In Lieu of a Green Thumb

As much as I wished I had a green thumb, unfortunately I don't. But now look at this:

I made the solemn promise to myself not to post another Fiddlehead Mitten photo, but special circumstances require special measures. As I was about to finish the second lining and thus be completely done with the beloved fiddleheads, I ran out of Kidsilk Haze. What's a girl to do? I stole some of the yarn I'm using for my Seascale Stole (GGH Kid) and knit a blue thumb! No one will know but you and I...

Lazy Day

The weather forecast for today announced a 100% chance of rain, and, indeed, it rained all day. We woke up to rain, and although we got up and puttered around the house in our usual Saturday morning fashion, the Hubs suddenly disappeared into the bedroom for a nap that lasted from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. I declared today a spa day and splish-splashed in a candle-lit bathroom, with hot tea and mystery novel at hand. (This sounds more idyllic than it was, since the weird acoustics in our house carry every noise our neighbors make right into our bathroom. And our neighbors usually fight on the weekend.)

It's been an altogether lazy day with lots of reading and knitting. No surprise, then, that I finished the first of the Fiddlehead linings and thus have completed one mitten.

Kidsilk Haze is an incredible yarn for the lining. It is so soft, so warm, so smooth, and... so delicious! Now I have fantasies of a Kidsilk Haze blanket, a robe, a pillow, a sleeping bag...

I love the result. The pattern is just perfect, and then there's also this gratifying feeling of accomplishment: I feel a bit sheepish admitting this, but I'm amazed at myself for having made something so beautiful.

Two Thumbs Up!

I mean that quite literally:

I finished the second thumb this morning and washed and blocked both mittens in the evening. I'm hoping to start the lining on Friday. The second mitten (in the picture left) turned out slightly larger than the first one (oops); fortunately I wasn't planning on giving these away... You can tell from the right mitten that in the beginning I wasn't quite sure yet which color to knit with which hand, and I used my right hand for the contrast color (purple). Therefore the purple doesn't pop quite as much as it does in the left mitten. Oh well. I foresee many stranded knitting projects in the future and will have plenty of opportunity to improve!

My two thumbs also go up for this soup:

It's one of my potato soup variations. Our CSA box carries a lot of kale, and I started throwing kale into soups--totally tasty. Tonight's soup was a sweet potato and carrot soup to which I added pureed kale. It turned out really nicely, and since I didn't follow a recipe but made up my own I get to share it with you:

You'll need two to three small to medium sweet potatoes, two yellow onions, three to four medium to large carrots, a bunch of kale, half a bunch of parsley, pepper, salt, a pinch of nutmeg, and two tablespoons of butter. Cut the carrots and potatoes into thin slices; chop the onion. Melt the butter in a wide soup pot and add the carrots, potatoes, and onion. On medium heat and with the pot covered, cook the vegetables for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add 1.5 quarts of water (or try vegetable broth!) and 1.5 teaspoons of salt, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes (partially covered). Then add the kale (make sure to clean and rip or cut it into smaller pieces) and simmer for another 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Then remove the largest chunks of kale and some liquid and puree the mixture in a blender. Return to pot, add fresh pepper and a pinch of nutmeg, and serve with a generous amount of chopped parsley!

(I've also tried to steam the kale, using the steaming liquid for the soup and adding the steamed kale right before serving: I think this might preserve more nutrients, although I'm not sure...)

Tomorrow the Hubs finally gets back from Ohio--what a relief!

98.5 percent

A lovely dinner with friends kept me from completing those final three rows of the second thumb:

Stranded

Verdict: I'm in love with stranded knitting.

Remember those Fiddlehead Mittens I started in gray and gray-blue-purple? When I took the first seven rows to show to the peeps at my LYS, everyone agreed that my color choices were far from ideal and that I should pick another color combination. I went for green and purple, but then I was told that that particular shade of purple combined with that particular shade of green still didn't offer a high level of contrast. I was puzzled. Green and purple: not a good contrast? I was asked to imagine those two colors in a black and white photograph, and then I knew what everyone was talking about: in a black and white picture, the shades of green and purple I had chosen would appear as an identical hue of gray. Important lesson learned! I then chose colors by imagining them in an old photo, and I picked white and a dark purple. Then I knit another seven rows and made a photo for comparison:

The white-purple clearly beat the gray-blue and won me over. And here's this morning's Fiddlehead Mitten #1:

For my first-time colorwork, this isn't bad (I hope). Of course, my stitches aren't very even. It took me a while to figure out which color to work with the left and which color to work with the right hand.

I'm totally fascinated with the inside, too.

The mitten is so warm! Right now it doesn't seem possible that it needs a mohair lining, but I know how cold Boston winters get...

Speaking of cold: today it was really warm. So warm, in fact, that this one dude in the grocery store forgot to wear his pants! In he walked, wearing the obligatory shirt and shoes, even a jacket, socks, and a hat, but no pants. Everyone tried very hard not to look disturbed, but disturbing it was.

