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!

Goodbye Kansas Socks

Tomorrow is the day when I have to say "Goodbye, Kansas!" because I'm finally moving to North Carolina for graduate school!  I always pictured myself tripping through life without a care in the world at this moment; however, in reality I'm currently rushing around packing and worrying that everything might not fit into my little compact car (for those of you wondering, the drive is 20 hours).

Like many of you have expressed in the past, knitting is the key to maintaining cool during stressful times, so I quickly finished my Sunny Day Socks for the Ravellenic Games 2012!

These are just regular vanilla socks that I whipped up as an excuse to knit this pretty yarn I dyed using egg dyes last month.

Please ignore the laddering (my knitting demon) and instead admire the pretty striping!  I also attempted a picot edge for the first time, it is really fun and produces a super cute ruffly edge

I'm very excited to have finished my first project for the Ravellenic Games, which has been entered in the sock category and the one skein category.

For those of you who are taking part in the games, keep up the amazing work!  Happy crafting everyone!

Enjoying the Ravellenic Games!

After much thought, I decided to attempt my first Ravellenic Games!  I had been signed up for a team for a while, but didn't even start to think about projects until two hours before the start of the games.  I managed to pull my resources together and get some patterns picked out just in time, and am I ever happy that I did!

I have decided to compete in four events this year with the overall goal being destashing:

I've suddenly been in a sock making kind of mood (it might have something to do with seeing so many of Andi's beautiful socks) and cast on a pair of vanilla socks using this yarn I hand dyed last month using egg dyes. 

I've had a small skein of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend sitting around for a while and desperately wanted to use it to make something I would use.  I decided on a pair of fingerless mitts, which work really well with the yarn and don't require much yardage. 

Perhaps my most ambitious project, which I may or may not conquer is knitting a Gemini top with this stashed, copper colored Hempathy I've been saving for something special.  I'm probably going to have to order more yarn for this project (why did I have to leave Webs?), but that doesn't matter because it is a perfect match for the project.

Of course I cannot do anything without somehow working spinning in.  So I started spinning up this disastrously hand dyed Cheviot wool, because I really want to see if dyeing it again after spinning might improve the color (ugh, pastels...). 

I've got a lot that I'm working on, but I'm loving the challenge and the fun of knowing that I'm knitting and spinning alongside some really fantastic people from all across the world!