Elise Mittens

I have sold my first pair of mittens.
They were commissioned by the lovely and talented Elise, a coworker of Paul's. Making them was such fun.
I knit them in a "cashmerino", which is a rather luxe baby-soft blend of wool and cashmere. They were really fun to do. The request was for pretty, feminine, and delicate pale lavender/periwinkle mittens. I wanted to do cables in a bulky Lamb's Pride, but realized this would not turn out delicate. So I thought of lace. But lacy mitts don't make for warm fingers.
After flipping through a few pattern books and finding nothing like what I wanted, I turned to Barbara Walker's wonderful treasuries of stitch patterns. I found a lovely tulip bud edging, which made a chain of leaves. From this I extrapolated the pattern for a single knitted leaf.

One of the first things my mother showed me how to knit was mittens without a pattern. (It's funny, she says she doesn't like designing!)
Knitting Details For knitting-types:
Freestyle Mittens:
-In the round, on double-points: Knit a ribbed cuff. I like K2, P1
-Knit around plain 3-4 rows. Increase a bit for hand width.
-Make a gore for the thumb: Increase the first stitch of one needle. Place a marker and Increase again. I like to increase here by knitting into the front and back of the stitch, which makes nary a hole. Wrap the fabric around thumb to determine number of thumb stitches. Continue increases (first stitch of the same needle, first stitch after the marker) until gore has enough stitches.
-Knit around until mitten reaches webbing of thumb comfortably when tried on.
-Now I like to knit the thumb. I do this because it's easier and prettier than making a hole for the thumb and trying to pick up the stitches around it later. Put hand stitches on holder, (everything except the gore) knit around for length of thumb, decrease quickly, and sew in tail.
-Pick up hand stitches and join thread in by knitting a stitch, and then knitting with two strands until the tail is used up. It doesn't show.
-Knit around until mitten is as tall as the index finger when tried on. Decrease quickly and sew in end of yarn. Voila!

In my early mitten-making days, after a few rounds making three mittens in search of two alike, I learned a few mitten-making tricks for patternless rogues:
-Either write down what I'm doing as I do it, or be prepared to count stitches and rows on the first mitten many times over.
-Make the ribbing around the wrist long enough--snow and cold like to get in between the coat sleeve and mitten!
-I like to increase three or four stitches right above the cuff and two stitches in the hand right above the thumb gore for good fit. These increases can be nicely hidden by the ribbing or gore.
-Check to make sure the thumb gore is wide enough and long enough--this makes for the perfect fit.

In the Elise Mittens, the leaf is appliqued on, and the curlicues are embroidered in a chain stitch. This would look nice in contrasting colors on the right mitten, but I wanted it to look knitterly and subtle.

The Bag Lady in Santa's Workshop

Seems I'm always schlepping so much stuff around. Really, this is typical for my bag--It's stuffed with diapers, extra pants, and items necessary for my sanity (sketchpad, book, bible) Strapped on to the outside, I've got the full water bottle, my knitting bag, a pouch for wet things, and Gibbie's purse with our snack. Seriously, people ask me all the time, "Where are you going?" I guess other people don't carry forty pound bags around with them unless they're going out of town.
This little number is a Christmas present in the works. I don't know what made me think I could whip out three or four pairs of slippers and socks for the holidays when I'd never turned a heel before. That's right, when I finish it, this little beauty will be my first sock ever! Needless to say, this is the only pair that will make it under the tree this year. But it will be worth it! It's a lovely pattern, lacy and beautiful. The yarn is great; a pretty color, springy and durable. These socks will be luxurious, as they should be. They are for my dear friend the soldier, and I want something wonderful that she can take with her and use wherever she goes!
Speaking of socks, If you've never knit one; they're amazing to make! You knit the leg part, and then making the heel is this amazing and very satisfying little magic trick! I'm just amazed that I can make such a tidy, efficient, three-dimensional object, fitted to snugly wrap around a human foot. It's pretty great. I hope she loves them!

I've also noticed that I rarely post my artwork here. Odd, as showing my art was one of my main objectives in having a blog. The reasons are three-fold:
1. I mostly only think about a piece as I am doing it, or when I am dreaming of doing it. While I make it, I am consumed with that process. When It's done, I show it off to whomever is near, and then forget about it as I move on to my next project.
2. Paul's photography is way better than mine. I don't want to post crappy pictures of my beautiful art. Photography is not my medium. Why should it be when Paul loves it and I don't? When does he take pictures? When we're out doing stuff. The best time to photograph art is in full daylight, when he's at work.
3. Flat work would be way easy to photo if we had a scanner. This should be a post of it's own; I'm drawing a painting again! I haven't had the capacity or mental space to do this since the kids came along, so this is really exciting for me!

Paul and I talked about this and he says he actually really wants to shoot more of my art, so maybe I'll be showing off a bit more around here. Rest assured, whether you see it or not, it's happening. I never thought my art was a need, but I notice that I do fill up all the little cracks in our life with making things, one way or another.

Psst--That last post, with the kids in the kitchen--was me, not Paul. Oops.

Loverly Yarn

More of this gift yarn, so beautiful!
This is a soft wool-mohair blend. It's silky, prettily shiny, rainbowy, and downright Waldorfy! I'm making it into a dreamy gift for a certain little girl I know.

The lady in the yarn shop said to use it to make a felted bag, as I didn't have enough for a very big project and don't want to use it for hats and mittens. As soon as I knit a swatch, however, I knew that I couldn't allow this lovely stuff to be felted! All matted up and muddled, imagine! I will allow no such thing.

I found that garter stitch shows off the texture, glossiness, and colors of the yarn better than stockinette, so one thing led to another and the perfect use just showed itself. More to come.