13 March 2007

Yarn Pr0n and FO

First, I present to you the finished pair of Fetching (OK, so they still need to be blocked, work with me):



and the view from the palm side:



Look mom, no gaping holes!

Pattern: Fetching from Knitty
Needles: size 3 dpns (I started out with metal needles, Susan Bates I think, but had to switch to bamboo for the last mitt because the metal hurt my hands)
Yarn: one skein of Merino Style from KnitPicks in color Strawberry (I had a few yards left over)
Gauge: unknown, I didn't bother checking and just re-did the first one when it looked way too stretched out
Modifications: I added 5 stitches (total cast on 50 stitches) to help make the mitt wider since it was way overstretched the first time around. I probably could have added another 5 stitches to help with the fact that I have wide hands but then it would have been too loose around my wrist. I also repeated the cable pattern from the bottom on the top mostly because following the pattern would not have reached my knuckles.

Yes, I have freakishly large hands. Luckily for my sister, her hands are only a little smaller than mine so these should fit her perfectly. I liked that the added cables at the top help to keep the mitts snug against my knuckles. Although a regular bind-off would have worked for this pattern, I used the super stretchy k2tbl bind-off. (I have no idea what that bind-off is called but it was the recommended bind-off in the Flower Basket shawl and it gives a nice finish as well.)

Also, it was such a pain to fuss with a cable needle and the dpns that I just decided to do without. It was difficult at first and continued to be a risky endeavor when I was going from one dpn to the next but nothing that couldn't be fixed quickly with a small crochet hook. All-in-all, it was still faster than using the cable needle.

I would definitely make these again. I still have that other skein of Merino Style in the same color so I may be making another pair soon, or at least a variation of these.

Now for what you really want to see, the yarn!

Here is the Opal, 6-ply sock yarn in solid colors from Little Knits:



I like this view better:



Check out the sheen in the sunshine which makes it look even prettier. (I hope that black doesn't fade because it is a nice deep color.)



Only one skein is destined for sock-dom, not sure about the rest. Again, I am hoping that I can get through Eunny's pattern without any major drama. I just couldn't resist the sale and this yarn could be used for so many machine-washable things.

1 comment:

chamomile said...

I absolutely love the colour choice for Fetching! I can just imagine that bright coral among a backdrop of winter white - it snowed here AGAIN yesterday, but that hue would lift anyone out of the winter doldrums! Reminds me that spring is (hopefully) around the corner!