From the Mail Lady

It's always exciting when the mail lady brings goodies. Actually, sometimes it's the library's delivery guy (his name is Ron), since I have a fair amount of mail delivered to work instead of home. Either way, whether it's Ron or the anonymous Mail Lady who delivers my home mail, it's always exciting.

There have been some undocumented knitting-related deliveries lately.

Here's the February shipment of the Mean Girls Yarn Club.

Both times that I have joined yarn clubs, I've told myself that it would force me to consider yarn not within my usual colorways. However, not surprisingly, this month's shipment is my favorite, because it's definitely within my colorway comfort zone!

The shipment also included a heart-shaped lollypop and a tiny key-shaped stitch marker.

Speaking of stitch markers:

That's two sets of stitch markers from Lynette's Etsy shop, Passionknit Pieces. I'm a sucker for stitch markers, and she's got lots of cute ones!

Red Nuggets

Black Cats

At least six weeks ago, my friend Melissa asked me if I wanted some old knitting patterns she had gotten somehow. I said sure, so she put them in the mail to me.

The first few looked like the typical pamphlets I remember my grandma having back in the 60s and 70s. Most of these didn't have dates on them but the two that did were dated 1974, which is the year I graduated from high school, so I remember it very well!

The last one in the pile had a note attched.

I have to say that I don't remember guys wearing aran hats tilted to one side like that. I also don't remember any dressing like this!

Note the same tilt to the hat. Maybe he's got a scar over his eyebrow.

I'm not one to criticize the styles from the past - I'm old enough to know that fashion is circular and if you're laughing about it today, there's a good possibility you'll be wearing it tomorrow. However, I'm pretty sure I'd remember guys dressed like this!

And those knee socks? They're actually leg warmers, years before the leg warmer craze of the '80's!

The Last Christmas Gift!

This weekend, I finally finished my brother's flip-top, flip-thumb mittens. I could have had them finished a couple weeks ago, but really needed my brother's thumb handy, to make sure everything fit.

He had tried on the prototype at Christmas, so knitting the hand/mitten part was easy. The thumb still puzzled me, though, so I knit two variations. After he tried them both on Friday evening, I cut the thumb tips off, and redid both.

So - in the end, I knit 3 mittens and 5 thumbs, but ended up with something we both liked.

It was raining outside, so we couldn't take pictures with snow.
I should have at least made my brother put on his coat!

Details
Patterns:
Construction of hand: Nuttinbutknittin's Glittens
Final thumb: Glenna C's Podster Gloves
Colorwork patterning: My own, but nothing fancy - 2x2 squares and some straight lines. The fanciest thing about them is probably the twisted rib cuff!

Yarn: 4 colors of Cascade 220, which is my favorite mitten yarn. I like it for color work, and it makes nice, warm, water-resistant mittens.

Needles: Size 4 DPNs for the cuffs, glove insert, and mitten and thumb tips; size 6 DPNs for the stranded work.

Olympic Knitting

Although I'm not participating on a team in the Ravelympics, I did sign up for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. I did this not because I think I will finish a project and "medal," but to force myself to work on this lap blanket, which I promised to knit by May for a charity.

It's a free pattern from the Bernat site, called Cable Blanket and I'm using Knitpicks Swish Bulky (color Honeydew, apparently no longer available and greener than this picture shows) and size 10 needles. Some of you know how I dislike big yarn and big needles, but I had 10 skeins of the yarn in stash (and no idea how it got there!) and it seemed like a smart use of it. I'm making it slightly narrower than the pattern directs, partly because I wanted a more "lap size" blanket but also because I'm not sure I've got enough yarn. I think it's going to end up around 45" x 42" - sounds like "lap-size" to me!

My brother's flip-top, flip-thumb mittens are basically finished, although they have different thumbs. I'll see my brother this weekend and we'll decide which thumb works better. Then I'll rip out the "wrong" thumb and re-knit it. Luckily, thumbs knit up fast! Hopefully, I'll get a modeled shot once they're done.

I mentioned a while ago that I really wanted to make a Boneyard shawl. After starting it in a couple other yarns that were of a more appropriate gauge, I decided to use the Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Stonechat, for which I had been having trouble finding a good project. Although Boneyard calls for a heavier yarn, I have two skeins of the Malabrigo Sock Yarn, so I think I'll just keep knitting until it's gone!

Looking at my Ravelry Projects page, I realize that the last thing I actually finished for myself was by October Lady Sweater, which I finished at the end of September. I think maybe the reason I have such a case of startitis is because I want to make something fore ME!!!!

I did make some cupcakes for me - and for my co-workers - for Valentine's Day....

Black Cats

I've had this little black iron cat for years. I believe my mom gave it to me one year for Christmas. I use it as a door stop -- notice the hinge in the photo. Black Kitty is quite small!

For reasons I don't understand, Harley has always been terrified of Black Kitty. Whenever she walks past it, she stays as far away from it as possible and eyes it suspiciously!

Dolly ignores Black Kitty. Her favorite place this winter is hunched over the heat register in the kitchen. Poor cold baby... I'm tired of winter, too!