Leftover Sock Yarn Mitts

So thanks to knitting lots of samples for the Destination Yarn trunk shows I have amassed a ridiculous amount of mini skeins of leftover sockyarn. Seriously. Piles of little balls mocking me because they are too small to do anything productive with.

Or are they?

My google-fu (or Ravelry-fu) failed me on this one.

So I decided to create a pattern for something useful with as little yarn as you have:

Those mitts took exactly 0.95 oz (27 Grams) of sock yarn.

Not very much.

And the bonus is that they are knit from the fingers down to the cuff. Meaning that you can bind off whenever you run out of yarn. Or keep going until you reach your armpits. Whichever.

Not so easy to photograph your own hand...

Anyways!  Here’s what I did:

Leftover Sockyarn Mitts
Ravelry Link:  Leftover Sockyarn Mitts

Materials:
a small amount (126ish yards, 0.95 oz, 27g) of Fingering Weight Yarn (bonus points if you use Destination Yarn. Mine are knit out of the colorway London)
Size 3 Double Pointed Needles (or one looooong circular if magic loop is your thing)
A stitch marker for marking the beginning of the round and 1 other stitch markers for marking decreases

I divided my leftover yarn into 2 equal balls so that I would know exactly how much I had for each mitt. This step isn’t necessary unless you’re really, really cutting it close!

Gauge: 8 stitches and 11 rows = 1 inch

Hand:
Using a long tail cast on, Cast on 48 stitches. Join for knitting in the round being careful not to twist.

Work K2, P2 rib for 5 rounds. (or longer if you want the opening at the fingers to be ribbed for longer)

Knit 20 rounds plain (or desired length from fingertips to thumb opening)

Gusset Setup:
Round 1: K1, Cast on 12 using Backwards Loop method. Knit to end of Round.
Round 2: Knit 14, place marker, knit to end of round.

Gusset:
Round 1 (Decrease Round): SSK, knit to 2 stitches before marker, K2tog, knit around
Round 2: Knit around slipping all markers
Round 3: Knit around slipping all markers

Repeat Gusset Rounds 1-3 until 48 stitches remain on needles (6 times total).


Cuff: K2, P2 around every round for 25 rounds (or until desired cuff length, or until you run out of yarn)

Bind off loosely in pattern.
Weave in all ends and block if desired.
Repeat for second mitt.


Not too shabby for one skein of sock yarn:

2 good-sized socks, 2 mitts, and a bit leftover.



In other news my Traveling Woman Shawl is coming along swimmingly:

Love.  LOVE how the Rainy Afternoon is knitting up!

So close to being able to start the lace! Remember you can still join my little Spring Lace Knit Along and enter to win some fabulous prizes!

Mmmalabrigo glovies

So I was successful in squeezing out a pair of fingerless mitts from the little tiny bit of Malabrigo leftover from the Koolhaas hat. I weighed the yarn I had left and it was 1.20oz. At 215 yards per 3.5 oz that’s just under 75 yards. Not a lot of yarn to work with….

But they turned out really nice! And I even had about 2 yards left over. Here’s what I did:

75-Yard Mmmalabrigo Fingerless Mitts:

Materials:
a small amount (75ish yards, 1.20 oz) of Malabrigo.
Size 7 & 8 Double Pointed Needles
A stitch holder
A stitch marker for marking the beginning of the round and 2 other stitch markers for marking increases

Cast on 32 stitches with size 8 needles. Join for knitting in the round being careful not to twist.
Work K2, P2 rib for 9 rounds. (the cuff was a little bit short – if you have more yarn you might want to make this a bit longer)
Knit 2 rounds plain.

Gusset:
Setup Round: K16, Place Marker, Increase 1, K1, Increase 1, Place Marker, Knit to end of round
Round 1: K around slipping all markers
Round 2: K around slipping all markers
Round 3: K to first marker, slip marker, increase 1, K to next marker, Increase 1, Slip Marker, K to end of round.

Repeat rounds 1-3 until you have 13 stitches between the markers – row 18 since the end of the ribbing.

Next Round: K around slipping all markers
Next Round: K to first marker, remove marker, Bind off 12 stitches, remove marker, knit to end of round.

Knit 7 rounds plain.
Work 4 rounds in K2, P2 ribbing
Switch to size 7 Double Pointed Needles
Work 5 more rounds
Bind off loosely in pattern.

