First F/O of the Year?

It would appear so! I could hardly believe it myself! My little shopping spree at Knit Picks got me started  on my new home accessories. I grabbed a ball of CotLin in Kohlrabi, and took it to work with me. (Yes I have managed to get caught up with my work, after a fashion, and found time to knit). CotLin is a blend of cotton and linen, which I have to say, I did enjoy the feel of. I am used to a heavier weight yarn in cotton so the dk weight took some getting used to. 

This little project was a breeze to finish and is darn near mindless, you know how I like those mindless ones. I used a size 7 needle but I think I would have liked a tighter weave for the fabric.  

Now I am not saying that I have actually been functional in the last week or so but I have been somewhat productive.  I have New Girl Lisa trained and on her own -Yay!  That means Jeanne gets a little bit of a break, or at least I can take a personal day or two.  This weekend was the Special Olympics Polar Plunge, usually I pump that up quite a bit before hand but the energy has been lacking in that regard. Even tho I am not the one plunging into Lake Michigan  (just playing the part department photographer) it is still a completely exhausting day. Standing on the ice for hours waiting and watching a group of crazy law enforcement personnel dress silly and jump into 32 degree water then compound that excitement with a complete turnaround in waking hours and you get one pooped out chick with sticks. Is it any wonder I am unbalanced??

Ya'll know I suck at project stats so this year- since this is my first Finished Object of the year (pathetic I know) I am going to start out right.

Kohlrabi Dish Towel

Pattern: Basket Rib Hand Towel Rav Link

Yarn: 1 Ball Knit Picks CotLin in Kohlrabi

Needles Size 7

Size 11x17

I got my March installment of Art Walk Sock Yarn from Zen Yarn Garden. This month is another tribute to Gustav Klimit, Musique. 

Another beauty out of Canada!  Some day I may actually knit with these yarns...in the meantime, I shall become a collector of affordable art...LOL 

This picture does not bring out the beautiful greens and blues to it's full advantage. The colors are much closer to the painting that this shows. 

Another no brainer project-  A new place placemat! Same CotLin yarn but in Swan. This project is a winger, meaning a no pattern project. It may also be a do over because I am not sure that it will be wide enough to suit. Do you think 16 inches (unblocked) will be wide enough for a placemat?? I wanted this to be a tighter fabric than the dish towel so I am using a size 4 needle. I like how the fabric is turning out, I am just unsure of the size. Give me your thoughts. 

Another Winger- Impulse yarn buy of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick n Quick. I bought this a while ago when it was still frigid outside ( I think spring is finally here). Big yarns make my hands tired when I knit so I don't get very far with with them at any one time. A few rows at a time and eventually I had a scarf. Not enough yarn left to make a hat to match so I may have to go back to the store. 

 
Chocolate and Vanilla Scarf

Pattern: Simple garter stitch stripe

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick n Quick in Wood and Linen

Needles size 13

Size 6x58

CA Dawn's question about my thrummed mittens prompted me to get out that one lonely mitt and finally finish the thumb. That was all that was lacking, so I did that this morning. Like I mentioned, they are not going to be pretty but damn they're warm! With any luck I just might have a pair by summer!

I think I have about 3 days of mids then another flip for the CAD training for a week and then I can finally settle into a single shift. That will be a blessing! At this point I don't care which shift, as long as it is only one shift.

Maybe then I can get caught up on all my blog reading :p

An Experiment In Thrumming Mitts

CA Dawn told me I need to explain what I am doing. Said it looked like I was knitting with my hair...LOL I guess she is right. 

It did look like I was knitting with my hair.

 So here we go - Not that I have ever done this before and I really don't know what I am doing yet, but Google is a wonderful tool isn't it. I have been wanting to try a pair of thrummed mittens for a while, the frigid cold this week prompted me into a little impulse shopping of some Wool of the Andes to make it happen.

I already had some roving from a spindle kit I had purchased a couple of years ago. (not so good at the spinning thing)- See Dawn...roving :) 

I found a website that explained how to make the thrums. Basically you pull off a few inches fold it like a cute little bow with the ends in the middle leaving little loops at the outsides. Of course my thrums don't look like her thrums. But they are at least as thick as the yarn I am using.

I don't have a pattern for them so I used my standard mitten pattern, then added 4 more stitches after the ribbing to accommodate the extra bulk of the thrums.

They are knitted in every 4th stitch in this case. I have had to pull the thrums out several times and start over before I finally got the hang of knitting in the roving pieces. I am sure that by the time I'm on mitten number 2 it will look a lot better than this one does.

Here is what the mitten innards look like. I am not sure if my thrums should be closer together or not, or even if they should be bigger, but usually when I'm winging it my stuff turns out pretty ok ;) 

And since this pair is for me they don't have to be perfect or even pretty. The next pair are for a gift -but that's only if this pair turn out acceptable...LOL

Now back to knitting with my hair ;)