Saturday, November 15, 2008

She's Fighting to Get Out!

This post is dedicated to the letter, "G". This ones for you, bro.

My writing muse seems to have been making herself available again after taking a holiday.

Without me.

*Bitch.*

I don't hold grudges, so I'm letting her come out. This may be good, or it may be very, very, bad. We shall see.

Let us talk about my husband first and get that out of the way, shall we? He's doing very well. He has just started radiation (17 treatments in total) and as far as any of the doctors can tell, his lymphoma has taken the highway to hell, never to return. Good riddance. We'll know more after his next MRI and CT scans. He's put on weight and is now at a bursting 153 pounds. Yeah, still skin and bones for his height, but better than the 130 pounds he was at one point.

Oh and the clouds parted and the knitting Gods introduced me to another knitter, Glenna, in my neck of the woods. I was wearing my Kauni cardigan and she commented on it...we only had but a few minutes to exchange pleasantries, but we did manage to exchange blog info (far be it from me to be intimidated in anyway of anyone who's blog address is, Crazy Knitting Lady) and well, her blog is anything but crazy, but has gorgeous photos and knitting. If you're reading, hi Glenna!(wildly waving)

What? What's that you ask? Have I been knitting? Why yes, yes I have! How kind of you to ask. (Begging my muse's pardon, but she's in a real mood today)

So, where to start...let's see.

It all started last year when my sister asked me to knit her a pair of mittens with a paw print on the palm side.

"Yeah, yeah, sure!" I said. "No problem." All the while I'm really thinking to myself that I haven't knit a pair of mittens since my son was a little guy...nothing against mittens, mind. They just never appealed to me.

Until...(cue music of your choice)

Cruising along in Ravelry, I came across the most spectacular
mitten pattern that made my eyes all big and round and mouth hang open and well, I think you get the gist. I purchased it, pronto and with the magic and wonder that is email and pdf, I was able to get started immediately.

I finished them and sent them off to my sister in time for her birthday, which is today.


Pattern: Cat Mittens

Designer: Jorid Linvik

Yarn: KnitPicks Gloss in Black and Serengeti

Needles: 2.75mm

My sister's response when she got them was, and I quote;

"OH..... MY..... GOODNESS.... I absolutely love my mittens!!!!!!!!! I tried calling but the fricken line was busy!!!!!!!! Thank you so much, and i love your sense of humour with the care instructions on the back. your such a loser! hahahah

*Start Museis interuptis* (my thought on this? Loser is the person that thinks care instructions are from losers. AHAHAHA!) that and I can't believe with that spelling she is almost finished college! *End museis interuptis*

but frig they are completely me! thank you so much. i'm going to have to send you some money so you can make me a matching scarf and hat!!! ahhaha I love you siss ♥"

I must say, it feels good to be appreciated for the knitting and I'll forgive her for calling me a loser and her spelling errors...she was probably so overwhelmed with such gratitude and elation, that she lost her capacity to spell correctly.

Then, the Fall 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting came out and I had to knit these.





Pattern: Snowbird Mittens from Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008

Designer: Elli Stubenrauch

Yarn: KnitPicks Gloss in Woodland Sage and Bare

Needles: 2.25mm

Then I saw these and thought they would be perfect for my daughter's teacher.

At the beginning of every school year, she raises Monarch's for the class to observe and learn. They then release them in mid to late September. I searched for this pattern high and low and couldn't find it available any where, as it is a 1947 pattern.

So, with the resourcefullness of graph paper and my daughter's chunky Crayola magic marker (it was all I had and at least it was black) I started putting dots to paper to try and make something that resembles a butterfly.

Butterfly MittensButterfly Mittens - Palm

Then I saw these and these and these, amongst so many more!

I've officially fallen on my knitting head in love with mittens!

Who'da thunk it?

One last note. I've finally upgraded to the new blogger layout. Shocking. Let me know if there is anything wonky I should know about.

Here's hoping I can get back to blogging at least once a week. My muse is a flighty wee wench, afterall.

Hope you've enjoyed my post.

Knit On...

7 comments:

teabird said...

I'm in AWE of your mittens! I started a pair of squirrels last year and never made it past their little feet -

teabird / ravelry

Marlene said...

So glad you're back blogging. I actually went in search of your recent posts on Ravelry just to make sure you were still okay.

Mittens. I love the look of them and even enjoy the knitting, but we just don't need them here in coastal BC. I occasionally put on a light glove for driving, but mittens? Never needed. *pout*

HaveFaith said...

I just have to get the kitty mitten pattern soon. I have never been tempted to do all that fussy knitting for mittens until I saw them. They rock! Glad your sweetie is gaining weight and feeling better. But take care of yourself too. Being a caregiver is so very hard.

Suzanne said...

Love the mittens, all of them. I now have to add them to my queue.

Michelle said...

teabird:Thank you! I took a peek at your squirrel mittens and I think you should finish them. Such a pretty blue and you're just getting to the fun part!

Marlene: Thanks for your concern. I was just tired and needed a break. I'm feeling more relaxed and energised now.

If you like, you can knit mittens to get it out of your system and then send them to me! (cheeky grin)

havefaith: Thanks so much for the kind words.

The mittens are worth the fussing...but, truly, they aren't all that fussy! They also worked up quite quickly. Go for it!

Suzanne: Thank you!
Hope you have fun knitting them as much as I did.

Dreams of Yarn said...

WOW WOW spectacular mittens. I wish you were in my area :)

Anonymous said...

Hi! ::waves back::
I want to make a gift pair of those cat mittens too - I hope the recipient likes them just as much :D