Needlessly Complicated

It's almost halfway through winter. What better time to start a pair of fingerless mitts that won't be finished until next winter!

There are tons of patterns online for easy fingerless mitts. So naturally I have to complicate things.

1. It needs to be one that's knitted flat and sewn up since I don't have a pair of circular needles that are short enough and the magic loop method is far too complicated.
2. It has to be long. Not just past my wrists, but all the way up my forearms. My current gloves go just past my wrist and my forearms always get cold.
3. It must have cables.
4. Not just any cables. It has to be the same pattern as my scarf.

So I'm cobbling together a few different patterns and hoping this experiment works! So far I have the ribbing done.

Almost Halfway

I'm almost done one ball of yarn on Cables and Columns, one more to go. I'm not sure it I'll use all of the second one. I'll probably just stop once I think it's long enoug.

Twists Everywhere

It's so hot and sticky this summer. I haven't wanted to do anything other than lie in the dark and drink ice tea.

In between wallowing I've been knitting a scarf, because of course I would. This one is Cables and Columns. The pattern is pretty simple, an eight row repeat, and it didn't take me long at all to memorize it.


I actually knitted about 6 inches worth but it was very tight so I frogged it and restarted. The only problem I'm having is that one of the cabls looks flat and isn't as nice looking as the other. I'm not sure if it's even out after I wash and block it, or if that will just stay. I don't think it'll be noticeable unless someone is staring very closely though.

The lifelines have been a life saver. I actually had to go back 7 rows at one point and I was so glad I had them. Admittedly I started using them after I noticed a mistake about 2 cable twists prior. It's pretty visible if you look for it lol

All Ruffled Up

I ran out one of the beads for Mill Hill Mandolin, so I started a ruffle scarf.
I bought this yarn ages ago with the idea that I would crochet a ruffle scarf. That turned out to be trickier than I thought and I had trouble following the crochetting instructions, so I put it aside. I wanted to try something simple for my first knitted project and this was a good one. The ruffles mean that my few mistakes are well hidden:)
The yarn has tiny sequins on the bottom. They aren't very visible. And the yarn isn't grey. That' just all the artificial light and flash. The first picture is accurate for colour. It's solid black :)

I picked up the beads, so I should have mandolin finished by Thursday at the latest. And I have plans for my next knitting project: a slightly more ambitious scarf with cables!

Title	Ruffle Scarf
Yarn	Red Heart Boutique Sashay Sequins
Start date	April 4, 2015
Finish date	April 5, 2015
Total time	4 hours

I Have Made A Terrible Mistake

On the 31st of March I was looking at random videos on the internet and on impulse clicked on a knitting one. It was a very complicated looking shawl and I was all set to admire it and move on when I saw one of the videos on the sidebar was how to do a beginner knit stitch. So I watched it.

The next day I went out and picked up a pair of bamboo knitting needles so I could just "try it out". My test sampler looks like this now:
I can knit and purl, which is apparently all there is to knitting. Why didn't someone tell me this before? And why did the last person who tried to teach me make it seem so complicated? Clearly they were a terrible teacher and I should have tried again!

I got bored of the knit stitch (called the garter stitch when it's multiple rows), so I moved on to try combinations of knit and purl. I'm going to try a cable next and then increasing and decreasing. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to knit just about anything after that. Oh, and maybe figure out how to do a gauge properly.

It's kind of hilarious and kind of terrifying because I started out with the wooden straight needles because everything I read said that they were the easiest for beginners. I'm finding that they grip the yarn a bit too much for my liking and that casting even 30 stitches in difficult to manage. I guess I'm going to pick up some circular metal needles soon lol

But fear not, readers who are here for my stitching. I have in no way lost my love for that. In fact, I'm starting a Mill Hill ornie today since my left thumb knuckle is hurting. I think I knitted too much last night.