All sewn up

The mittens that is. Spent Wednesday night sewing up mittens - all done! And the decision has been made - the stripey scarf does need a fringe...

Stripey mittens

Complete! Sewn up even (which means they overtake the mauve & green ones). Will do more sewing up...

To fringe or not to fringe

Yes that is the question. I'm currently trying to decide whether the stripey scarf will look better with or without a fringe. The knitting's all done, but I haven't quite decided whether it's finished or not. While I procrastinate about that, I have started & finished one red & grey stripey mitten (sans the sewing up). I'll probably start it's mate tonight.

I've bought buttons for the blue mandorla, but have got no further with the sewing up. The beads have distracted me... lovely shiny beads.... So instead of finishing the knitting I've been making necklaces, earrings and bracelets.

2 pair o'mittens

Mittens are great... 2 nights work & some sewing up and you have a present sorted. Both pairs are made with Cleckheaton Country 8 ply. The light green pair are done on 3.75mm needles and the mauve pair are on 4mm needles. All the knitting is done, but I need to finish sewing up the other green mitten and both of the mauve ones.

The beauty of this pattern is that it is simple and scalable - that is - just use varied weights of wool and the appropriate needles to get bigger or smaller sizes. For a 3-4yr old, use 8ply + 3.75mm, slightly older use 4mm etc. It's a 1940s Patons pattern called Cezanne from the Patons Knitting Book R.10 (p10-11). This book has lots of lovely gloves, mitten and hat patterns. Unfortunately my copy of the book is missing the front & back covers (which does include some of the pattern info).

Time for some pics

Here's where I'm at with the mandorla... more procrastination to follow...

On the other hand the scarf is coming along quite nicely still.

Motivation lagging in heat...

The very warm weather has meant that I'm just not inclined to pick up the enormous bulk of the mandorla jumper - which is currently in the process of being sewn up. Probably still 3 hours work left sewing in all the ends and the two buttons and figuring out exactly how I plan to fix the front opening (or whether I bother).

In the meantime the vastly more portable scarf has come on well, into the second ball now. Have also 3/4 finished a pair of mittens. I had forgotton how quick the mittens are to finish. May do a few more sets as they don't end up on top of you the way other projects seem to.

I sense that the knitting evenings may be restricted to the colder days now. Though last year the start of spring was gorgeous and then winter took hold again til nearly Xmas - I'll see how it goes.

A sleeve, then collar

A quick update:
Blue mandorla - I finished off the first sleeve last night and cast on the second. Once that's done, need to work out exactly how I'm going to manage the collar...
Stripey scarf - it's getting longer, quite like the pattern & stripe combo...
White cardi - fits the recipient who then managed to get green texta on it - washable green texta at least. It worked very well with her pink dress over white leggings combo - very cute.

Have been doing a bit of sewing - a ballet slipper bag and a frock for miss, taking up trousers so I can actually wear them, plans for a few new bits & bobs...