Everybody Loves Saturday Night

bird in hand

I've been casting around for an appropriate "B" picture for the ABC Project and thinking, "B? What's a B?" Boy? Bugs? Batman? Brew? It wasn't until I typed in "Bird in Hand" that I realized "bird" starts with B. I should probably go back to Sesame Street (Bert starts with B!).

So, yeah: I started the Bird in Hand Mittens (Ravelry link). But I don't think this should count as my B picture--not until the bird part is complete.

And let me tell you, taking pictures of red-on-purple is like trying to thread a very small needle after two glasses of wine. I took somewhere around 30 pictures, playing with the various (limited) settings on my camera, and eventually got this.

Yes, I realize that choosing a red background only made it more difficult. Even so, the purple came out a little too blue and way too bright.  But you can at least see that the red matches my coat, and Birch (how I managed to find a coat that matches the shawl I finished in July I have no idea. Lucky, I guess).

(Birch starts with B!)

The yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Hyacinth and Cranberry, from the stash.
The needles: US 4
The pattern: absolutely perfect and lovely in every way.

I wish I could remember which setting yielded that shot.

hey, lists really do work!

Presenting the first finished items of 2008:

I remember Colleen coming to visit me last winter as I was working on a pair of Endpapers for myself (never finished because I didn't like the yarn so much) and she fell in love with the pattern. Since she's someone I adore knitting for, I offered to make her a pair, and she picked these colors to match her new jacket: Rowan 4ply Soft in I think Daydream and Expresso (but don't quote me on that). In the time I started (and restarted) we have both changed jobs and gotten way too busy too see each other the way we used to. I hope 2008 changes that.

I hope she still has that jacket.

I like the raised bump effect of the purl stitch seam, as viewed on the inside.

While I'm talking about it, Colleen's new job is something everyone can enjoy. She's one of the writers for a new website, 23/6.com. It's in the vein of fake news sites and shows, but has more in common with actual news Web sites as opposed to TV broadcasts or newspapers. I think it's pretty damn funny. I like reading the Daily News Odds each day. Bookmark the site, won't you?

Maybe it's cold in her office.

Can you spot the mistake? I meant to do that.

This really is such a fun pattern. I like the top, where the pink part of the pattern leads into the ribbing. I'd let the mitts languish because I didn't want to deal with the tubular cast off. Which is so dumb, really, because it's honestly not that big a deal. In fact, I found it a lot easier to a) keep my place and b) actually do evenly because unlike the kitchener stitch, I didn't have to hold two needles in my left hand. I was just working with one row of live stitches at a time. This is an important distinction for clumsy folk like me.

Now: what to finish next?

so what's new?

I finished Kew. Flew through the second sock in less than a week, then knit up a toe chimney (if you're as kitchener-challenged as I am and you haven't heard of the toe-chimney trick, hie thee hence, because it will change your life) and didn't quite feel up to actually grafting, so I let it sit. For a week. While I didn't blog. And then the completely finished socks sat around, waiting for me  to have the time to take pictures and all that so I could give them their due.

I do love them. It's a simple thing, but one of my favorite things about knitting is when a pattern pulls an edge into a scallop shape. I did toy with the idea of working a picot hem instead, but I'm glad I opted to stick to the pattern.

And now I'm in the midst of birthday knitting. The Michael has one coming up, so he's getting the requisite ginormous socks. Making OK progress on them; almost past the heel on sock 1.

Before Michael's comes Colleen's, so I've returned to a project I'd started back in February or so: the Endpaper Mitts:

I have a long, mostly unblogged relationship with this pattern. I bought Knit Picks' Palette a while back to make a pair of mitts for myself, and struggled with the first real Fair Isle + tiny dpns while visiting Juno back in...goodness, who knows when. The "click" moment finally happened, I am happy to report that I am now able to work fair isle two-handedly, and I finished my first mitt relatively quickly. Problem was, it was waaaaay too small. I planned on starting over, but then Colleen came over, saw the mitt, fell in love, and I promised to make her a pair to match the new winter jacket she'd bought.

I ordered the yarn--Rowan Soft 4 Ply in *mumble* and *cough*--and got to work when it arrived, but for whatever reason I did not use the Italian tubular cast on. I got all the way to the end ribbing and put it away to work on other things. I returned to the mitt just last week, finished, and then wondered what possessed me to not go for the tubular cast on. Was it because I couldn't figure it out? But it doesn't look that hard. Was it because it would've taken too much time? Probably.

Thing is, once I got how to do it, it doesn't take long at all. In fact, it seems to take less time and effort than any other cast on. So I started the second mitt with the tubular cast on, and that's what you see up there--finished. Tubular cast on = no problem at all. Tubular cast off, on the other hand, is a serious pain in the ass.

I should be able to get the second mitt done in two weeks, and I don't think I'll need to rip out that first mitt to make the second.

Fair Isle may be the next obsession for me. It's got a wholly different rhythm than regular knitting and it's a beat I can dance to.