Knitting Mania

It's been entirely too long since I've posted anything about knitting projects, so you'll get to see a bunch of items I'm working on right now. Since the weather has finally turned colder, I'm thinking more about knitting than I had been the last few months.

We got the knitting club at school up and running, so at least once a week, I'm guaranteed a solid hour of knitting time, along with the students and teacher who joined the club.

We didn't meet this week because of parent teacher conferences, and next week is newspaper deadline, so unfortunately, we're on a two-week hiatus.

I've been working on these fingerless mitts for the last few meetings.

It's a pattern from the book "One Skein" by Leigh Radford. I'm using some of the vintage yarn my Uncle picked up for me last year.


The pattern is easy-peasy, and it uses drop stitches to widen the mitt around your knuckles (the widest part of your hand). It's all knit in garter stitch (knit every row), and then you sew it together longways. Emma from knitting club did the sewing for me at our last meeting. I was so happy with the way the knitting turned out, I didn't want to ruin it by doing sloppy seaming.

She did an awesome job.


There's the mate for it, up on top of that skein of yarn. These would make good gifts, I think, because they're fairly easy to knit. The only bad thing is that you use sport weight yarn and tiny needles, so it takes time. I'll be using this pair myself, though, since it's usually about 55 degrees in our computer lab at school. Seriously - the kids call it the "Cooler" or "The Meat Locker."

The great thing about fingerless mitts is that you can wear them and still type easily or write, or do what you need to do.


This red yarn is also from the bunch that Mark picked up last year. I started this as a project to donate to the Red Scarf Project. It's an initiative that donates red scarves to warm the necks of college bound foster kids. They accept donations until Dec. 15, so if you can knit, get to it!

Scarves can be any shade of red, and unisex is best.


I haven't worked on this project since this summer, but I really like the way it looks, so I wanted to photograph it anyway. The square is a piece for a knitted purse. It's from the book "Hip Knits" from Better Homes and Gardens. You knit eight of these pieces, then put it together, almost like a little knitted quilt.

Look for the finished version of that sometime next year...


And, last but not least, I whipped up this furry pink confection for Adam. Yes, that's right, I said for Adam!

Next Thursday at his school, the teachers get to dress up for breast cancer awareness, and he asked for a pink boa. I knit it with two yarns on size 17 needles, so it only took two nights of knitting during TV watching to finish. Those are the best projects - quick ones!


So, that's the crafty update. Lots of knitting going on, but not a whole lot of finishing at this point. Hopefully, that will change soon.