I was glued to the TV for every possible minute of the games. Sunday I had to work, and thank goodness for overtime! If the hockey had ended when it was supposed to, it would have been during the show. Because of overtime, it ended about 3 minutes after curtain call. As soon as the actors got offstage, they asked about the game, and as soon as I said ‘overtime’, we were all running down to the green room. (There usually isn’t a TV that gets outside channels in the green room, but one was dragged in just for these two weeks!).

I didn’t finish P’s thrummed mittens. I started, ripped out because I wasn’t following the pattern, restarted, and spent the whole time I was knitting wondering if they’d fit, if they’d work, if he even wanted mittens. Then my thrums were too fat, which made Magic Loop hard, so I had to find DPNs…. I put them down, and concentrated on my Fiddlehead Mittens.

I finished those! Linings and all!

I even did some re-knitting on these. The first lining I completed felt lumpy in the mitten no matter what I did. I started the decreases for the tip about 4 rows earlier on mitten #2, and that felt much better, so I ripped and re-knit the top of mitten #1.

And after work last night, I’m almost up to the spot to start decreasing for the top.

I’ve decided that these mittens are probably better known as my work knitting mittens. I’ve done all the work so far on them at work, and I think I’ll try to finish them entirely at work, so they can be the playRites festival mittens.

The other mittens, the ones I want to finish while the Olympics are on… I started them yesterday! I haven’t brought them in to work yet, because I don’t really want to be tied down with thrums at work. The other mittens are so easy right now, just plain knitting, that they’re perfect for work.

Not bad progress for just one session’s knitting. I’m still confident I can get these done before the Olympics end, although I may have to give in and bring them to work.

I’ve been toying with the idea of making my birthday the “knitting new year”, and either finishing everything up or frogging it, so I have no WIPs on my birthday. My birthday is April 2, so it might just be possible. Still thinking about that, while I work crazily on mittens.

This was knit entire at work, backstage. The three middle colours were the easiest sections, because of the high contrast. The pale purple tip of the hand was very hard – it’s always dark backstage, the lights are tinged blue, so high contrast is good. But, with the help of a headlamp, I managed it!

I even wove in all the ends before I started mitten #2! I’m halfway through the dark purple section of mitten #2, so I’m doing quite well.

I’ve decided to join the Knitting Olympics, and my project will be thrummed mittens for my boyfriend. The yarn is black though, so I think that pair may be home knitting only.

Besides, I’d confuse people at work if I started working on a new project.

I wound up the yarns by hand, putting the skeins over the back of a chair backstage, and started knitting. The kit even suggests the best way to swatch for a mitten is to just start knitting!

This was 3 days of work! They were 12-hour days, but I definitely don’t knit the whole time at work, just when I’m hurry-up-and-waiting.

I got up to colour #4, just a few rows of dark purple. These will be lined mittens, so I’ll end up basically making 4 mittens, but they will be super warm! And hopefully slightly less like oven mitts than my thrummed mittens are.

I opened the knitting bag, and pulled out the entire mitten (except thumb) I had knit with needles much too small (2.00mm). Then I pulled out the half a mitten knit on 2.5mm needles. I decided I didn’t like that fabric either, so I ripped both partial mittens, and started again with 3.00mm needles. I managed to knit the whole cuff with the yarn I’d just frogged. Yarn that had been living as a mitten for more than a year. Then I realised that looked bad, and would probably continue to look bad, even after blocking, so I ripped that cuff too. Then I started with fresh yarn from the ball. Last night I did the first few rows, and decided I wasn’t sure if I liked the fabric, if it was too loose or holey or what.

So I frogged that, and have decided to forget about those mittens for a while. I’ll probably knit the pattern sometime or other, and I’m sure I’ll use the yarn in something else, but I think I just need to take the curse off that project by not trying to force it.

Luckily, I have a Fiddlehead Mitten Kit just waiting to be started! I was going to save that for the Knitting Olympics, but I have to head to work in 20 minutes, and will need knitting. Excuse me, I have to run and find some needles!

