Slippers and mittens

I've been threatening to knit the MM a pair of slippers for the last few months, probably ever since I came across the Fibertrends clog pattern. Typically, the same day that I finally ordered a copy of it, someone from the AY forum posted a link to these equally cute felted slippers: Fireside Footies. Of course, I couldn't wait for the clog pattern to arrive so I fished around in the stash and cast them on straight away.

They knit up extremely quickly once you get the hang of the pattern. It looked really straightforward initially but for some reason I couldn't make the numbers work for the heel turn. I must have knitted it and unpicked it three or four times before I fudged it to get where I needed to be. I also posted to the AY knitting forum to check t wasn't just me. Luckily Fiona, one of the resident sock gurus came to the rescue to confirm that actually, the pattern was unclear and that from the comments after the pattern, the writer seemed to intend it to be a square heel. Fiona's explanation is so clear that I'm just going to post it here.

Turn Heel
R1: S1 P16 P2tog P1 Turn
R2: S1 K11 K2tog K1 - at this point there are 14 sts in the middle section which is a big clue! - and 4 each side still to be decreased awayTurn
R3: S1 P to 2st before the break (the last turn) P2tog, P1 Turn
R4: S1 K to 2st before the break (the last turn) K2tog, K1 - there are still 14 sts in the middle section, and 3 each side
work rows 3 & 4 for 6 more rows (until no st remain to be worked) (14 st should remain)

Hey presto, two square square heels later and we have a pair of slippers ready for felting. I thought that I'd just point out at this stage that the decreases for the toes need to be completed twice for each round, you'll see what I mean if you knit them.

They look rather stumpy don't they? He does have pretty big feet for his age so I'm hoping that when they felt they're going to shrink small enough as it was a pattern written for adults. If not, mum'll end up with an extra pair of slippers as hers are tiny.

I'm beginning to realise that it's usually a mistake to allow the MM to have too much input into the colour choice of the things I knit for him. Luckily the bulk of the slipper was going to be knitted in blue as that was what was available but I offered to put a coloured stripe around the top for a bit of interest and guess what he chose.... pink! I had to laugh but then he's still a bit young to understand that pink isn't generally a colour choice for boys.

I don't know whether it's just me being picky but if I had written a pattern and realised that people were having problems with it, I'd want to amend it to make it clear. Maybe it's my inner perfectionist trying to make itself heard again but I actually find it really frustrating that other people don't feel the need. Obviously I could just write all my own patterns and I do dabble with that and invariably I amend things as I go along but why reinvent the wheel? If you come across a really nice pattern, why not knit it? Anyhow, minor rant over.

Righty ho, what next. Mittens. I finally managed to get a reasonable picture of my aran mittens. No matter what I did, I couldn't quite do the colour justice as it is actually a much deeper red than the scarlet in the photo. They have a pretty diamond cable up both sides and are finished off at the top with a twisted rib to match the cuff. My fingers only just poke out at the top so they're quite toasty for fingerless mitts. These are actually the second pair of these I've knitted as I made a pair for my sister last winter in cream - in fact, the same time as these were started originally. Hers actually match my aran beanie.

A quick finish? Well almost.

I thought I'd be clever and share a quickie FO with you all but I can't for the life of me take a decent picture of it. There's something about the red that makes all the lights flare off it. It'll have to wait for better daylight but with the weather we've got currently, I'm not entirely sure when that'll be :s Anyhow, I made mittens. Aran ones.

Actually, if I'm completely honest, I found a UFO when I was tidying up yesterday and as it was an almost finished pair of mittens and we have the perfect weather for wearing them, I thought I'd finish them off. So it is a bit of a cheat to gloat about them but hey, that's one less project on the needles so it has to be a good thing doesn't it?

Ooh and the last of my Christmas presents arrived this morning. I got knitting books! Whoohoo, can you tell I'm excited? I need to take more pictures so I'll be back with them later.

A quick round up

I swear my postman is eating my mail, all he seems to bring me is bills! What's happened to all the lovely stuff I've ordered? I check the box everyday and there's nothing. Grr

Sominor rant over, what's on the needles then? I've finished my carry around project as you can see below so I have had to cast on for another pair of socks straight away. I mean, I can't have a set of empty DPN's that'd be crazy! I've been meaning to get on and complete a pair of Rainforest socks for a while as part of the sockathon and as I still haven't got my new needles, sigh, I haven't been able to cast on the Bayerische. So, peacock socks it is. I wanted a pattern that could stand up to the striping effect of the yarn so I'm attempting Grumperina's Jaywalkers. Can't quite decide whether the yarn is a bit busy even for these but I'll do a bit more before I make a decision.

My chevron jacket is almost finished. I'm half way up the last sleeve and now just need to pick up one more ball of yarn to finish it off. I've blocked the back and fronts and it's opened up the pattern fantastically.

Mitten number one is almost finished too. I've just got the thumb to do and then the grafting at the top. It knitted up surprisingly quickly.Hmm, that's about it for now. The Indian Summer Shawl has stalled a bit - I'm still not completely happy with the pattern so I've put it to one side for a few days. Oh and going through some stash this afternoon I discovered that I have enough aran yarn to knit several Hemlockring blankets! I think this one could be moving higher up the the "to do" list ;)

I think I have the bug

The fair isle bug I hasten to add. I'm hooked - look what I got up to over the weekend! I couldn't wait for my new needles, I cast on anyhow and am trying to work around the cable problem. It seems to be working and my tension gets better each day. I'm even starting to get a bit of speed up with having the yarn in both hands. Actually, I'm enjoying these so much I think that everyone will be getting mittens for Christmas this year. I even got onto ebay and bought myself a bag of Shetland end of cones to to use. I'm already starting to play around with ideas for my own pattern. Maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself - did I mention already I'm enjoying knitting these? lol Unfortunately, this means that all other projects have ground to a halt including my chevron jacket which is on the final straight. I cast on the the final sleeve on Friday evening, it's sooo close to completion. I really must get the finished pieces blocked so that I can get it stitched together so that I can wear it.

Not only that I have spotted yet another project that I'm dying to try. Jam_mam aka Jacqui is doing her best to lure me into a Hemlockalong from the pattern on the Brooklyntweed blog. It is absolutely superb and I can't stop going back to take a peek at her progress. It's a definite one to add to the "to do" list, even better is that it's in aran which I happen to have piles of in my stash. Hmm, must NOT CAST ON ANOTHER PROJECT!

Mittens, swaps and needles

Well I couldn't wait any longer, I had to buy some needles (thanks for the comment Laura) so I have ordered two sets of addi turbos for a bargain price on ebay (from this shop). Ostensibly as I want to finally get on and do Bayeriche at last but more because I'm itching to have another go at fair isle. It's not as though I don't have enough other projects on the go already or anything!

Anyhoo, I had to pop into town today to collect a library book I'd ordered but of course I couldn't resist just popping upstairs to see if there'd been any additions to the knitting section since my last visit. I found this one, Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch. I'm sure it's been on the shelf there for a while but it'd never appealed to be before but this time it positively leapt off the shelf. Of course, I then had to spend some time this evening trawling the internet for other patterns just to see, that and Ravelry - my new best friend. I can myself wasting a lot of time on there, everyone's pictures are so great and I'm sure I will find lots more projects to try.

Back to the mittens, I also came across a mitten swap - registration's open until Sept 30th for anyone interested. I'm not going to actually join it but it's going to be a great one to watch I think. There's some really good links to patterns including these fabulous pirate mittens - check the rest of the free patterns there's a matching pirate hat too. Superb, I want one!

I'm not sure whether I can wait for my new needles to arrive before I cast on