Ugly Mitts

Not all of the mitts I make are gorgeous! I made another pair of the Newfie mitts for the kindergarten kids, and I was determined to make them bigger. It went well, but as often happens, I got impatient with the ribbing and started the hand. Once I was done, I really felt it needed to be a longer ribbing. I just picked up all the purl bumps from the cast on and then increased into these. Or something. It was too tight to pick up each stitch on the cast on edge anyway. Sure, it shows. But not one kid has said to me that it's a problem.
For the thumb gusset, this time I did short rows starting with one stitch in the middle of the outer side of the thumb, working short rows with one more stitch until I had all the front stitches in work, then worked all the way around the thumb, increasing one in the corners. As far as I can tell, they fit much better.

These are 100% wool and did not use up as much grey as I was hoping. Oh well.

I did buy two balls of cheap yarn at Dollar Tree for a project. $2.82 for 100gr. Yeah. Wait till you see what I made.

Yarn In: 100gr + 1542gr =1642gr
Yarn Out: 57gr + 1448gr= 1505gr
Balance: 137gr more bought than used
Costs:  $2.82 +$37.91= $40.73/88 days = $0.46per day

Grey Hat

Early in January I took my daughter to Giant Tiger and we just happened to see these "Knit a Hat" kits that came with yarn, a faux fur pompom and circular needles. She decided she needed a new hat. Fine. She wanted it just like her brother's Roots hat, which is a fine ribbed slouchy toque. All the foreigners to my blog are like "Giant Tiger"? "Roots?" "Toque?" LOL. I explained that I could make it ribbed, similar to a black hat I had made her (also from a finer yarn) but it would not look the same. She was okay with a ribbed cuff and plain hat.

Of course, I had to do this on my SK155! Having just done a basic hat at New Year's, I had a good idea of a starting point. I think I did do a swatch though. Just to play.

 Yup. These are the only two photos I got. She says it's very warm and she wears it all the time.

Yarn In:  1542gr
Yarn Out: 74gr + 1374gr=1448gr
Balance: 94gr more bought than used
Costs:  $37.91/76days = $0.50 per day

Newfie Mitts

I felt like dyeing yarn. Or maybe it was my daughter who wanted to dye yarn. I knit up a "blank" on my knitting machine and we spread it out on the table. She wanted turquoise stripes but we had a hard time getting it right--the top end of the blank

We were using some Easter egg dyes, and I had some Procion MX dyes. I discovered the Sky Blue was what she was really looking for, so she had fun at the other end. I used a full skein of Rowan Superwash Worsted. The mittens ended up taking most of the section she dyed. I have about 65gr left, which means if I knit mittens, each would be different. I'm tempted, but it is March 15  and surely winter has to be over soon! It doesn't look like it this week! A hat might be interesting.

I used the Newfie Mitts pattern again. As I wrote about the first pair, I made some changes to the pattern, regarding the thumb. I made the opening for the thumb where I'd normally separate the thumb gusset and the hand. This time, I picked up all around the opening, and one extra at each edge. Then I short rowed across the outer half of the thumb stitches, leaving one more stitch out of work each row, until I had just the middle stitch in work. Then I worked across all stitches. I wanted to get some extra length on the outer part of the thumb to be like a thumb gusset.

I realized after I had done it that I should have started with the middle stitch and worked outwards. I did that on the next pair.
Megan says she wishes the tops were all in the turquoise. They look a little fuzzy because she had already been wearing them before I got a picture. She says she really likes them, though she got a new coat during all this and now they totally don't match. So she wears them when she helps the new skaters at CanSkate.

Yarn In:  1542gr
Yarn Out: 83gr + 1291g = 1374gr
Balance: 168gr more bought than used
Costs:  $37.91/74days = $0.51 per day

More Mittens

We  were expecting a cold snap (uh, it was February, it's supposed to be cold) and I knew I couldn't knit up mittens in time, so I opted to sew some mittens. I have a huge sweater stash I'm thinking of parting with. I haven't had the best results sewing sweater mittens and I just don't like them as much as knitted mittens, so maybe someone else should have the stash. But sometimes there are things I might want to make that aren't mittens. I really want to try making slippers. I know I can't make back what I bought all the sweaters for, but they're not generating money just sitting there either.

These are for the kindie kids I supervise. The knitted mittens I've made have been on the smaller size and there's quite a few bigger kids. These look big to me, but apparently they're not (maybe a smidge long). The striped ones (a Gap sweater) are more popular than the other ones (a felted woven--I think--scarf.  They are a little stiff). I wanted gender neutral.

Not much else to say. My husband was able to fix my camera, saving me probably a large amount of cash, so I'm back in the game--though not much to show. It's been rather slow here. In fact, I finished the knitting part of something and I was heading to the rink, and realized I had nothing to take with me! I was going to just grab some more wool and make some more mittens, but I opted for a camo Baby Surprise Jacket. Why not. I have one in my "In Stock" box, so now I'll have two.