More projects call to me

So, now that Christmas has passed, the heat's off, right? Hell no, I'm furiously trying to finish the last gift that should've been posted to Florida well over a week ago: my mother-in-law's Fern Lace Stole. I knew I was pitting myself against that unweilding foe TIME when I failed to cast on until Dec. 6, but I went there anyway. And now I'm growing bored with the project. And I'm soooo close to finishing!!!!

I have just under 2 balls left before I bind off and begin the edging for which I'm reserving my last ball. I found this fabulous Vanessa yarn from Universal at a local Super Dollar. I've learned it's a discontinued line, but I absolutely adore it! I bought up a bunch, about 12 balls of the greenish color, 7 balls of the blueish that I'm currently using on this unfinished gift, and another 8 or so of a pinkish color that I'm planning on using in a stole for a close friend.

But as I search around on Ravelry for an edging choice with which to finish this Fern Lace project, I'm seized by that urge to cast on several new projects! There's a mitten pattern that I've yet to write down that I love doing, there's a scarf I've wanted to do for my sister and another for my mother, then there's the hat my daughter wants and allegator scarf my son's been waiting for.

But I can't stay away from looking through the patterns! And worse, my library of knitting books keeps growing, thanks to my wonderful husband. But I hang my head as I admit I've knit nary a one from those many books...is this normal?

Makin' those mittens mine

Having only recently taken up this hobby, when I find a pattern I like, it's golden. But when I find a pattern that I might be able to alter? Well, I'm like a crack whore carpet surfing for a wee bit of rock.

Enter exhibit A: the Lace-Edged Women's Hat. This 6-stitch repeat pattern was a fast, dreamy edging with which to begin this easy peasy hat. But I continue to run into issues with the decrease. Having made a couple of these now, I'm not quite sure what I do wrong, but the top ends up looking like a nipple. So, rather than fight it, I turned the 6 remaining stitches into 2 I-cords and finished 'em with a couple of beads. Kinda fun, no?

Notice the jacquard by Bernat? Sure it's a low-end worsted acrylic, but it knits up so great that it's easy to mistake yourself for some fair isle maven who just whips out great color schemes with the drop of a needle! But I digress... Loving the lace edge so much, I decided to take my knitting to the next TWO levels: mittens being one level and bigger-scale pattern altering being the level after that.

So, looking through Ravelry's many mitten patterns, I opted for the tried and true Classic Mitten pattern and decided to do away with the ribbed cuff ('cause I just don't find ribbing that pleasurable) and replacing it with the lace-edging from the hat! CUTE!

Looking at the chart for the classic mitten, you'll see there's 2 options with which to go at it: 4 needles or 2. As demented as some may think me, the idea of having to sew up a mitten left me running for my recently won vintage lot of double points (sizes 1-8 at a cool $20, boo-ya!) and went about altering the number of stitches to cast on. For a medium woman, the pattern directs one to cast on 44 stitches, but since the lace edging is a 6-stitch repeat, I cast on 42 and hoped for the best.

At the onset, I ignored the lace instruction to purl the second row before starting the lace pattern and now, having done both a knit row and purl row, I can say: Trust the pattern. Knitting the first row following the cast on causes it to roll a bit, so I just bite the bullet and purl it (and it lays so much nicer).

Having divided the 42 stitches between 3 needles, I set about implementing the 6-stitch, 4-row lace-edge pattern. When working a worsted weight, I chose to repeat the 4-row pattern 5 times on size 5 dpn before moving on to the rest of the mitten pattern.

(Note: I do not decrease 2 stitches in the last round of the cuff as directed. The benefit is that my number of stitches now matches the original Classic Mittens pattern. I haven't found the lack of a decrease to be a problem, either. But, whatev!

Then I just followed the pattern to the letter and viola! a sweet lil' pair of mitts that match the hat! A great little holiday gift if I don't say so myself. (Just don't comment on the thumbs....I'm a newbie!)