Thursday, January 11, 2007

Mittens - Pirates and Bunnies

Andrew had his first swimming lesson at the YMCA today. He had a blast. He maybe could have stayed by the wall a little more when he was supposed to, but he was just so enthusiastic. Nicholas had a good time too. It seems that he is very interested in the water and all the people moving around in it. At the end we went upstairs so I could feed Nicholas, and after eating for a minute he noticed that we were overlooking the pool. After that he just watched the sunlight on the water until I decided we would just go. After the lesson I asked Andrew if he used up some of his energy and he said no, and then ate a huge lunch when we got home and didn't have any complaints about going upstairs for a nap.
From Mittens - Pir...

I thought I would share a picture and some info about the angel I cross stitched. I bought the kit a couple years ago thinking I would make it for my Grandma. I got a little ways into it and realized that the light blue-grey fabric and pastel thread made it really hard to see what I was doing in the dim living room where I usually work on things like that in the evening. It also disqualified it as a project I could work on in the car (the other place I tend to work on projects). So it rode around in my knitting bag for a long time before I decided to pull it back out and finish it, now that we have had a new light fixture in our living room for almost a year and I have a floor lamp by my spot on the couch. I am glad I finished it. I have to admit that I was happier with it before adding the french knots, but that could be because I'm not very good at making them. Most of the french knots were also done with shiny gold thread and I like things a little simpler. Now I just need to put it in a frame and find a time to drive to Mankato and give it to my Grandma so it can join the angel I made a few years back.
From Mittens - Pir...

I accomplished a lot on my pirate mittens and decided to join the knit-a-long. This is where I was yesterday afternoon.
From Mittens - Pir...

And this is where I am today.
From Mittens - Pir...

I haven't knit the thumb on the first mitten yet either, so it isn't quite done.

The week after Christmas, Tim found something for me on Craig's list. Two listings for vintage angora yarn.
From Mittens - Pir...

Each box should be enough to make a pair of mittens. The red is definitely for me, but I'm not sure about the pink. Andrew was really excited about bunny yarn, but then I would want to dye the yarn if I was going to make him mittens. Or, I could make them for a gift and figure that Andrew wants pretty much everything I make so it won't be a big deal. I might make mine first and gauge his enthusiasm. I suppose I could find a different color on eBay. And for those that don't know me and think I am overlooking the simple solution of making the pink for myself, I don't like pink - and Andrew has decided he doesn't like red (in general, not specifically this red yarn).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The angel turned out wonderfully! I'm sure your grandma will love it.

The pirate mittens = awesome. I've got them and the hat on my to-knit list but it'll be a while before I can get to them. What yarn are you using?

And the angora is pretty cool! I bet it'll make some lovely mittens. If it were me, I'd just make the kid wear pink mittens, but I understand why others might not choose to do that ;-) I'd imagine that it'd take dye nicely, but angora felts very easily so you'd have to be very careful with it.

April said...

Jess-
I am just using wool-ease for the mittens. I was going to make them for my brother-in-law, but didn't get them done, and wasn't sure he wouldn't toss them in the dryer if I made them out of wool. Plus, I have heard the pattern runs a little small so I thought the worsted weight would be better than sport (using size 4 needles). The felting angora is the main reason I thought about searching ebay for a different color rather than dying.

 

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