NuttyIrishmanKnits

Rocky Mountain High

Juniper Mitts by Jennifer Adams
Knitted in O-Wool Balance, 120 yards, colorway 3125, Jade.
Knitted on US size 6 Crystal Palace 35" circular needles.
Ravelers queue them up here.

While the kids are visiting the grandparents for two weeks, Andy decided to surprise me with a little getaway of our own, to the mountains of Colorado.  And I couldn't dream of a better place than the tranquil ski village of Breckenridge to post a new pattern from.  My friend Shelly, and owner of our great yarn shop, Twist, recently gave me a single skein of yarn.  It was a sample from the yarn rep and since it was only 130 yards there wasn't really much to be done with it.  And this got me to thinking about stash busting.  In particular, stash busting with those lone left over skeins of great yarn from big projects.  So I gratefully took the skein (one never turns down yarn...) and started playing around with it over the next few days.  It didn't take long to come up with a quick fingerless mitt pattern, and thankfully, a pattern that comes in just shy of 120 yards.  Not bad.

The Juniper Mitts are a simple spiraling rib pattern that can easily be knitted up in a weekend.  I knitted this pair in O-wool, and really like the soft texture of the blended wool and cotton.  But they will work in any worsted weight yarn.  I've also knitted a pair in Lang Tweed and have a third started in Malabrigo.  Their only embellishment comes from the addition of two large or four medium sized buttons on the cuff.  Enjoy!

And as for other news, Julie from Little Cotton Rabbits has tagged me.  Apparently I have to tell you 6 things about myself, starting from what I was doing ten years ago?  Andy says I can't remember that far back.  I say he's crazy because I can remember that far back, my hands and feet swell just thinking about it.  I was very, very with child, specifically our firstborn, Benjamin.  As a matter of fact it was around this same time of year, 10 years ago, that I officially did my first beached whale flop on the bed and had to yell for help to get up. I'll never forget Andy standing at the end of the bed staring at me, asking "what did you dooooo?" I would have smacked him if I could have reached him without getting a full body cramp.  "Just pull me up!"  was my reply.  The fact that he grunted upon granting my request is something I still remember clearly.  Can't remember my foot...

Now, five things on my to-do list for today... this really isn't fair since I'm on vacation, but I'll do my best:

•run 4 miles along the Blue River that runs between Breckenridge and Frisco
•not fall out of the raft and need "bobbing" to be retrieved while white water rafting through Browns Canyon.
•buy sunscreen and bottled water
•email pictures back home to Dad of abandoned gold mines in Leadville
•take nap (you knew that was coming after the first two!)

and five snacks I enjoy:

•yogurt with blueberries and granola (I eat this every day, a couple of times a day)
•NUTELLA on a spoon (aka heaven on a spoon)
•Snickerdoodle cookies
•Mint Chocolate Chip Frappachinos from Starbucks, but I'm trying to quit after reading the nutritional facts at the Starbucks website... let's just say I'd be better off with a couple of BK Whoppers
•ripe tomatoes straight from the garden (salt shaker and lawn chair included)

and what would I do if I were a billionaire?

•probably mostly what I do now, only with a lot more yarn.

Where have I lived?

Just in the US, except for a stint in New Orleans.  Yeah I know, technically New Orleans is in the United States, but just barely... ;-)

Thanks for the tag Julie!  And I hope you guys enjoy the new pattern!  I doubt I'll post again while up here in the mountains.  I can't hardly get a signal for shoot and it has taken me nearly two hours to get this post finished!  But I'll be looking forward to catching up on all of my bloglines when I get home and see what everyone else has been up to.  Happy Knitting! 

Karma Goes Around Comes Around

 
Fiddlehead Mittens by Adrian Bizilia.
Knitted in Cascade 220 Heathers and Cascade 220 wool, blue colorway with red scroll.
Knitted on US size 3 Addi Turbos, 40 inch.
Ravelers see it here.

I'm so pumped right now about our July mitten class we are having at the yarn shop.  We have a lot of sock knitters here in Kansas, but I haven't met too many mitten knitters.  And I'm fully determined to make our sock knitters switch hitters!  Not to mention July is the perfect time to do a little Christmas knitting! 

We're using Adrian's enormously popular Fiddlehead pattern this go 'round, which I think is a great choice.  The colorwork is not overly complicated and the pattern repeats on front and back.  I knitted a test mitten using Cascade 220 and I am really pleased with how well this yarn worked.  The pattern calls for dk weight yarn, but since Cascade is worsted I was a bit worried.  I really didn't want to go below a size 3 needle.  So I held my breath and went for it.  And believe it or not, knitted on US size 3's this mitten actually ended up smaller in both row and stitch gauge than my original.  Go figure!

