Fingerless Mittens

I've been having really cold hands in the apartment, which makes it difficult to read and knit at times, so I decided to make some fingerless mittens. I had one ball of beautiful purple Malabrigo, so I decided it would be perfect and feel really nice against my hands.

Here's a picture of the first mitten in progress:



And here's the finished fingerless mittens. I wore the first one while knitting the second. And I've been wearing both of them most of the day since finishing them. My hands are definitely thanking me!



I learned a new technique with these. For the thumb hole, on one row I bound off four stitches and then on the next I cast back on those four stitches. I've never cast on stitches in the middle of a row before (I had to look up how to do it), but I think it turned out well.

Pattern: The Wave Hand Warmers from One-Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant
Yarn: Malabrigo (kettle dyed pure merino wool and oh so soft!) in Purple Mystery
Needles: Size 8 double pointed

One Skein Felted Purse - Yellow and Green

Last month I made a little felted purse and fell in love with it. I had to make another one. Since it's knitted with two strands of yarn, I thought I'd try using two different colors. So I checked my stash and grabbed a green and yellow. One again, it came out rather nicely, although the colors aren't ones that I personally love. But that's okay as this is definitely one that I made specifically for the silent auction, so I hope someone else will like it. I also think that if I do another one, I'll try using i-cord for the handle.

Here's the purse before felting.



And then after felting, where the colors have blended in together rather nicely. (Still drying in the picture, hence the reason for the plastic bags you can see poking out of the inside.) Once it is dry, I'm going to add a magnetic button closure to it.



Here are the specs:
Pattern: One-Skein Felted Purse from One-Skein Wonders
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) in Forest Green Heather and Daffodil
Needles: Size 11 circular (24"); changed to straight needles for handle

Beanie

Jarrett doesn't have a hat and it's gotten pretty cold here, so I thought I'd try making one for him. I used the same yarn as the yarn in the "Tank Purse" since I have a lot of it still. Well, the hat turned out nicely, but I wasn't thinking ahead about fit, so it's too small for Jarrett. I'll have to do another one in a larger size for him. So I've tried it on myself - I don't really think I'm much of a beanie person, but it does fit me. Perhaps this will be another item for the silent auction in November. (I'm looking down in the picture so I can see the viewing screen on my camera. It's the best picture of the lot that I took, but the only one where I was looking down. *shrug*)



Pattern: The London Beanie
Yarn: KP Swish Superwash (100% Superwash Wool) – Bordeaux
Needles: Size 8 double pointed

Tank Purse

Okay, so I was working on the Tank Girl pattern in the first SNB book, a project I started way back in August. A project that I started before I truly understood the importance of yarn weight, needle size, and test swatches. Why is this important? Because the pattern used a bulky yarn with size 9 needles and I was using worsted and size 8. *sigh* I had gotten to the point of shaping the armholes:




But the whole time I was working on this (the back panel), I was wondering about the width. It seemed a bit narrow. I held it up to myself and noticed that it didn't stretch across my back to the sides unless I pulled on it a lot. Hmm...that would be a problem. I looked at the pattern again and noticed the difference in yarn and needle size. I also noticed a sketch that showed the dimensions of the piece. The width should have been 16-1/4 inches (or something close to that). What was mine? Only 9-1/2 inches!! Eek! No wonder it seemed a bit narrow. *big sigh* What to do? I didn't want to frog it all and start over. I just didn't have the heart. So I decided to make something different out of it.

An easy fold and some seaming and I had myself a purse! I did an i-cord handle (my first time with i-cord, which turned out nicely) and was happy with it:



The part where I had started the armhole shaping became the flap of the purse.



But there was one problem. When I held the purse by the handle, it sagged a LOT. So much so that it made the purse almost useless. So I decided to line it. I found this patterned felt and decided to try it. But I also used plastic canvas underneath to give it stiffness.



Well, the purse is now stiff and holds up perfectly when you hold the handle. But I think it might be a little too stiff and since I sewed the bottoms together, it is a bit narrow now on the inside. It definitely won't hold my fat wallet. I should have done a separate panel for the bottom. Grr.

Oh, well, I definitely learned a lot while working on this project (which I'm calling Tank Purse since it was originally a tank top pattern), and I hope I can use my lessons to benefit future projects. As for this purse, I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with it. I used fabric glue to insert the panels, so I'm not sure if I can take them out. I might try to do that and then go buy more felt and try it without the plastic canvas. But I don't know if I can get the glue to unstick.

Original pattern: Tank Girl from SNB - adapted into a purse
Yarn: KP Swish Superwash (100% Superwash Wool) – Bordeaux
Needles: Size 8