Cosmopolitan Purls

Autumn Wristwarmers

This past weekend, I took a much-needed time-out from dyeing and spinning to do what I've started to miss very much: knitting!  I didn't know exactly what I wanted to make, but I knew I didn't want to commit to a big project.  Looking through my stash for inspiration, I found a tiny ball of naturally-dyed yarn, a souvenir from a sheep to shawl class I took some years ago where I first learned about natural dyeing.  The pretty autumn shades called out to me, and I immediately knew what I wanted:

A simple pair of wristwarmers.  I just cast on 15 stitches using a provisional cast-on method and worked in garter stitch, slipping the first stitch of every row as if to purl.  I kept going until it was long enough to go around my wrist, then grafted the two ends together.  Easy!

It looks like I've finished them just in time, too.  The weather has suddenly cooled down here, and these will keep me warm during my daily trips to the park with Alex.

A Fetching Intermission

Fetching is certainly true to its claim:

It really does come close to instant knitting gratification.  I started these on Wednesday evening and wove in the last end late Saturday night.  I even knitted the second hand twice, as my gauge was off on the inital try, yielding a mitt that was slightly bigger than the first.  My second try wasn't an exact match either, but it was definitely good enough.

As for the design: I wanted something simple and quick, and it provided just that.  I do wish the opening for the fingers was more fitted and snug, but it's plenty solid and practical as is.  I did make one slight modification-- I lengthened the thumb to be six rounds instead of four for better coverage.

This project tops the most economical category for me too.  I didn't have to purchase anything for it, pattern, yarn or needle.  No complaints about that!

All in all, Fetching was a nice distraction that resulted in something useful.  And it's one of those things I wouldn't mind having in a rainbow of colors, one to suit my every mood.  But I won't be casting on for another right now-- see what's arrived in the mail:

It's time to get back to Ice Queen!

A Little Setback

Ice Queen is coming along quite quickly:

In fact, it's almost done!  All I have left to do now are the finishing sections on both ends.  Unfortunately, things came to an abrupt halt last night when I realized that those parts required a smaller size circular needle, a size I don't own.  That's what I get for not carefully reading through all the instructions before I start!

So until I get the proper needles, Ice Queen is regrettably, on hold.

But of course, I couldn't just sit idle waiting for the right needles-- already on order-- to arrive.  At the same time, I didn't want to start something big, at least not quite yet.  What I needed was a quickie project, and I found one that fit the bill perfectly:

Fetching, from the Summer 2006 issue of Knitty.  The design offers the right combination of simplicity & interest, and is knit in a worsted weight yarn to ensure a fast result.  And to make things even better, I'm using leftover yarn from a previous project again, one that's been sitting in my stash for about ten years now.  [Whoa, do I feel old!]  It's Cascade 220, and I still like it as much as when I first bought it.  I'm happy to find a good use for it now.