I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! It’s all been a bit hectic round at chez EJ so I didn’t manage an end of year round up. But I am kicking off my first blog post of 2012 with an FO!
The Flutterby mittens are done and gifted and were very happily received.
I was running late (as usual) on the day of gifting, so all these photos are a tad rushed and the mittens are still damp from blocking, but hopefully it doesn’t show too much!
Flutter Butterfly Mittens by Mimi Hill
Yarn: Sirdar Country Style 4 Ply in Cream & Navy
I love these mittens. Love them.
It’s one of those patterns which looks a bit more complicated than it actually is, and as a result progress is quite speedy. It does take some concentration though, as colourwork invariably does, and knitting these mittens in a moving car on the afternoon of a British winter is not a good idea… trust me. After finishing the first mitten and cockily thinking that I had things down pat for the second one, I thought I’d be clever and get a bit of gift knitting done on my birthday trip to Yorkshire. Never mind that it was too dark and fiddly to read a chart in the car, I’d done this before!
No.
I’d completely forgotten about the rather large and beautiful butterfly who sits in the palm of the second mitten. The next day all my smug feelings of how I was pretty much on track for finishing these on time were wiped clean away when I picked up my mitten in daylight and realised my error. Cue much swearing and frogging.
But aside from that little incident, this was a fun project to work on. I don’t often knit colourwork because it often requires more concentration than I like to give my knitting, but after these pretties I may have to rethink that mind set.
I didn’t modify this pattern at all, other than knitting the cuff in twisted rib because it looks neater. If I was to knit these again however, I think I’d knit the cuff on smaller needles and work it for a bit longer, it was a bit too short and loose for my tastes. I’d probably go up a needle size for the body of the mitten too, as although this pair are a perfect fit for their recipient, my hands are not as dainty as hers and they’re too snug a fit for me.
I was furiously trying to dry the mittens on the dashboard heaters in the car… it didn’t work!
Mittens and gloves are definitely things which are in deficit in my stash of handknit goodies, so I’m going to make an effort to knit more of them in 2012. I was a little disappointed when I looked over my Ravelry page and realised that I’d only finished 13 projects in the whole of 2011! In contrast I have a whopping 7 projects which were started and then abandoned, so I’m going to make a concerted effort to finish the projects that I start.
I’m not actually a fan of New Year and never really make resolutions, but I admit that I do still get seduced by the idea of a clean slate at the beginning of the year, so my plans for 2012 are more socks, more mittens, more spinning, just more of everything except unfinished projects! I also want to design and dye more and be much more active on the Ravelry forums. I’m afraid I’m a bit of a lurker, which probably has it’s roots in the fact that I’m really quite shy, but I think it’s time to break out of that and try and participate a bit more, especially since I joined some really lovely forums towards the end of 2011. So what do you guys have planned for 2012?
