Mitten Mojo

I love to knit mittens.  Love.  So when I encouraged members of the Black Sheep Knitting Guild to join me in a knit along this month, I thought there would be no problems.  I suggested three patterns of varying complexity, and figured I’d finally make myself a pair of Hedgerow mitts.  (I cannot tell you how many times I’ve printed that pattern, and contemplated what yarn I’d use to knit them!)  Eagerly, I finished the sweater I was working on, and dreamt about the mittens I’d be knitting.

Black sheep were casting on mitts left and right. . .Harriet has several pair completed already.  Kelley is making a beautiful pair, and I have yarn to match hiding in my stash! Several knitters began talking about Meta Mittens, a pattern  I purchased this fall, and have yet to cast on.

But instead of beginning my mitts, I cast on another sweater.  I’m eager to burn through some stash yarn this winter.  And after all, there is a pair of mittens that matches the sweater.  That counts, right?   

Also, knowing I’ll be teaching next month at our guild meeting, I began doing some color work designing.  I knit one mitten with black sheep on it, and as you can see, the sheep don’t look so much like sheep as they do black blobs with blobby faces.

As the sweater got heavier, I tried to move on the mitten KAL, it would be embarrassing if I didn’t get a pair knit this month, after trying to ramp up everyone else’s excitement.  And after all, the sweater wasn’t such good social knitting any more with its weight.  I chose two skeins of sock yarn and prepared to cast on my Hedgerows last Monday.  Suzanne convinced me that my dark hand spun sock yarn would not be the best choice, so I cast on in a bright yellow.

After a bit of work, the color and pattern just didn’t seem to be a good match.  I pulled the needles, chose a new yarn and went back to my sweater.  And began work on a hat design. . .The Hedgerows? In a new yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed), but hibernating for a bit.

The sweater is done.  A matching hat is done.   

The Fair Isle hat pattern is nearly ready for publication.   

And a pair of chunky mittens to match the sweater?  Waiting for thumbs

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Perhaps my mitten mojo is back.  It just took knitting other things to find it.

The podcast is up. . .if you're interested in listening, the link is here.  Let me know what you think!