted to knit these socks, 2. with cables, I can get a sense of the stitch definition of the yarn. 

Check out the results:

It is beautiful and I love it. I adore it.  I pet it when feeling stressed.  Ahhhh....

To justify the new sock project, I finally finished Connor's Harry Potter scarf.  Well, almost.  All the ends are woven, it just needs fringe. 

My Central Park Hoodie is also progressing.  A back, two fronts, and the sleeves are underway!

The decision has been made to go with the large collar instead of a hood.  I've been debating this for awhile and the sweater finally spoke to me last night.  Once I figure out how I'm going to actually make the collar, I'll let you know.  In the meantime, I need progress reports! I've seen many CPHs in knitting bags, and even a couple finished sweaters.  Time for a KAL update! Let me know where you are.  For those still knitting away like me, I'm toying with the idea of a seaming party after the holidays. We'll pick a Saturday, and seam our CPHs together. 

I'm not the only one getting things off the needles (and then more on).

Marcia has 10 pairs of felted mittens ready to be gifted.

And a beautiful sweater for her grandson out of Cascade 220:

Joanie finished her very first sweater!!!!!  YIPPEE!!  This is a huge knitting milestone.  As a bonus, the sweater fits like a dream and looks awesome on her.

Another knitter has been felting up a storm:

All gifts!  Wow!

Luanne made this adorable berry hat to go with the Swing Coat she was finishing last night:

Now I just need to get a picture of the sweater.