More Birthday Knitting (with an actual deadline)!

I started yet another project.  Yes, this means that I have oodles of works-in-progress, but I couldn't delay starting these any more.

They're for a birthday in May, and they're for a friend living in Ottawa.  Her apartment often gets cold, and so I've been told that fingerless mittens are always a good idea.

However, the pair I made her last year are made of stash acrylic.   While they are pretty, and she quite likes them, they're not superbly warm.

This year, I wanted to go for warm. 

So, I'm making a pair of One Cable Mitts.  The pattern is free from the Blue Sky Alpacas Website. (Rav Pattern link is here.)  It's designed to use just one skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes, which is a wonderfully squishy 50/50 merino/alpaca blend.  And I picked up a skein of this ages ago while it was a power-boost yarn at EatSleepKnit.  I was already thinking about fingerless mitts, with it, and the pattern worked out well. (I think this is the first time I've used the exact yarn recommended in the pattern!)

My giftee likes purples/blues and that end of the colour spectrum, so the colour seemed to suit quite well.    And though these aren't machine-washable, I'll probably just have to remind her of that when I see her.  She's one of the few people on my gift list who I will give things that are hand-wash/dry clean only to, because I know she'll make every effort to remember, and knows how to do so.  And these shouldn't need oodles of washing, anyway.

These are also going to be my second attempt at knitting two-at-a-time, as long as my circular is long enough.  It should help keep me from suffering from second-mitten-syndrome.

It's funny, though.  All of my other current birthday/Christmas knitting has been started absurdly early via various knit-alongs.  This, however, has an actual and upcoming deadline.  Hopefully I can finish in time!

Black Friday Sale Haul

I want to preface this:  I don't usually get involved in the Black Friday craziness, unless something just happens to be on sale that I actually need.  And even then, unless I'm desperate, it's not worth the craziness of even attempt to try the malls and shopping centres that weekend.

Online is a little different, but even then, my -only- Black Friday purchase was this stuff from EatSleepKnit.   I try to buy most of my yarn on sale in some form -- it helps me get really nice yarn for less then it would otherwise cost, and yarn (properly stored) doesn't go bad.


So, my package came in the mail today.   My apologies for the pictures, but it's dim and grey enough here I actually need the flash, so the colours aren't quite right.

I got 1 skein of Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted, in "Violet Hill"

This will become A River Runs Through Mitt, for a friend`s Birthday next year

I got 9 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton, in "Indigo". 

This is for a Big Honkin' Bag, for me.  I've had my eye on this for quite some time.  My current purse is beginning to fall apart, and also isn't big enough to hold my water bottle.  So I was very glad to get the yarn on sale. :)


That was all I ordered, but that wasn't all I got.  EatSleepKnit does their wonderful Yarnathon, and this purchase got me to their 20 mile surprise mark.

What was the 20 mile surprise?  Well. . .

This was one of the additional things in my box.

It's a full skein of Shibui Knits Baby Alpaca DK, in "Fjord"!

This is why I really like ESK. They're one of the few buisnesses I know that will give away entire skeins of yarn like this!  There was other awesome stuff in the box too, like a needle case, and their usual Yarn Lotto ticket (didn't win anything this time, but that's ok.).

So now I have more new yarn.  This has decided that it will be a Penobscot Scarf.  It just seemed to suit the pattern really well.

So yeah, I just got a bunch of new yarn. :)