Ravellenic Games - Fingerless Mitts

I'm cutting it pretty close with my Ravellenic Games projects and have pretty much recognized that they are not all going to be finished by the deadline because of all the craziness in my life right now.

However, during the long orientation meetings this week I have been knitting away and have managed to finish my second Ravellenic Games project, a pair of fingerless mitts!

The yarn used was about half a skein of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend I received as a wonderful graduation present.  It was my very first experience with Manos del Uruguay yarn and I must say it was a joy to work with.  This particular yarn base was single ply, which I've always been fond of because it gives a soft edge to the fabric.  I also love the colorway, it reminds me of Fall, so I finished them just in time.

The pattern was Easy Fingerless Mitts by Maggie Smith, selected because I needed something simple to follow and I didn't feel like trying to work through designing them myself.  I'm definitely happy with how they came out.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful Friday!  Happy crafting!

Perfect Boyfriend Gloves

You may remember my dismay when I ran out of the yarn I was using for the pair of gloves I've been knitting for Mr. Engineering.  At the time I assumed that I would be able to buy more from Webs upon returning to college.  Unfortunately, by the time I got to Webs that yarn had gone on close out and was all sold!  I thought about ordering some from an online site, but getting the same colorway and dye lot turns out to be fairly difficult.  In the end I decided to be thrifty and use the closest scrap yarn that I had on hand...

I would like to be optimistic and say that it is difficult to tell, but that just isn't true.  Also, they look way better when worn.

A note on the yarn, Ella Rae Classic Solids: I really enjoyed working with this yarn, I actually vastly prefer it to Cascade 220.  It had a great feel and texture to it, it was processed very well.

I'm not entirely happy with how this project turned out, as I mentioned last post, I put a lot of thought into projects for the people I knit for.  But what counts in the end is that they keep his hands warm in the moments when I am not there.  I'll be sending these off to him tomorrow!

Knitting Disappointments

I had planned to present a new project to you all tonight; however, creativity was not kind to me today.  I know that a lot of my readers have blogs of their own, which I follow fairly regularly, and I have been  blown away by some of the projects that have been finished over the course of this week.  Seriously, you all are incredibly talented!  If I have not had a chance to see your work yet, well, I'll go out on a limb and say that it's pretty great.

I've been itching to share my latest project with you, a pair of gloves from an old American Red Cross pattern from an amazing collection of vintage patterns designed for soldiers fighting in World War I and World War II.  My partner of seven years (I frequently call him Mr. Engineer) has been begging me for a new pair of knitted gloves, and because he is a history buff (and plays his fair share of Call of Duty type games) I thought this pattern would be ideal.

I found the perfect yarn for the project, and then cast on and powered through.  It was working out great for a while, the first glove fit perfectly and he loved how it came out.  I was so excited to finish them at that point that the project went really quickly...until I ran out of yarn.  This is a problem I've never experienced before, and frankly I didn't see it coming.  I think the gauge was a little tight and that ate up more yarn than I expected.  The most painful part is that it ran out halfway through the pinky and right before finishing the thumb.

I was on the home stretch (picture taken prior to tragic event)!

The worst part is that I'm getting ready to leave town for a week and the local yarn store I bought the yarn from is an hour in the other direction.  So, I'm not entirely sure when Mr. Engineer will receive his finished gloves.

I'm annoyed by this knitting experience, but sometimes crap happens!  I apologize for the lack of project news too.  Next week will likely bring more successes and more positive posts (in particular, I'm very excited to share an amazing knitting book I'm obsessed with right now).  Until then!

Finally a FO!

November is always one of those crazy months that flies by all too quickly.  Classes really pick up and Thanksgiving is near the end, which means flying home commercially (the horror!).  This November also got off to a strange, particularly rushed and stressful start due to the power outage that brought Massachusetts down last weekend.

So, November is particularly difficult for my knitting ethic.  However, once it started getting cold out, I decided that I needed some new fingerless gloves.  Even better, I wanted to actually use some of my handspun for them!  Two days later I was able to proudly wear these!

I improvised these fingerless gloves in a basic ribbing pattern, which worked really well with some bulky wool handspun I finished a few weeks ago. 

This is the first spin-to-knit project that I have ever actually liked as a finished product.  I've already gotten several compliments on them and I only finished them hours ago!

I'm also one of those crazy people that once I finish a project I HAVE to wear it as soon as I can (sometimes I don't even weave in the ends before I wear it because I'm so excited!).  I do block my projects eventually, but not until I take exhaustive photos and dance around with glee.  Today was certainly one of those occasions.