The influx of spring is hard not to notice. Warm temperatures and sunny skies all week followed by a weekend of torrential rains and thunderstorms. After months of gray and muted browns, the earth has truly blossomed in the past few weeks. The greens popping up in the grasses and trees seem electric and glowing. It is a great season to celebrate the colors and textures of the earth for Project Spectrum!

…and I have been doing just that with some crafting of my own…

After months of saving wine corks, I finally decided to go ahead and use them. I made this cork trivet using a small 4 x 4 pine frame, with particle board backing (purchased at the craft store) and some wood glue. It took some time to come up with an arrangement that I liked, and that fit well into the frame. Once it was settled, I glued the corks to the particle board backing, and voila! now my hot bowls and pots can rest on the pretty corks on the dinner table.

I have a few dozen more corks in the bucket, so I may have to make some more of these! Simple, easy, and instantly functional. Plus, it is a nice conversation piece - each of the corks reminds us of a wine tasting, a vacation, or a special event. If you have some wine corks saved, you might consider putting them to use with some of the tutorials outlined here. I am still thinking about a large cork board with a more intricate pattern. But we need more corks for that… and that means more wine

We had a wonderful afternoon meetup with the DC Namaste Knitters. While the weather outside was frightful (thunderstorms and lightening galore!) we were indoors practicing yoga, knitting, and telling stories. We even had delightful desserts. We were having so much fun that I forgot to take a photo. Next time! If you are interested in joining our group, we will be meeting again on May 10th. More details to follow in the Ravelry forum.

Once I got home, braving the deluge, I sat down with a nice cup of tea and finished my Inca mitts.

Inca Earth Mitts
Pattern: Classic Elite free pattern
Yarn: Habu Lamb Wool Linen A-175 1/3.3
Needles: Size US 3 and 4 dpns
Source: Habu Textiles Store (NYC)

The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I wanted to use this earthy palette together, despite being a lighter weight. It is between a fingering and sport weight, so they fit nice and snug over my hands. The pattern was simple, and could be a good introduction for the knitter who wants to try stranded colorwork for the first time. I made a few pattern modifications, other than the yarn substitution. To lengthen the mitt more, I added another repeat of the butter yellow/sage green pattern on both the top and bottom cuff.

The mitts are part of my stashbusting project, spurred on by the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, a little knitalong I am calling Lord Stanley Stashbusting. Watching hockey and knitting are fine companions! “My” team has advanced to the next round, but I am still devotedly watching the other teams and their competitions. This is a good time of year for stashbusting too… I have a trip to NYC coming up this week (NYC = yarn city) and of course, Maryland Sheep and Wool festival is right around the corner. The stash is moving and making room for the new neighbors!

I have a lot to stashbust… many beautiful skeins of yarn that were never really earmarked for a project, so they languish in the stash. Luckily, I have a Ravelry queue a mile long, so it was simply a matter of matching yarns up with projects. And I also have some time to stashbust with all of the playoff hockey I am watching!

I finished this little cowl on Friday night while watching the Penguins/Senators game. I was casting off just as Malone put in the 4th goal that led to the Penguins win! Two balls of yarn that sat in my stash for far too long are now a pretty wearable knit - in appropriately themed colors too, I might add. I used Karabella Aurora 8 and held it together with an unidentified mohair thread (it was in the clearance bin at Springwater last year, and was ballband-less). My intuition tells me, however, that it is Rowan Kidsilk Spray. Size US 8, 16″ circular needles, about 2.5 hours, and now I have a cowl for spring!

…and I followed with a quick second on Saturday night while watching the Montreal/Boston game…

I am loving the new Classic Elite email newsletters with the lovely free patterns! I saw these mitts [Inca Alpaca Fair Isle Mitts] in last month’s newsletter and knew that they would be a great match for some of the skeins in my stash. My mind immediately thought of the earthy quartet of Wool Linen that I picked up at Habu Textiles last spring in NYC. Perfect for Project Spectrum, and a fun colorwork project too! I finished mitt #1, now on to #2!

The yarn has the sturdiness of linen (20%) with the softness of wool (80%). It is a smaller gauge than the pattern calls for, but the mitt fits nice and snug, even though I went down a few needle sizes from the pattern. I had planned to cast on for mitt #2 today during the Washington/Philly game, but I got a little surprise this morning - Kris got tickets for us to actually GO to the game!!! So, I am thinking that colorwork, thousands of people, and the possibility of beer spilling on my knitting, means that it should wait for another game viewing… tomorrow perhaps?

If you wanna join the stashbusting and hockey fun, feel free! Check out the Puck This! group on Ravelry to follow along, and you can even grab the little button I made!