Weave in ends and block if desired. Repeat for second mitt.

And to update you on Matt’s coworkers… He gave this set to the guy with the cold ears today:


And everyone – especially the one who thought that handknit hats suck – was impressed. Mission Accomplished.

Oh and mmmalabrigo march isn’t over just yet. I have a couple more projects brewing:


More info (and possibly patterns) tomorrow!

Mod Cable Mittens

So remember the Mod Cables Hat I knit waaaay back when?

Well around then I took the design and turned it into a pattern for mittens to complete the set:



The set includes the hat, mittens, and my here and there cables scarf:

All knit out of Malabrigo in the color way Geranio.

I wear it almost every single day:


So in honor of the Malabrigo March celebrations going on over at Ravelry I finally had the motivation to write up the pattern and share it with you:


Mod Cable Mittens
I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Edited to add: Here they are on Ravelry!

Happy St. Pat’s!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day (a little late), everyone!!!

I’m somewhat Irish but didn't really celebrate because my friends are old. Seriously. We talked about it when we were all out on Fri. night and we were all just kindof “Meh” on the whole thing. Boozing on a Monday just doesn’t sound fun anymore. Especially considering the amount of meetings and deadlines I have to deal with this week… I’m stressed just thinking about it. So insead of green beer how about some green projects?

I finished the Koolhaas! And can I just say that it kicked my ass? This should have not been so complicated. But I thought it would be fun to try to learn to cable w/o a cable needle. It was worth it in the end but there was quite a bit of cussing along the way.

Also? I started knitting it on size 6’s and 8’s like the pattern called for and it came out waaaaay too big. Not even close to gauge. And I was on a plane with no other needles – and no other needles packed with me for the weekend. Which just goes to show that you should ALWAYS pack more knitting than you think you’ll need. Luckily I also had a sock with me or I would have been really screwed.

Pattern: Koolhaas (guys size)
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino colorway Forest
Needles: Size 5 & 7 Knitpicks Options
Mods: None. At all. Crazy that.
Verdict: LOVE!!!


So after finishing up the hat I had what I thought was quite a bit of yarn leftover. Not enough for another hat but enough to do something with. Also? I was in the middle of watching The Sandlot (we haven’t had a lazy weekend in for-ev-er. Sandlot style. Heh.) and I didn’t want to get up. So I cast on for what I thought would be some nice, guy friendly, fingerless mitts:

Looks ok, right?

Turns out it’s actually a heaping pile of FAIL.

I weighed this mitt and then weighed the rest of the yarn and discovered that I had used more than half of what I had. Boo. But I really didn’t want to give up because this had now become a problem to be solved. This malabrigo would NOT get the best of me.

So I wound the ball back on itself and started a new mitt from the other end. This time I used much larger needles and many less stitches:

I finished it w/o having to rip any of the previous mitt out! That means I have enough yarn!

Success.

I’ll probably post the “pattern” when it’s done.

Oh and speaking of patterns… both the Mod Cables Hat and the Bulky Flip-top Mittens are now available for direct download through my Ravelry Pattern Store. I have my own pattern store! How fun is that! Of course everything in it is free but still… made me feel all special and stuff. I should have another pattern (not the one for these green mitts but something way funner) coming out this week...

Goodbyes, Mittens, and Lunch.

So one of my good friends and rowing teammates is moving to Seattle. Sadness is sure to ensue, however lots of fun was had giving her a proper sendoff:

The girls


Jackie with the guys


Matt doing the Muppet run, of course.

Some karaoke happened which is never/always a good plan:




And Osam and Alyson came into town for the occasion for the first time since he moved back to the ‘nati:


I know Jackie will do well and this is a big promotion and all... but we're so going to miss her.

Anyways that marks 4 weekends in a row that we’ve either gone out of town (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati) or had friends in town (Joel/Ellen, Osam/Alyson) and this weekend we’re headed to Holiday Valley for a big skiing extravaganza.

My point? I don’t feel bad that I haven’t had a chance to block these yet:

They’ve been done for about 2 weeks now and I’m really just not happy with them. The colorwork is uneven and imperfect and I didn’t quite catch on to the whole knitting with two colors on double pointed needles thing until the end of the second mitten.



I’m hoping a severe blocking will fix them but I’m not holding my breath. I just hope I don’t have to rip them back at all. Boo to that.