 

Just to change things up a bit I reversed the colorwork, with the colors changing in the background rather than the scrolls, and I have been working diligently in getting my Continental technique up to par.  I held my main color over my left index finger and my contrasting colors over my right.  I know you are actually supposed to do just the opposite, but since I reversed the colorwork, I really wanted to make sure my scrolls stood out and didn't get tucked down in the blues.  I think it turned out pretty well!

I've got one more mitten to knit up, only this time I'm using Noro Kuryeon for the colorwork.  I've seen several great looking mittens on Flickr using the Noro, and I think it's a great idea if full-out colorwork is not really your thang.  (Fake Isle proved that to be true.)

And as for other knits, I think I'm on a blue kick! I don't know why I get on color kicks, but when I look at my FO's on Ravelry I always move through stages.  Weird. 



I've been working the last month on a sweater... for myself... Yeah!  I wanted to knit something that would be my favorite comfy sweater.  I had wanted to knit Raspy but the pattern isn't available right now (I have since located a copy of the discontinued Denim People by Rowan), so in the meantime I started perusing (yeah, I peruse!) my EZ books and opted instead for her great Seamless Hybrid.  There are some lovely ones online and I decided to get out my denim yarn squirreled away for Raspy and use it instead for the Hybrid.  Love it!  I have a feeling this really is going to be my favorite sweater... especially perfect for my lounge pants.  This is my first time using EZ's EPS system, which is sheer genius.  I've allowed for two inches of positive ease, and did a small amount of shaping in the waist so I wouldn't have a tube.  (Guys, you can get away with the tube.  Girls, not so much.)  And of course the perfect comfy sweater has to be able to handle a good washing, otherwise you just end up with a stinky perfect sweater that no one wants to be near.  And from past experience with Cotton Jeans I know it holds up well in both the washer and dryer.  I have one more sleeve to knit and then I can join the body and sleeves together and start that great saddleback.  Whoo-hoo!  (I'm just a bit pumped about this sweater... can ya tell?)



And as for Clapotis I am actually making progress.  Lord have mercy but it is true!  I have dropped eight stitches and have only four more to go before starting the decreasing.  The silk garden is gorgeous, but this yarn is terrible about not wanting to drop.  I have a feeling those of you who opted for a different yarn without slubs probably had a much easier time than I am with the dropping of stitches.  I have to manually release every stitch.  It's a bit of a bummer but the end product I know will be worth it!

And last week after saying I would NOT cast on anything new I changed my mind and decided to do the Baby Surprise Jacket.  So I emailed a friend and said, "Hey, let's do this!  Shouldn't take more than three days!"  Well, I was at Michaels buying a seam ripper (another story...) and found some semi-cute yarn?  You know the cheap yarn that you know you shouldn't buy, but you're there and it's there it's maybe sort-of calling to you?  You know when it says, I think I might be able to possibly work for such-and-such?  Well I gave in and it completely sucks and I am therefore frogging the whole thing.  This is what happens when I get away from our great LYS and get sucked in by the mediocre competition.  From now on I am sticking to the good stuff.  So I'm remaining loyal to the Clap and it's holding my attention.  I'm pressing on with my Seamless Hybrid and  EPS is proving true.  And I strayed from Shelly and ended up frogging.  I guess it is true; karma goes around comes around.

Hey, could you happen to be the most beautiful yarn in the world?

I know. That's such a long title for a post, but it's how I feel about my new yarn purchase. I've been ogling and fondling (yeah, really) this yarn at my LYS, Twist, for weeks now. I think one skein actually had a hump in it from my petting it. I am in love with this yarn from Rowan. And knew that I would have to use it for my first pair of mittens, Elizabeth Zimmermann's Norwegian's from Knitter's Almanac. I'm starting this project today and am so pumped about it! I thought long and hard about a color combination, that would have a great rustic feel to it. And that would suit me! I finally decided on this...

This morning I also finished blocking the Fake Isle Hat by Amy King. What a fun and thrifty pattern! I think I still have enough left from two different Kureyon skeins to knit one more. Andy walked past it and asked who it was for, then he really looked at it and said, "Ah, for you. That just looks like you." I agree. I really love the shades of charcoal and blue. But, I've already got someone in mind for it, so now I really must knit another!

Fake Isle Hat by Amy King
knitted in Noro Kureyon, 195
Cascade 220 Heathers, 9452
Ravelers see it here