Inching forward

with my second mitten and watching the Olympics on and off ...

what I can't figure out is how during one swimming event the cameraman's camera got splattered with water!

from the fringe up

considering what else we got done this weekend, I'm happy with these inches of progress on this 2nd mitten. I've decided though that next time I'll make it in "brighter" colors.

a little like torture

but you feel so good afterwards: more piles for the trash, and yes, beat up suitcases, courtesy of many airline trips.

And I was also able to knit on the 2nd mitten from the Schoolhouse Press May Latvian mitten KAL. They will be doing a sock KAL (two socks on circulars) in September

Latvian Mitten KAL: one mitten done

where has the month gone? One mitten in a month? Geesh!

Onward this weekend!!

Latvian mitten KAL: how to get a few gray hairs

I thought my first attempts at color choices were too "blendy", so I frogged (gnashing my teeth the whole time) back to the braid and added red-orange to the green. TOO bright: in real life it is REALLY orangy.

Then I added a row of blue, thinking it would off-set the red-orange some.

Not.

I'm dumping this, and probably even the black background. The "black" is too precious to waste, and I really don't want to knit something I don't like.




Off to a picnic, then will come back to look at the stash and see what else I might do. I don't think I have enough of that bright blue anyway. Good that I am stepping away from this for a few hours.

It's definitely a learning experience with how the colors sit on top of each other.

Thurs: Ravelry in Kz Fri: detour from mitten

Ravelry in Kazakhstan: Who knew? (but of course we didn't think about taking a picture of ourselves -- next time!)

I went with a fellow Raveler (yay, even here in Kz!) to a yarn store on Thursday -- she got some camel yarn and I got some various balls of different kinds of alpaca to try. (I'm definitely going back to get some of that camel!)

So yesterday I swatched with this:
with the pattern Alhambra from Knitspot


This worked out VERY nicely and I hope to go back next week to load up for shawls. It's not too thin, had a soft feel and although looks fuzzy, isn't really. I downloaded two things from Knitspot so I can get to those eventually this summer, and all the other shawls I'd like to do. I really need to see all these other alpacas that others are using for the "famous" (swallowtail, Icarus, etc) shawls before I buy them. But this local stuff will be fine.

Med Pinner found a Scandinavian company with a similar logo ... hmm!!!


mitten progress:

Latvian mitten - braid/cuff started

I redid the whole thing over the last couple of days but only got to round one of the cuff yesterday. Have a crazy schedule the rest of the week so I don't think I'll get much knitting done. But the Yahoo group seems to be going well! I'll try and take a photo later today!

Latvian mitten KAL: end of day one

It's been one of "those" days where I just should have stopped knitting. I got through round one of the braid, didn't like something, and drew out all the needles to start over.

And spent the rest of the day starting over. My count would be wrong, or a group got twisted, or the rest of the day was a frustrating coming "undone" of one or two of the fringe stitches at the edges of a needle. So, back to the beginning tomorrow. Can't quite figure out how it was "fine" the first time I did it and then all the rest of the times something came "loose."

For Francesca: the fringe is knitted on right away -- wrapping 3 loops around your index finger, and then pulling top part of the group through as you knit, leaving loops behind you. It's a little "messy" the first couple of times, and then in my case, something kept coming undone.

I'll think about it tomorrow, says Scarlett.

Latvian mitten KAL: day one

I'm going to try and post my progress to see that I "make" progress.

I wish I had another set of these needles, as then I would immediately cast on for the second cuff, a la the work of Bemused. I have lots of 2.0 mm needles, but they all seem a tiny bit different. This pair is probably Inox, and I'm already bending them. Upon casting on, I immediately had to start over as the first colors I chose barely had an difference in them when combined. So, frog to black for the main background color.

Fringe

Diversions: Schoolhouse Press Latvian mitten KAL

We all have diversions in life that help us cope with the "I should be doing....." as in I should starting the "getting ready to move in early fall" sorting through things.

I keep thinking about what I am going to do with our cooking magazines, how many old clothes to get rid of, whether we should keep some of our 220v appliances like our beloved Krups espresso maker in case we do go someplace else, and ...and ...and ... these things tend to keep you up in the middle of the night as moving day eventually approaches.

But I do have some time, and all summer, so I'm going to be a "one project" girl for a while and work on a KAL knitting project of a Latvian fringed mitten that Lizbeth Upitis and Schoolhouse Press are offering. They've also set up a Yahoo group for this, and questions have already been flying about making the fringe.
There is a Ravelry thread on this under the Knit Like a Latvian group.

These mittens are among my beloved projects, but I've never done one with a fringe before. So today, before we go off to an afternoon bbq, I'll start.