In other news I’ve been having fun playing with all of the features of my new phone. The most fun for me is that it has a built in walkman so I can listen to NPR on the bus. The most fun for you is that it has a pretty decent camera on it:

Just a random pic of Jessica and LB (she was in town for the day) at Teahouse Noodles one of my fav. lunch spots. I love this place. So tasty. Their rica rica sauce is mmmmm.

I’m still holding my breath for a camera that also happens to be a phone with a decent flash but until then this one is ok…

And finally – thanks so much to both Claudia and Andi for nominating me for a Make My Day Award! You guys are just too kind!!!

Blue Monday

So yesterday, Monday, January 21 was officially the Most Depressing Day of the Year. No seriously. Psychologists have figured out that the combo of credit cards from Christmas being due, failed New Years Resolutions, and bad weather with no end in sight make this the saddest day possible.

So instead of being depressed how about a list of 11 things that are making me happy?

1.) Wearing handknits. Currently I have on both my Wicked and my Thuja almost knee socks. Nothing is more warming than handknits!

2.) This picture:

Dexter looks so very ferocious! But in truth he was just yawning between naps:

So not ferocious at all. The fun part here is that he is wearing the sweater I knit for him. He loves it now. No, really. I take it out and he gets all excited and he totally lets us put it on him w/o biting or complaining at all. I think he’s realized the association between sweater and warm. The poor little guy gets all shivery when it’s this cold out.

3.) I finished spinning the fire fiber - all that's left is to ply it. And yes I took eleven million photographs of it. But I think they deserve their own post.

4.) Recreational Basketball leagues:


Well really that’s something that’s making Matt happy but if he’s happy I’m happy, right?

5.) Crockpot dinners. I made a full chicken with veggies and potatoes and all sorts of good stuff on Sunday. The leftovers are just awesome (and are heating up for dinner right now!).

6.) I found this on YouTube:


Man I loved this show. Sadly I couldn’t find the Hunting for Muppets sketch. But $240 of Pudding? Goodstuff.

7.) Friends who also knit and will reasuure me that yes, Juilet looks good, and yes, I should finish it. Even if Matt was laughing at me when I tried it on.

8.) New Yarn. I’ll post pics of what I bought on Saturday soon - I may have to bust out the ghetto lightbox tonight to make that happen, though... how long until the sun comes back?

9.) The most relaxing weekend ever. We did nothing. No really. NOTHING. It was so great. We haven’t done nothing in for-ev-er. Literally every night (not just every weekend but every night) in December was booked solid. I think we had out of town guest something like 5 out of 7 weekends? And that bled into January. It was so nice to have a weekend to just hang out and not worry about being anywhere/doing anything/getting ready for anything.

10.) Stranded Mittens. The one thing I did this weekend was knit alot of this:

So very amusing.

And pretty.

Also? Those would be in progress pictures - meaning I'm keeping resolution #5.

11.) Surviving the most Depressing Day of the Year. Because if yesterday was the worst than 2008 can only get better from here, right!

Mittens and snow

So I never did make it to the grocery store yesterday. Instead I did a workout DVD and then this:

That would be the start of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Norwegian Star Mittens. (here’s the Ravelry link).

Way better than groceries. Way better. Colorwork it turns out is extremely awesome.

And completely fascinating.

And since it’s blizzarding out I don’t see any grocery shopping in my future tonight, either.

Well that and I’m almost to the star part….

Frozen soup sounds good for dinner tonight, anyways.

Bulky Flip Top Mitts

So remember how I was making a hat / mitten set for my $15 gift for a random exchange with my girlfriends? Yeah they were a huge success:

She loves them!

Sadly I don’t have any pictures of the finished mittens up close because I finished sewing in the ends literally about 2 seconds before I had to run out the door to the party. Gotta love procrastination! I did write up the pattern to share, though:

Bulky Flip Top Mitts

They knit up very quickly on size 9 needles although all of the finishing involved in making them flip tops is kindof a pain. I think it ended up being worth it, though:
If anyone finds any errors in the pattern please let me know! I’m very new to this whole pattern writing thing! I also added them to Ravelry here.

Oh and I ended up just using a button I had for the hat – it was a shiny shell type thing that I had in a box of random buttons I got from my great-grandmother. I wish I had a better pic but oh well. I’m just happy she liked them so much!