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Addicted to Glove

Might as well face it! Perhaps it's the weather here, but I can't get enough of gloves (again). Austin seems like a good place to enjoy small wooly projects in winter—I think summertime must be the big knitting season, since everyone can work inside in the a/c. It's just too warm in winter, at least for me.

I've finished the second lace cuff, and am delighted to report that it matches the first. I tweaked the pattern a little for a sharper flare on the first one, but didn't make notes, of course. Now if I can reconstruct the thumb shaping and increases, I'll have a new pair of gloves by the end of the weekend. Sweet!

New Vogue (Winter 2003/04)

Best parts are the article by Meg Swansen ("Fussy Knitting") and the KnitBits. I especially liked the little news-bite on the 2002 donation to the Rwandan Women's Initiative of 60 Ultimate Knitting Machines. You can read more about this Rwanda Project here, and there's a 2003 press release with cool photos here, and you can see a video and read a bit more from the UN's perspective here. Who knew?

Pups

Friday seems to be the sweetest word around here every week. The pups and I have big plans for romping; we hope your day is swell, and that your weekend is wonderful.

Mikey says It's Friday! Let the joy be uncontained!

Gallimaufry

No time to work on my gloves Wednesday, but a couple of hours to work on other people's knitting. Girl Scout peoples, to be precise. Wot larks! And how energizing! It's been a long time since I hung out with little girls, perhaps even as long as since I was a little girl—they're fun, aren't they, even by the dozen! It was intriguing remembering my own first knitting experience (wrestling with the needles, accidentally adding new stitches, dropping stitches, twisting stitches, etc., and seeing these beginner errors replicated so easily by the troop) in parallel with their first knitting experience. I had a great time being the knitting overseer, and am looking forward to the next session.

Rowan

You probably knew this already, but I didn't: when you subscribe to Rowan Magazine, they send you a wooly present! Mine arrived today, and it's a kit for a Tumbling Blocks pillow by Kaffe Fassett. Cool!

Noted

1) Do you think we could request that this thing be able to knit?

2) Cool templates for paper crafts, but with interesting potential for other crafts.

Questions

Vanessa asks how the pups are doing on their diets, and I sez: About as well as I am. They are extremely empathic (and still a bit pudgy, no doubt in solidarity with me).

Theresa asks if Here Be Wyverns graphs could be converted to texture work, and I sez: Absolutively! In fact, I plan on giving this idea a spin over the weekend. I'd like to see a dragon in seed stitch, for example. That would be pretty cool on the back of a glove, right?

Chery asks if I've worn my Giant Latvian Mitten Cardigan here in Austin yet, and I sez: No way! Texas is too warm; too warm even for me to wear my growing glove collection.

Chelle asks if I often knit vintage patterns, and I sez: The current glove project is my first vintage pattern (I think), but I plan to knit more, more, more vintage stuff. I think many of those 40s and 50s and even some 60s patterns are fabulous. And still stylin' after all these years.

Pups

Little Jack says Gung Hay Fat Choy!!

One Glove

One glove finished, and the cuff on the mate begun. All this from one skein of Koigu!

I like this glove design very much, am happy to have found it, and am enjoying the knitting. What a change from last week! I guess this Koigu wanted to be Vintage, not Estonian lace. I'm glad it made up its wooly mind.

Here Be Wyverns

My copy of this wire-bound book by Nancy Spies arrived today and I'm very impressed. Charted-knit knitters? This book will be loads of fun for you. Over 400 graphs of patterns charted from medieval sources, including imaginary creatures, animals, water creatures, architecture, birds, people, lettering, overall designs, borders and what Spies calls "Odds & Ends". The odds and ends include designs charted from Pictish stones, Viking age weights, cope fabric, medieval tiles, and illuminations. Additionally, all of the charts have source documentation, so that when you knit (needlework, weave, etc.) them, you've also got an interesting story to tell. Isn't it marvelous that these designs from so long ago can live again, and tell their stories again, in our knitting age! Read more about it here. It's a resource book with enormous potential for creative knitters.

Girl Scouts!

They're everywhere this time of year! However, Wednesday afternoon, rather than listening to short cookie saleswomen, I'm going to assist at the Austin Knitters and Crocheters Guild's project to teach a dozen Girl Scouts basic knitting skills. I hope they get a badge for knitting. Heck, some days I'd like a badge for knitting myself. I expect to have heaps-o-knittin' fun with these scouts, and feel very lucky to be able to participate. "Each one, teach one", remember?

Pups

Mike, Jack and Della have been living large while the sun's been shining the past couple of days. They keep trying to make friends with Skipper, the neighbors' huge yellow cat, but Skipper wants no part of it. That's how it goes sometimes.

Little Jack and Mikey remind you that it's Wednesday; You're Halfway There!

Freeway of Glove

I'm speeding along on this glove, because I need to make its mate before I forget the changes I made to the pattern! Gloves fly when you're using US 2 needles; a huge improvement over the 0000s we were plodding along with before on Laura's Sanquhar-style gloves.

Several of you have asked about the publication containing the Austrian Gloves; it's a Spinnerin booklet: Knit Knacks for the Family, Volume 158, edited by Alice Carroll. My copy was purchased from Laurie recently, and the glove pattern was a lucky bonus, since I bought the booklet for the goofy hat designs on the cover.

I'm not sure if anyone has asked about how to avoid holes at the base of the fingers, but I'd like to tell you what's working for me with this glove. The pattern calls for the knitter to pick up three stitches at the fourchette area; my advice is to pick up as many as you need to ensure there are no gaps. Even doing this, I still wound up with a hole at the base of the ring finger, and it was easily snugged up with a duplicate-stitch sort of closure. The circular suture, a trick detailed in Lucy Neatby's new book, is also a good remedy, but I forgot to use it on this particular glove-hole.

Even unblocked, and with the thumb stitches still waiting, you can see that the bases of the fingers look pretty tidy. Check with Nanette, Master Glove and Mitten Knitter, of course, for a more educated knitterly opinion, but what's working for me is adding stitches to that area, then decreasing them on the following round.

Pups

Jack and Della say It's Tuesday! Look lively there!

Unconditional Glove

My un-knit Koigu lace glove from last week has been revived in a new incarnation. One of my recently acquired vintage knitting booklets has a pattern that simply cried out to be gloved, and so I answered the call on US 2 needles. This 1950s pattern is called "Austrian Gloves" but I believe that's some artistic license on the publisher's part.

Thumb and little finger stitches are waiting on strings while I knit the other fingers. I'm fond of the way this pattern flares at the cuff, then swoops in at the wrist. So far, this fits perfectly, but only because I made adjustments to the thumb gusset depth and width.

Isn't the cuff glovely, and isn't the Koigu a refreshing shade!

Another Store-Bought Sweater Bargain!

This one on Ebay. Do take a look at what an argyle with a history can bring! Thanks Metafilter!

Stash

Anne's Saturday link to a set of wild photos gave me a serious case of stash-remorse (and a raging case of the heebie-jeebies). I'm still considering how best to clear some space in my personal Wool Room. I notice around the knitting blog ring that a small number of bloggers post unwanted stash for sale or trade...have you tried that? Is it a happy experience for all involved?

Pups

After a mostly rainy weekend, the sun finally appeared and dried out the grass and concrete enough to suit the pups. (They hate getting their bellies wet, and they are rather lowrider-ish.) We hope your weekend was perfectly luscious with lusciously perfect weather!

Mike, Jack and Della say It Looks Like Monday Again! Keep your belly dry.