Mitts, Mitts, Mitts

Look at everyone's mitts!! November is mitten month at Carries Knitting shop. Our first pair of mitts was a plain, basic mitten to get everyone started. This week's pattern is for a cabled mitten with a braided cable on the back of the hand. It is a little more challenging but is still a quick knit.

It is hard to believe but November is half over and our knitting guild meeting is tomorrow night. We are going to knit (and crochet) some jewelry. Hope to see you there.

Happy mitten knitting!!

Finished Mitts

My week has been filled with mitten knitting. Here is what I have accomplished so far. These are not quite done as I want to add some embellishments to both pairs. I just have to go searching through my stash to find just the right colours to use. I am having a lot of fun knitting these mitts. They are so simple and very fast to knit. The next pair on my list to be knit are the cabled mitts.

Christmas dishcloths are still in the works. Knee high socks, gloves, two teddy bears and an afghan are still in the planning stages. So much to knit and so little time.

Basic Mitten

I had a great day today. My Mom came for a visit. This was a nice surprise but it did put me behind on my knitting. This is all I have to show you of the new mitt. It is knit out of Patons Classic Wool on 2.75mm dpns and the gauge is 6.5 sts per inch. In this picture I have just finished the increasing for the thumb gusset. On the next row I will put the thumb sts on a holder, cast on one extra stitch and then it is straight knitting to the top of the mitt for a few decrease rows. Then back to pick up those thumb sts, knit the thumb, decrease a few sts and the mitt is finished! Finished pictures tomorrow.

Finished Bag #2

Well, here is the second felted bag. The unfelted measurements were 15" tall and 19" wide. The felted measurements are 7" tall and 16" wide. It shrunk way more height wise than width wise. I know that this is what happens during the felting process but my original plan for this bag was to be taller. What I didn't expect was that it would get wider after the first wash in hot water. It came out at 21"! This bag ended up going through three or four washes and the dryer to shrink the width and as a result the height continued to shrink as well. I have read that one of the benefits of hand felting is that you can control the direction your project shrinks depending on the way you rub it on a wash board. Has anyone tried this? I wasn't about to go to that much work. I just put it into the washer again. Even though the finished size isn't what I had been hoping for I still like how it turned out.

My knitting projects for the last few days has been dishcloths for Christmas. It has been fun to knit such small and quick projects. These dishcloths are somehow making me feel less stress over my Christmas knitting even though the large projects have yet to be started. There is still six weeks to go. Lots of time. I am not worried yet.

Mittens are the project for tonight. So I am off to search through the totes storing my wool and then try to find 4 dpns the same size. This might take longer than actually knitting the first mitten! Pictures tomorrow.

UFO Night

Last night was the last night for our felted bag class and everyone brought in their finished bag to show off. They all looked great!

We spent the rest of the evening working on UFOs. There was a child's cabled sock, a drop stitch scarf, man's hat, two pairs of ladies mitts, two more felted bags and a dishcloth being knit.

As always, thanks for a fun knitting night ladies!

Finished Slippers

I spent more time today organizing my knitting things than actually knitting but I did manage to finish the second slipper and they are already being worn. It is such a great feeling to know that the items we knit are appreciated.

I did spend some time knitting the rest of the felted bag and as of right now I am ready to make the holes for the straps. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be finished for tomorrow night.

Slippers!

We had a great time this morning getting together to knit and slippers were the focus. Margaret is showing off her first finished slipper. Way to go!! This is a great project for beginners or anyone looking for a quick project to knit as they are knit all in garter stitch with a little shaping around the heel, then straight knitting until you reach the toe, a few more rows of shaping, sew up two seams and you have a slipper! I added a row of crochet along the top edge of the slipper to add a little more height and to give it a nice finished edge. You can add any other embellishments that you like. Right now I am loving knitting these flowers so of course they are going to be added to the slippers. When knitting slippers, you will find yourself having the same problem as you do when knitting socks or mitts. You have to knit two of them. They are small and knit up quickly so it really isn't a big problem. (I have the second green one half knit)

I was lucky to get a sneak peak at a couple of the felted bags that have been knit this week. They have turned out great. I can't wait to see all of them Monday night!