PS - Happy birthday to two special ladies in my life:  my momma and my JennaPinkMonkey~

The color scheme for my mittens differs considerably from the original pattern (from Folk Knitting in Estonia), but I think it is working pretty well. I swatched around with the colors and this was the one that really popped in my mind. The cuff was a simple ripple pattern, and I am about to start the row with the thumb gusset. The pattern knits up so quickly.

I really love stranded colorwork. I see much more in my future.

I worked on this last night as Kris and I wrapped up the final chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was a pleasure to read it together the way we did. I must admit, however, that Kris had to read many of the final chapters because I was getting a little too teary to read aloud.

The mittens will benefit from a good blocking to even up the little stranding and the lace on the cuff. I am using a size 1.5 needle, and I am wondering if a size 1 would have been better…

Mittens (and gloves) have popped up in a few other places, so I am happy to see I am not the only one thinking ahead for the winter. Did you see Jan’s new Selbu mittens? and Joanna just finished some amazing Norwegian gloves! …and Sandy is thinking about (another) encore for the Warm Hands knitalong. So many lovely patterns to choose from!

~Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!~

I wanted to start fresh with some new small knits - I can’t quite get the rhythm going on my black knee highs, so I wanted another portable project - or two - to stow away in the knitting bag.

While anxiously awaiting the arrival of a certain book on my doorstep, I decided to deter myself with some stash organization. One thing lead to another, and before you knew it, this yarn was all balled up and the project was assigned.

Woolarina Handpainted Fingering Merino
Purchased at Crafty Bastards 2006

Once THE BOOK did arrive, Kris and I decided to savor it. We are taking turns by reading aloud chapter by chapter to each other. It is quite enjoyable this way - and the best part is that we can discuss it together. It is slower to read aloud, as we are not even half way through the book yet, but since this is the last one of the series, I wanted to remember the magic.

…and the chapters that he reads? well, you see, that is when I knit…

On a whim, I decided to break from my usual Nancy Bush patterns, and I cast on for the “Classy Slip Ups” from Betsy McCarthy’s Knit Socks! book. The book was a gift a few years ago, and there are some cute patterns inside - many for heavier weight yarns too. This particular pattern caught my eye, and I wanted to see how it would work with the handpainted yarn. I did not realize just how perfect of a match it would be!

Just to keep things interesting, I also chose a pattern and some yarn for a new mitten project. Yeah, knitting mittens in August. Go ahead and laugh.

Koigu KPM and Louet Gems

You knew I couldn’t stray too far from Nancy! Hilja’s Mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia. The colors are npt quite traditional, but I thought this would be a beautiful combination for the colorwork. I have been playing around with the motifs to decide what color should be the background, and what should be the motif. Any suggestions?

I love knitting pullovers and cardigans, however, I feel like small projects are the place to really experiment. Plus, they are so easy to carry with me - and I am going to be traveling quite a bit in the next month, so these little knits fit the bill!

Not quite an arctic blast, but chilly nonetheless…
So, the new mittens will come in so handy!

Basic Mittens
Pattern: Family Circle Easy Knitting - Fall 2005 issue
Yarn: Ironstone New Wool (#5011)
Needles: Size US6 double pointed needles

1. Mittens on Quilt, 2. Ironstone Mittens,
3. Lolly & Mittens, 4. New Mittens

Small project with a big return! Warm hands!

Basic pattern - great for beginners! I made the cuff a little longer to cover the wrists. The yarn, Ironstone New Wool, is a good basic single-ply with a small nylon thread run through it. The colors caught my eye, and they remain the highlight of this project. The yarn comes in huge hanks - nearly 300 yards for only $12.00 (MSRP), so even after making these two mittens, it looks untouched. I am planning some other fun accessories with the rest of the ball. This yarn has been in my stash for ages - that means about 2.5 years - It was one of the first yarns I ever bought at a yarn shop… when I discovered "quality" yarns. When I bought it at one of my favorite yarn shops - now out of business, sadly - I had no pattern in mind (I rarely did in those days!) and I was happy to find a pattern that flattered the yarn so well.

I feel so properly outfitted with the new mittens AND my new coat!

Heck of a deal - $8 for a coat! - at a certain store that I frequent (starts with "T" ends with "-arget") Sitting on the clearance rack! in my size! I needed a casual winter coat too, since my coat from last winter was too big. Check out the buttons!

…and a new haircut too!

Thanks for your response to the *Bejeweled knitalong*! It is going to be fun! There is still plenty of time to get your pattern - and to donate to F.I.R.E. and the Dulaan Project. Shobhana reports that the response has been fantastic!