Blues and Greens

I have been meaning to post some photos of the Anemoi Head, Heart, and Hands Ensemble. I actually took these pictures of Mary Kay, the winning bidder, about a month ago; I just have been distracted and haven't posted them! Here they are!



I have also finished the BackBou's Spartan (I even blocked it!). I should have some pix soon ... but meanwhile, I am using all the extra Spartan yarn for Dulaan hats. Here's dear R modeling one (Coronet) for us. I should call this picture a study in greens ...

Blow Wind Blow

My Anemoi Mittens have been finished for a while now, but I've waited to photograph them until the blocking was done. I find that more than any other items I've knit, colorwork must be blocked well. I may actually have recovered somewhat from my aqualanophobia, we'll see how I do when I have to block a sweater or, cringe, lace.

These mittens were just a pleasure to knit! They are going to be auctioned at the Richmond Waldorf School Auction at the end of March (along with a to-be-knit matching hat and vest -- a head, hands, and heart package).

Here are the facts, Jack:

Pattern: Anemoi Mittens by Eunny Jang

Yarn: Wildfoote Sock Yarn in Vanilla (MC) and Boy Blue (CC)

Needles: US2s. I struggled with knitting the cuffs so they would fit over my hands (very medium sized hands, btw). I ended up using the US2s for the entire mitten and they fit my hand perfectly.

I had a quandry with her instructions at the mitten tip to: Turn mitten inside out and join sts with three-needle bind-off in MC. How does one successfully, without dropping sts and without freaking completely out, turn this mitten inside out with 2 dpns attached to the top? For the first mitten, I scootched the needles so that the stitches were almost falling off and then slid them carefully inside the mitten. I found it to be a high risk manuever for me, but it worked.

With the 2nd mitten, I did this ...

Right-side out with dpns

Placed stitches on safety pins

Turn inside out then replace needles

Voila!

Easy-schmeasy and much better for my committment not to swear around the children. The mittens have been "outed" already for Knit Night at the Yarn Lounge. What a wonderful night Stewart and Melanie host! Snacks, wine, free massages ... and great knitting! Now I'm to start on a hat to match the mittens, time to get out the graph paper ...

Teasing

Spring has been teasing me.




And now I will tease you.



I finished the right hand of the Anemoi Mittens the past weekend. For some reason, casting on the left hand is taking me some bit of time. I will endeavor to have a complete, blocked set of mittens to show you all on Monday -- well, maybe Tuesday ...

Trying to get it right ...

The wind gods seem to be blowing good gauge vibes through some other knitter's home today. I've been casting on (and casting on) for Eunny's Anemoi Mittens (gorgeous!) but can't seem to get the cuff wide enough. It's almost there this last time around ...



But I will be frogging this and starting over. The good news is lots of other wonderful bloggers (like Carrie, Tiennie, and Knitty Gritty) have blogged their experiences. I think I may go with the Knitty Gritty approach (no, not try to block them while on the needles -- mine are wooden -- but I loved the chutzpa) and go up to a 3 then down again for the colorwork. I'm not sure yet. I've gone up to a US1 since the US0s were so crazy even Sunshine (that's R's new chosen nickname) said, "Mama! Stop, that's not right!" I'm knitting wth Wildfoote Vanilla and Blue Boy -- Blue Boy is my CC.


Meanwhile, I have the Spartan for my TV knitting (and you know I like my Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy nights!). That's right, the BackBou is getting another chance after the Aran Incident. It is going well in my Mission Fall 1824 from a great summer sale with Liz. I bought some O-Wool for the CC.


Both of these projects (even with the gauge issues of the mittens) are floating my boat right now. I can't wait for the long weekend and some intense knitting time! Before I sign off, I have to pass along this recent post from Brandon Eats -- it is an extremely fine piece of writing.