Wednesday 20 January 2010

Mittens

Well - could not manage photos by Sunday but mittens are finally ready. They are very, very thick and warm I would imagine - which is good as temperature has dropped yet again to -17 Celsius....
Pattern: inspired by the description of Double-double mittens in Villapeikko's blog
Yarn: Whatever Drops Alpaca I had left in my stash - Raspberry, Wine red and Green - total of 76g
Needles: 4mm
Crochet hook: 5mm (because that was the only one small enough I could find)
I used the yarn double stranded and knitted two pairs of mittens that I attached to each-other with a crocheted trim. In theory - this should leave loads of tiny airpockets to help insulation against the freezing cold(hope it works in practice as well)
Mittens can be worn either the green or red side out. On the green side there is a k1,p1 - rib cuff , and on the red side there is a stockinette cuff with just 5 rows of rib on the wrist. I also run out of raspberry-coloured yarn before knitting thumbs - which is why they are wine red. But that really does not matter (at least not to me) - colours go nicely together anyways.

All in all - a heartwarming knitting project: no more cold fingers for my littlest girl !! (I hope)

Saturday 16 January 2010

Relieving stress with knitting

I'm a stress bug. I hate to admit it but it is true. This week's been very demanding workwise and there is no change in sight before mid-February. Projects are piling up ...The worst is that I've started getting head-aches again. Nothing "oh I guess I have a bit of a head-ache"-type of thing, but the mind-numbing, nauseating sort of head-aches. That last until I get to sleep them off... Bugger.

I obviously have still no photos of my 3 FOs (Sienna Cardigan, perugino throw and Blossom hat - all which I'm very happy about) instead here's something I've been knitting this week - "double-double mittens" for Mariella to keep her little fingers toasty while she's taking a nap in her trolley outside. (This has not been possible for a while because it's been under -15 celsius outside - which is considered a temperature limit when you cannot let babies/little kids sleep outside anymore. Happily today it is only -6 celsius and as I write this Mariella is happily napping on our porch. )
I read about this kind of mittens from Villapeikko's blog where she has several times mentioned that double mittens made out of double-stranded alpaca are really the warmest choice. So I'm trying them out.... (hopefully tomorrow some photos of finished mittens:-)

Saturday 9 January 2010

Cozy V-neck Pullover

Where does all the time go? it seems to disappear so fast... I had plans to keep updating this blog a couple of times per week and here we go - it's been 2 weeks - again since my last post.

Knitting procedes on steady pace. I have several FOs waiting for photo-session .. but here's a one FO that had it's session already before xmas.

Pattern: Cozy V-Neck Pullover by Stefanie Japel (ravelry link)
Yarn: Cashmere tweed by Rowan (RYC) in Sisal, approx 450g (this is simply amazing stuff!!)
Needles: 5mm
I wanted something simple and easy-to-wear that would show off the luxurious yarn - which is why I chose this design. I changed it a bit to fit my body and am really happy with the outcome. Pullover is so soft and feels luxurious to wear. (why wouldn't it - yarn is 90% cashmere and 10% silk - just a fantastic tactile experience to knit something like this!!)