Bella

When I hear the name "Bella" I think of "The Magic School Bus" and one of the girls, Wanda, has a frog who makes the sound "Bella" when it croaks. However, the 'current' media-focused association is with the "Twilight" books/movies. Apparently, there is a character named Bella and in a movie she wears some pretty groovy mittens. Knitters everywhere were smitten with these mittens, and one designer created a free pattern. Not knowing anything about Twilight, I acknowledged these mittens strictly for their mitteness charm. I do know some people that read the books and thought the mitts might be good for a family Christmas gift exchange game.

However, I was using stash yarn, and had a hard time. They seemed really long; I thought I was going to run out of yarn; I frogged, cast on at a different point; knit for a while and found more of the yarn. I was using two different yarns, held doubled--one black, one charcoal. Once the mitts were finished though, it looked like half-way up the thumb and hand I changed yarns--there was more depth, more black. Despite nothing changing. It didn't show up too well in the picture, but you can see it on the left thumb (which is actually the mitten for the right hand, LOL). The mitts turned out to fit me quite nice, but I was afraid they would be too small on one of the hopeful recipients.

Christmas plans were very sketchy this year and the annual party never happened (although it might in January). I decided to give them to the hopeful recipient for her birthday instead, after several attempts to knit a larger pair failed miserably. The original pair fit her perfectly after all.
The backside is plain.
They should have been a quick knit, but once again, I had to make them more of a challenge then they should have been! LOL.

So Cute!!

There are some great things about a knitting machine. Number one, it knits quickly. Well, IT doesn't knit quickly, I still have to do it, and sometimes it can take me a long time still. LOL. But it's fabulous for quick gifts, such as those slippers. However, the selection of patterns is not as great as for handknitting. And, some knitting machines are very fancy and can do things mine can't. So, often, I have to create my own pattern. Sometimes I'm fine with that, other times, I just want to knit!
There are a lot of little (and not so little now) girls in my family, and some of them have fall/winter birthdays. I love it when I can make something that will work for all of them. The following poncho is one such thing.

Awhile ago (Aug 2008 or 2007), I bought a large cone of Patons Lancette during their tent sale. I liked the colour, but once I knit up some, I decided it wasn't really my cup of tea. But perfect for little girls--it's pink, shiny, and slightly hairy. I knit up some swatches, although the yarn is enough on it's own that plain stockinette would have been fine too.

This is the first of the ponchos, for my niece Abby's 7th birthday. It's two rectangles, and bordered with some single crochet and then a ruffle (3 dc in one sc, 5 dc in the next sc). This is a close up of the tuck st pattern (from a MK stitch dictionary). I have to put the appropriate needles into position myself, but it's still quick, and easy on the LK150.

So easy, I did the math for a smaller one, and knit the two panels in under an hour. The crochet takes longer than the knitting. The next one is for my cousin's 1 year old. It's so tiny!

And the cone is still HUGE!!