Knitting the Town Red

Yesterday afternoon was the ultimate lazy day. I stayed in my pyjamas, watched films and knitted 'til my hands hurt.

I logged onto the computer in the morning and read the Yarn Harlot's latest post. She was knitting mittens and it inspired me to get out my beautiful Strawberry DK from Candy Skein that I bought back in July from the lovely Tami and start knitting the Emanelle fingerless mittens I had queued for Year of Projects.

For some reason I thought I was doing Moss Stitch (seed stitch) so it took several attempts to get 6 rows of 1x1 rib. Finally I got the 'base' of the mitten down and I could get my teeth into the pattern.

I loved, loved, loved knitting these gloves. The Yummy DK is soft to touch, glides across the needles and the strawberry colour just looks delicious. I cannot recommend this yarn enough.  Just buy it, and you'll know what I mean.


Anyway, back to the gloves. Well, everything went swimmingly. The 8 row pattern was easy to remember, and I was soon able to knit without consulting the pattern. When I knitted my Bright and Bold cable bag, I found it a little boring despite the constant colour change. With this cable pattern however, I was knitting with only one colour and  had only one cable to combat, yet it was a lot more interesting. I'm not sure whether this is because I was infatuated with this skein of yarn, or that I genuinely liked the pattern.

I finished the first glove just before dinner, and the moment it was finished it was slipped on my hand and shown off to the family. I waved at my Mum as if I was the Queen while saying, 'Helloooo, hellooooo' in my most regal manner (trying to show my glove off as much as possible). She got the hint and said, 'What a lovely glove, did you knit that yourself?'

I didn't fall asleep until 4am last night (... or should I say this morning?) so I got to work on the second glove. I knitted while wearing the first glove for as long as possible, until I got too hot and had to lay my handy work by my side. I finished it in an hour and a half, and became a happy owner of my first hand-knit gloves.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out, and can't wait to wear them out tomorrow afternoon. Fortunately I have enough yarn for another pair of gloves, so I thought I'd make a pair for my best friend. Not sure if I'll use the same pattern, I'll have to look through Ravelry and see if I can find another pattern to tackle.

So, that is my first completed Year of Projects project this year completed, woohoo! I'm casting on for my Abysall Shawl as we speak, which is the next YOP project I'm going to attempt. So, if you fancy reading some more Year of Project posts head on over to When Did I Become a Knitter where the creator, Kerri, is holding a Mr. Linky. Or, you can pop on over to the Year of Projects group on Ravelry, while I go and help myself to a Galaxy Promise. Yummers.