Going English

The challenges are manifold as is. I can't pick up (the correct number of) stitches to save my life; my gauge is all over the place; my sewing abilities are defined by luck rather than skill. And yet: life after Heron needs another, really big challenge. Color work, for instance! I've been seduced by too many patterns for really cute mittens and hats and now need to tackle stranded knitting (is that the same as fair isle?). There's no way around it. Just look at Elinor's Min Ulla Set!

I considered many mitten patterns (among my favorite: Risti, Tiffany, Norwegian Snail Mittens, Turkish Pattern Mittens) but decided to keep it at two colors, which left me with Smaragdi. On second thought, my first color work should probably not require size 0 needles. In my LYS I discovered a store sample of the gorgeous Fiddlehead Mittens, made with two colors of Cascade 220, and I knew I'd found myself a first color work pattern.

And now, to make a long story short, this is how my evening went today: I started fiddling with the Fiddleheads and About. Lost. My. Mind. Three hours and seven rows later, I'm calm again and look forward to working on this project. (Really.)

I understand fair isle and welcome the two-handed fair isle technique--in theory, that is. In practice, I hurt myself trying to figure out how to hold the yarn on two different fingers on the same (continental left) hand, before giving in and going English (and two-handed).

Going English is a new experience for me, folks, and throwing the yarn does not seem to be my thing. I can't keep tension! My right finger is limp, and I literally have to use my index finger and thumb to pick up the yarn and "throw" it over the needle. I know that this is all but a matter of practice, but still! Three hours, seven rows.

What do you think? Should I have gone for a more contrasty contrast than gray and gray/blue/purple? I want to line the insides with purple Kid Silk Haze. Should be warm!

And here's a sneak preview of Heron. As you can see there still aren't any buttons. Those will be purchased tomorrow.

Night now.

Maine Morning Mitts

Here they are, those mitts, drying in the sunshine after their first bath! For the second one I read Clara's instructions more carefully and bound off loosely, which makes the mitt more comfortable to wear (although a bit less attractive). Lesson learned from this project: read and follow instructions! And in case of a problems, check the KR forum.

Did I mention that I have a skein of Artyarns Silk Rhapsody and could start the Pearls and Diamonds Shawl in Clara's book any day now? I'll try to finish the Sculptured Lace Scarf first... just 15 more inches to go.

Clara's Maine Morning Mitts

Soooooooo... I asked for it: for a one-skein project for beginners like me. And you recommended Clara’s MMM. I just so happened to go by my LYS (to buy DPNs in size #2 for the socks), and the store just so happened to have Noro Kureyon in a very fabulous color pattern. You know what I bought besides the #2s.

And then I knitted one mitt (after teaching myself how to use DPNs). The result looks fine, but the photo doesn’t tell the whole story. Here are my troubles:

***Don’t you say you told me so. I know. I didn’t test the gauge. Had I knitted a swatch, I would have realized I needed to use larger needles. The mitt is almost too small (as in: my thumb isn’t enjoying herself).

***Apart from the mitt being too small, which by itself wouldn’t be a problem since I’d love to give the pair to a friend of mine who has tiny hands, the thumb is UGLY. There are big wide holes between the thumb and the rest of the mitt. I hope I can fix it somehow. (Weave? Sew? Pull the stitches hard together?)

***I think I’m running out of yarn! The pattern asks for one skein. I look at what’s left over, and it doesn’t look like much.

What to do? Buy more yarn? Consider this a failed project?

On the bright side, I fixed a mis-knitted cable in my sculptured lace scarf, and I felt like I was doing surgery! (House was doing TV surgery at the same time.) I think with this mitt I’ve just been too impatient and hurried myself too much. I didn’t take the care I use with the scarf or the sock (both projects are growing slowly but steadily). Today I won’t knit at all--I need to catch up on work!--and maybe a short break will teach me patience.

PS: Now that it's many hours later, I just discovered the KR discussion about the thumb. There seems to be some sort of agreement on 13 stitches for the thumb, not 9. The pattern says 9. Where do the extra 4 come from? And how come you found out about the extra 4? I assume with 13 stitches the thumb would fit much better. Time to undo the thumb!

PPS: Now that it's many, many hours later (the next day, in fact, but I'm tagging this post-post-scriptum on to Wednesday's entry): Last night I looked at the pattern again; its says: pick up 4 stitches. I didn't read it, or read it but ignored it. Something went wrong. Awfully embarrassing, but also a big relief. I was able to fix it quickly and easily: I undid the thumb, picked up 4 stitches at the base, redid the thumb. The thumb now looks great. The mitt looks great. I'll post another picture once the other mitt is done, for comparison. I'm so glad that I'm just too stupid to read, but not actually too stupid to knit!