Selfish knitting

With all of the gifts that I make, and all of the charity knitting that I do, I have decided that I want to be a bit more selfish about my knitting this year.

I know, I know it's not really "nice" but hey, we all need a bit of selfishness in our lives.

I've had Anne Budd's "Knitted Gifts" book in my library for a long time. It's got some great patterns. I have always loved the hat and mittens on the cover, and since I need a new hat and mittens, and I had some great yarn in the stash, I cast them on for myself.

I am pleased with how these came out. A few comments

1. It calls for worsted weight year and sized 9 needles. I am surprised that it calls for that sized needle. I had a bulky weight yarn, and size 7 needles for the hat and size 6 for the mittens.
2. It's a loose fitting hat, so I started the decrease early. It's a loose fitting hat.
3. I also like a close fitting mitten. The next time I make these (and I will) I will probably cast on fewer stitches for the cuff of the mitten.
4. The mitten says to start the thumb gusset at 2 inches or 1 cable repeat. I will do 2 cable repeats. I think a mitten should be long and go under your coat cuff.
5. While I love the yarn that I used (rowan plaid) I'll use something that gets better stitch definition next time. The cable doesn't stand out enough for me.
6. I love this cable pattern. It's one of those charts that you can really "see" as it develops.

This year I really want to learn new techniques. What did I learn on this mitten? Bobbles. Yup, just never did them. I think they could be fun in moderation.

Kitchener stitch!!!! I see this as being a learning process. Once again, the cast on bind off book has totally come in handy here and I did well.

My apologies for the lack of links, I can't do them on the iPad app, and I am minus a computer till the wallet allows.

Wingspan Wedneaday

Okay, I know I've been gone for awhile, we'll discuss that later. But guess what? I, like many others on Ravelry, have made a wingspan!!!


I love it. I intend to revisit this pattern again. Next time if I use a sock yarn, I'll use smaller needles. While some like the design aspect of the "short row holes" I'm not a huge fan.

You all know me, I'm a sucker for ANYTHING with short rows, I think they are fabulous.

So much has been happening for me from a "fiber" perspective. I attempted ignitecraft Boston, Fiber Camp 2013, I completed holiday knitting, I signed up for my first Craftsy classes, I'm working in my 2013 knitting queue, I finished an afghan in less than 12 months, and PatPats Hats is going AMAZINGLY well.

But that will come later. Today you can enjoy my pretty pretty wingspan made out of line and violet intentions yarn (yup, you remember lime and violet don't you?)

Happy to be back blogging. Sorry for the lack of links, this is a mobile post.