Reciprocation

Reciprocation (a free fingerless mitt pattern by Michelle Hunter)

I awoke to a BLUE MOON today... August 31, 2012.
The view out my front door.

Once in a blue moon... I finish a knitting project. 

Seriously... I woke up to a Blue Moon this morning.

I finished up these mitts called "Reciprocation" recently and am just getting around to taking some photos.  I snapped photos of the mitts and photos of the Blue Moon out my front door. It was so bright when I first got out of bed. I plan to give these mitts away to a friend.  I was thinking of giving them to my coworker, Mrs. W, for Christmas... but I know a gal who just lost her mom... I think Mrs. A could use some comfy mitts. She is a elementary school teacher and I know she has playground duty sometimes on chilly mornings.  Fingerless mitts would be a good gift for a school teacher.

This pattern is by Michelle Hunter and you can find many great patterns (some for free and some to purchase) on her website called www.knitpurlhunter.com.  Reciprocation is a free pattern (the link is HERE). It's a pretty quick and very fun pattern. You get the cable effect in the "Double Mock Cable Rib" by twisting stitches... no cable needle required.  Love that!  If twisted stitches sound foreign or indimidating... no worries.  Michelle Hunter has great instructional videos on her website.   I like that the mitts are mirror images one one another.  The cables go farther up to nearly the top of the mitt over the index fingers but the cables only go up so far over the pinky fingers.  A nice effect.

Ahhhhh... Serenity!

I started this blanket in April 2012, with no intended recipient in mind. I had purchased the yarn (Plymouth Yarns Jeannee DK) to use with some colorful yarn I had in my stash. The idea was to make granny squares but I quickly abandoned that idea when I contemplated all the loose ends to weave in and the notion I would have to stitch all the squares together. 

The pattern I used for this blanket is called "Serenity"; it was something I found on Ravely and I was excited to see that it appeared I had the right amount of yarn to make the project.  I've been working on this on and off since casting on in April.  It's a project where you have to focus pretty intensely for one round (the pattern is both charted and written out long hand) but then the next round you are rewarded for your efforts and you simply just have to knit all the way around. 

I worked on this intently during much of July.  Some one dear to me was suddenly hospitalized for two weeks and my concern for my loved one really had me preoccupied during the day.  It was so nice and comforting to come home each evening and spend a little time knitting on this blanket.  Such a calming, meditative thing... to be working on something called "Serenity".  I reminded me of "The Serenity Prayer"...

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

My loved one is out of the hospital and, since I was able to make a rather large version of this blanket, I decided it would be a nice lap afghan for her.  After all, there was a healing thought in each and every stitch...

Mini Mochi Fair Isle Hat

I was so happy with my Semi-Swedish Hat using the fair isle technique, that I quickly cast on another fair isle project.  I had a false start with other yarn, but I am very happy with the combination of yarn I am currently using.  Fingering weight yarn, 144 stitches per round, size 3 needles... tiny stitches. Despite the small scale and number of stitches, this is knitting up pretty quickly... partly because it's so fun to knit that it is difficult to set down.  I just started this three days ago.  I love Crystal Palace's Mini Mochi yarn... the colors are so pretty.  The colorway I am using is called "Crayon Box".

Semi-Swedish Hat

Semi-Swedish Hat

Pattern link on Ravelry is HERE.
For this hat, I used yarn from Knit Picks: Telemark in Skyline (blue) and Drift (cream). The yarn was part of a kit to make fairisle Christmas stockings.  This is my first real attempt at a detailed fairisle project.  I would like to make some mittens to match. That will take some work to figure out.  This is my first knit for the Ravelry "Ravellenic Games".  I cast on this hat during the Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

The brim will lay flat when I put this on my noggin but otherwise, the brim tends to roll up. I have not blocked this yet. The pattern designer recommends sewing in a fleece liner to keep the brim from rolling.