Anyway, finally off the needles are the DK-weight mittens I wrote about awhile back. I actually colour corrected these photos so you can see the proper colours – a great plum and a neutral beige. I used Tanis Yellow Line DK weight for these, less than half a skein of each colour!

I knit the outer mittens really fast, as stranded colourwork often is. Then I had the whole ripping and reknitting of the linings a bunch of times. Then I stalled out on the thumbs – they were done except for the lining thumbs for ages before I finally picked them up again this weekend. And you know what? They definitely weren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be, although I did need to change to double points when the magic loop just wasn’t working for me.

As for the cursed lining, the frustration was totally worth it. Double thick mittens lined in cashmere? Yes please. And I only used 15g of laceweight cashmere for the linings! And just in time for a forecasted snowy week.

Carter Cardigan
Feeling the chill? Cozy cables are just what you need! The ribbony Sheepfold Cable runs up the fronts of this aran weight cardigan, flanked by tiny three stitch braids that are echoed on the sleeves. A tidy garter stitch waist detail adorns the otherwise simple and easy back. Functional pockets and a mini shawl collar complete this classic everyday cardigan.

Many thanks to Jesh, Suzanne and Dr. Steph for test knitting and input!

FINISHED SIZES
Finished Bust: 30 (33, 36, 39, 41){44, 48, 52, 56} inches / 76 (84, 91.5, 99, 104){112, 122, 132, 142] cm
Total Length: 21.5 (22, 22, 23.5, 24){24.5, 25, 26.5, 26.5} inches / 55 (56, 56, 60, 61){62, 64, 67, 67} cm from shoulder to hem

MATERIALS
Aran Weight Yarn 950 (1030, 1100, 1250, 1350){1400, 1550, 1725, 1850} yards / 865 (937, 1000, 1138, 1228){1296, 1410, 1592, 1683] m
Shown in Araucania Toconao, 8 skeins for size 36.

US 7 / 4.5 mm straight or circular needles
US 8 / 5 mm straight or circular needles
stitch markers
tapestry needle
waste yarn
buttons

10 page PDF pattern contains directions, cable chart and schematics. This PDF file contains fill-in forms, so you can fill in the number for your size right on the computer! Then you can save the file so that your numbers are all set for the next time you open it, or print with the neat typed entries. Just click on the space to type!

Available through Ravelry (no account needed), payment by Paypal.

$7.00 USD

*here is where I reveal my extreme dorkitude and admit that I have been watching Stargate: SG-1 for the past several months. From beginning to end. All 10 seasons, plus the two movies. I just finished this week, and I already miss it!

That’s how much I was able to donate to MSF and the Red Cross ($2250 each) thanks to all your super generous pattern buying this month! I’ve topped up the amount a bit to get to this number, and I’m beyond thrilled that I was able to click the button on such an awesome fell swoop of generosity and selflessness.

It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again – knitters rock!

And since I can’t leave off without a photo, here’s a little tweedy something I’m working on.

I’m knitting it up in some nice merino sock yarn from Maple Creek Farm, a Rhinebeck vendor that has great yarn but I don’t think sells anywhere else! I’ve been working away at it and I’m almost done. I’m also taking this opportunity to add stitch counts throughout the pattern.

The pattern should be back up for sale very shortly. I’m also going to continue donating a portion of the sales from this pattern to Haiti relief through February. I haven’t calculated the total for the January fundraiser yet, but I know it’ll be an amazingly generous amount!

Thanks to you all for purchasing patterns and helping to donate. If you’ve had your eye on any of my patterns, you’ve still got one day to contribute a portion of the purchase price to MSF and the Red Cross.

Hope you’re keeping warm this weekend.

I finished knitting up the colourwork mittens I started last week – they were super fast since they’re knit in DK weight! Then came time to do the linings. I wanted to use Road to China Light, which is stupidly soft and gorgeous, but it was too thick. Guess I’ll just have to save that skein for a sweater project I’m dreaming up!

Then I tried a lighter fingering weight cashmere from my stash (pictured above) which was thinner than the Road to China. I knit up most of one lining only to find that…yeah, it was still too thick. So soft, though. I only have a hundred yards, I think, so now I’ve really got to come up with something else for that yarn. (See a trend developing here?)

So now I’m onto a really thin laceweight cashmere that I got at Rhinebeck last year – it’s very very soft and I think it’s finally doing the trick! Lesson learned, I need to go a lot thinner than I think for linings like this. The first couple of rounds, the yarn seems way too thin, but it all evens out after an inch or so. The slightly smaller lining should fit really nicely inside the outer mitten, and prevent my fingers from catching on the floats.

I hope there’s actually cold weather to wear these in once I’m done. It’s been so mild and springlike here, it hasn’t really felt like winter at all.

Thanks to everyone for your generosity – today I was able to donate $1000 to MSF! I have to wait a little bit for my credit card to clear up to donate more, but it’ll keep on coming. I’m planning to take a look at the end of the month and see what more I can send off.

The yarn above is three different balls that I wound the other night, for three different new projects. Somehow I’m feeling a bit lacking in the sweater department at the moment – I tossed (donated) a bunch of sweaters when I moved and I’m sort of feeling the wardrobe gap. What I really need is some neutral coloured sweaters, so I tossed the stash for awhile and came up with these.

Top one is Colinette Jitterbug for a lighter weight version of a side-to-side cardigan I knit awhile back (you know I don’t think I ever blogged the finished version, I’ll have to do that).

Bottom left is Handmaiden 4ply cashmere, less blue and more grey in real life. I only have 5 skeins which might be a bit tight for a sweater, but we’ll see. I might do a pullover instead of my standard cardigan.

Bottom right is some label-less, DK weight merino that I bought at Rhinebeck in 2008. It’s super light and fluffy, really like a handspun with a really wholesome, rustic tweedy look to it. I’ve already cast on for a simple cardigan! My goal is to knock out a couple of really basic sweaters for everyday wear, since that’s what I seem to be lacking.

Of course, it isn’t like I don’t have lots of other things to knit! One of my students asked me a few weeks ago how many projects I have on the go at once. Current answer is way too many, obviously. In my sweater-knitting mood I even dug up this brown Casbah sweater which has been sitting in a bin for over a year! The body and upper yoke are done and I just need to knit the buttonbands, and the sleeves down from a provisional cast on.

I know I can’t just go casting on for more sweaters since then I won’t be able to finish any for awhile, and that’s not useful at all. So I’m going to try and buckle down and get some WIPs off the needles.

Aaaaand…..GO!