Thrummed Mittens

This was a Thrum Mitten Kit I bought several years ago. The astute reader will recognize the background in the yarn photo and not be surprised to discover it was purchased at a certain museum that I wish sold yarn more often. The company has a sky blue mitten kit on their website at the moment that is very appealing. But nobody needs TWO pairs of thrummed mittens.

I had watched my friend's experiment with thrummed mittens a few years back (they looked a bit like boxing gloves), and so ignored the instructions and made much smaller thrums. I also realized that the pattern, as written, had no cuff to speak of. I took the leftover bulky yarn from this project, divided it in half, and knit two cuffs in ribbing on size 10 dpns. Then I started the Mittens and knit the cuffs in just before starting the thrums.

I like the way they turned out.  I like the way the thrums make little heart shapes on the knitted surface. They are very warm, but not impossibly bulky. I like the nice long cuffs that stay tucked under coat sleeves.  And I like that they match the hat (despite the fact that I have no idea where it is at the moment).

Tune Without Words

I'm going to start calling my dryer Hope.

I washed a duvet cover weeks ago, and I'm still pulling clothes out of the dryer covered with feathers, despite regular lint-trap cleanings. *sigh* I suppose if I put something really fuzzy through the dryer I could get rid of them all at once, but what would I do with the fuzzy/feathered object that would result?

This was a good weekend, since I finished off the tax forms for all family members requiring one. Oddly, despite having a reputation for being tech-savvy, I continue to be a Luddite here and do them without benefit of tax software. I tried it once eons ago and was so offended that it insisted I list my husband first (when he fills out the forms, he can have top billing) that I never went back.

I've also Finished off a couple of Objects. One's a surprise gift, but I've Raveled it.

These were finished some time ago, but I wanted to record my dissatisfaction:


Pattern: Retro Rib Socks, from Evelyn Clark's Favorite Socks

Yarn: Trekking Pro Natura, 75% wool, 25% bamboo

These are my husband's socks, which he likes. I like the pattern, and I loved the yarn in the skein, but I don't like the way it's wearing. Bamboo always blooms a bit, adds a bit of shine, but these are pilling, which my other bamboo socks have never done.

The yardage that would not quit:



These are probably the last orange knit goods for KD, as she prepares to graduate from the College of Orange and Black.

Pattern: Anastasia Socks

Yarn: Regia 4-ply

Mods: I used some graphing advice from Wendy's blog to re-size them, so I had enough yarn left over for these:


Pattern: Piano Mitts, by Catherine Ryan
Yarn: Leftover Regia 4-ply

And there's still some left!

Panda Knitting

KD's birthday presents, an adorable Panda scarf and matching Ying-Yang mittens, kits from Morehouse Farm Merino that my sister-in-law tipped me off to (and swore I could get done by KD's birthday - she was right!). I made the leftovers into some slipper socks, but they zipped out of the house to fast for a photo shoot.

Coincidentally...

Over the weekend I've been knitting up leftover scraps of Christmas knitting into hats and mittens and such. My daughter will take these mittens back to college with her, assuming I finish the last thumb. Today in the mail I received a free knitting pattern - of the same mittens! OK, they striped the cuffs as well, and the top is shaped differently, but it's the same colors! I watched too much of the Twilight Zone marathon yesterday - I find the coincidence slightly ominous, instead of charming

Mine are this pattern, using leftover yarn from her Tigger (I bought all four kits before she started college; she gets one every Christmas, the only crocheting I do).