Ugly Mittens

As promised, here is a pic of the cute kid, with the ugly mittens. True, they don't look so bad on his hands, but off?

Not so good. See that odd little bumpy part on the mitten on the right? I don't like that. I tried following the pattern chart from the recent issue of Knit Simple, but I really didn't like the decreases they wrote in for the hand of the mitten. In the bulky yarn they are too prominent an stair-steppy, plus it made that odd little pouch. Now, as this was a mitten being knit for a little boy who will most likely loose them, I didn't really bother to rip and re-knit at that point. Moving on to the next mitten, I omitted the weird decreases in the hand, but apparently put one row too many in before grafting the top, leaving on odd little chimney cap sort of thing. A vigorous blocking would undoubtedly solve all of these issues, but seriously -- KIDS MITTENS. Need I say more. However, an FO! YAY!!!

I started a matching hat as well, but I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn to finish. Jacob is very anxious for me to make him the R2D2 hat, but the gray yarn I ordered from Knit Picks was waaayyy too dark for R2, so I am waiting for an order of white to dye. He'll prob. get that one for Christmas, or maybe his b-day (in Oct.) if I am really diligent. (Yeah, you're right, Christmas it is.) I am optimistic that with the kids now in school, and me having the freedom to work day hours like a normal human, that I will actually have time in the evenings for recreational knitting and spinning. Very optimistic. So much so that I bought yarn for another project. (I know! I'm a bad girl with a basket full of WIPs, but it's my knitting, darnit, and I'll knit what I want to!) Any way, I want to start this lovely skirt for Rachel, and I am actually using the recommended yarn, although I did change the colors. Deep purple, pink, minty green, and yellow. I'm shooting for Thanksgiving on this one. At least I'm being somewhat realistic.h

On a final note, the fabulous Melissa, who is being gracious enough to test knit a new pattern for me, stopped by yesterday and gave me these to photo...

They are River Rapids socks by Sock bug in the Sereknity Surf's Up colorway, which I only dyed once, but after seeing it knit, will definitely have to make again. These were done in sport weight and will be such a wonderful warm snuggly sock. Watch out, Melissa, the...ummm....puppy....ummm...just might eat them. Yeah! That's it!