Monday, April 4, 2011

Escapist knitting: handwarmer edition

There were huge numbers of boring and complicated things I had to do yesterday, so naturally I sat down with my Churchmouse recipe for handwarmers and the luscious silk wool blend yarn I got at Stitch a few weeks ago.

My goal: just get the first one cast on and started a bit.  I didn't take long figuring out that I needed to go down four needle sizes to get gauge, what with being such a relaxed person and all, heh. And then I made my way along a few rounds.


I didn't mean to do the whole cuff, honestly, but the pattern calls for about two thirds the number of stitches you'd find in a sock and it's just so fast.  And then I wanted to see how the variegation looked.

When I saw how it looked, and liked it, I resisted the urge to find out how it looked over a larger area and made tea while surveying the list of Things To Do.  Then I went back to the knitting just to see how the thumb gusset came out (with little breaks to get through the laundry.)


The thumb castoff is very interesting and results in a lovely neat edge which is difficult to rip back when you realize you've done it too tightly.  I know because I reknit it twice after the first time, wondering throughout whether going down four needle sizes was really the right plan.

At about four I panicked and put the knitting down so I could at least clear the kitchen counters again - do you find that just a week of comings and goings leaves you with serious landscaping made up of junk mail, urgent mail, magazine mail and discarded gloves, hats and scarves?  Because I do and I hadn't cleared the counters in nearly a month.  It was ugly and well worth putting knitting down for (eventually.)

That needle thing kept bothering me though, all through supper, in spite of all the stuff I still hadn't finished.  So I snuck back to the knitting and made my way through another few inches to see how the palm came out.


It's very soft and very beautiful and I would like to be wearing a pair of them now (well, maybe not right now as it's raining, but tomorrow when it's enough above freezing not to want gloves and enough below shorts weather to need something.) It's also pretty darned snug.  So I...

well, yes.  I ripped it all out and repacked the yarn in its bag with needles two sizes up.  I think that will work out fine.

Unless I cast them on again before I get the rest of my chores done.

4 comments:

heklica said...

I love that cuff!

Unknown said...

That yarn is beautiful!

Kathleen Taylor said...

Cool pattern! It looks like the mitten itself fits well, maybe you just need to do the bind off with larger needles. I do that all the time.

Brendaknits said...

They look so pretty. I have a pattern for fingerless mitts with a similar cuff. I must dig that out.