The mittens get worked on when I go down to the basement to watch TV after dinner. The having cable thing is great; I get to watch Iron Chef, and Mythbusters (I would love to work with Jamie and Adam)! On a side note, these Discovery Channel ads doesn’t get old.

The cardigan gets worked on when I curl up in the chair in my bedroom and listen to podcasts, or watch things on  my computer (like…. all of Heroes Season 2).

The mittens are fairly slow going, what with all the cabling. I’m using 2mm needles, and the fabric is quite tight, but that’s good in mittens because it will keep the wind out.

What I’m finding interesting is that I seem to have a different row gauge on the back of the mitten than I do on the palm. The back of the hand is all cable-y, and the palm is a slip-stitch pattern, and somehow I am much tighter doing the palm pattern. It is actually causing the mitten to want to curve over. Luckily, that’s the shape hands naturally are, so hopefully it won’t affect the finished product too much.

I took these photos on the ferry. I had to get away from the house for a day or two, so I went to Vancouver and visited some friends. Waiting for the ferry, and being on the ferry gave me lots of knitting and reading time.

As I said, I finished last night. I really wanted to block, because there are a fair number of slightly wonky stitches. But I couldn’t wait (and have yet to figure out where to block, in our entirely-hardwood apartment), so I wore them to work. Oh! So, so warm. Got a few weird looks, but I am from the warm part of Canada, and many people don’t seem to understand how COLD it is here.

Pattern: Eunny’s, it’s everywhere.
Needles: 3.0mm Addi Natura, 2.5mm Addi Turbo
Yarn: ArtYarns UltraMerino4 (green) Fortissima Socka (blue)

EDIT: How could I forget the exciting knitish thing that happened today?
A co-worker came up to me today and said that some time over my days off, a lady came in, and as her purchase was being rung through, she complemented the store on their ‘wonderful selection of knitting books, very impressive!’. That’s my job! I order the craft books! I’m so proud, because this wasn’t just any customer… she owns a yarn store!! Unfortunately, we don’t know which one, she said it was in the south, and there’s at least 3 in the south of the city.
In talking to this coworker about knitting stores, I found out the most amazing thing: There is a YARN. STORE. no less than 6 blocks from here. It has never shown up in my googling of Calgary yarn stores. It’s called Pudding Yarn, and I will visit on my next day off. So sometime in February.

They are slightly different. On the first, I used the cast-off recommended by Eunny (kitchener rib bind-off). I couldn’t get it to look even, and it isn’t stretchy. The second, I used EZ’s sewn bindoff, which is lovely and stretchy. The tight one isn’t too restricting, except when I’m typing. Which is sad, as I was hoping to wear these at work. I can always push it just past my knuckles too I guess.

Pictures tomorrow, it’s late now.

Oh, and I finally bought Jennie Atkinson’s Romantic Style today. 40% off, no less.
I think I smell another project. At least, I would, if I had any appropriate yarn in the stash. Need to knit from the stash. These mittens weren’t and I still feel bad. I think next I make Odessa, followed by Shedir. My head will be well-hatted.

Pictures tomorrow, when done. Hopefully.

It snowed today, yay. But boo on snow when you have to drive.

I finished it last night (Christmas Eve), and immediately cast on for the second. I want to finish these this year, which I can hopefully do. Although, I am only halfway through the ribbing on the second one.

I tend not to measure gauge for small things, figuring that the mitt itself is a swatch. Thing is, I forgot to ever measure my ‘swatch’. In total, it is about an inch longer than Eunny’s. Not a bad thing, really. And according to the scale, I have plenty. The mitt is 0.8oz, the leftover yarn is 2.0oz. Then I realised that doesn’t tell me if I have enough of each colour, but I figure that if I have enough for another two mitts, there should be plent of each colour.

Christmas was wonderful, my only yarn related gift was a hank of sari silk yarn from my auntie in Manchester. She knits too, but is more into lacemaking. Not knitting it, but the thing with all the pins and the tiny thread. Beading too. She’s really crafty, and (unlike me) finishes all her projects.