Hectic!

There's been so many little things going on since we got home! I have so much I want to write on this blog (and on the other one---for trip pictures, click on "Tracy's Non-Knitting Blog" in the side links). I never have time to sit and write a long post with everything I want to write, so I tend to not even try to right a short one. But I will right now.
This is superwash merino that I got in the boo boo bin at the Sweet Sheep's booth at the K-W Knitter's Fair. $3. For some reason, I had a really hard time getting a good photo of the colour. It's not purple at all.This colour is much better. I guess it just didn't want an artistic shot in the garden with same coloured flowers.So, I bought the wool on Sept. 13, and I started working on gloves on October 9. That's pretty quick, for me! There were a few false starts as I worked on getting the right number of sts and the right needles. I thought the yarn was a little finer than it is, but I ended up using 40st and 4mm needles (I think), which is the same as when I make mittens out of worsted weight yarn. I wanted a criss-cross pattern, like the Shedir (http://www.knitty.com/) hat, or like BrooklynTweed's "Koolhaus" hat, but I ended up using the motif I think I linked to in the last post. I wasn't sure what to do with the thumb gusset, so I just did all the increasing in purl sts. When I got up to the fingers, I tried to make the pattern blend like I had for the cuffs, but when there's only 12 sts, a k1, p3 rib just doesn't look like much. I ended up fiddling quite a bit, and getting the fingers in a 1x1 rib. I think the mitts would look better if they had been fingerless, so the pattern would have extended right up to the knuckles, but I wanted fingers. I also wanted the fingers a little longer, but it's alright.
I really love the wool. The purple bits don't bother me too much, even though they clustered in a few spots. Sort of looks like my pen exploded in my purse, LOL. I have about 1/2 the ball left over. I'd like a matching hat but highly doubt there's enough (there was no yardage). I'm thinking I might actually make a Calorimetry---you know, that wide ribbed headband/ear warmer from http://www.knitty.com/ a while ago....
I had the gloves just awaiting finishing when we left for the cruise. Of the three projects I took, this one---the one requiring the least amount of work---was the only one that I could work on without a major issue. More on that later!