Dec 31 2007
finished business
It feels as though it’s been forever since I revealed an FO ’round these parts. I’m happy to say that though I didn’t take a photo of the set, these babies are off the needles and on the hands of their recipient.
A while back, Laura quit her blog for various reasons, of most concern to me her hand’s repetitive stress injury. So sad! And then when she posted this picture to Flickr, lamenting her lack of a pair of Endpapers to soother her hand pain, well, I just had to step up and give my friend a hand.
She mailed me her chosen yarn–red (Koigu) and pink (Idon’tknowwhat)–plus two skeins of blue sock yarn for just me to have (thanks!). It couldn’t have arrived at a better time, because I was about to leave for Portland and needed some plane knitting. I had two legs–La Guardia to Chicago, Chicago to Portland. I cast on (using size 3 needles) in La Guardia and had actually come to nearly finished by the time we landed in Chicago, but I wasn’t happy with how it was turning out.
The pattern calls for a purl “seam” stitch on either side, which you can see in the photo above. I guess this is because the design doesn’t actually fit the width of the mitts; it didn’t feel cohesive to me. Plus when you pull the mitts on, it’s hard to get the seam to sit exactly along the sides, and why have this challenge to getting the mitts on attractively? When I got on the plane to Portland I asked the advice of my seatmates, two sweet women who actually weighed in (rather than smiling politely and turning on their iPods), and so I frogged the whole thing and started over. I had finished the first one–well, up to where I needed scissors*–by the time I got to Portland, and that evening I finished the first one entirely and cast on for the second.
I went into a panic that I had knit the first one so fast, so I made a little side trip to Knit/Purl to buy new yarn in case I needed it. (Of course, I only knit a little more during the rest of the weekend so this trip ended up being more for souvenirs.) Knit/Purl is a delightful store, with a large selection of yarn and books and other supplies, plus their own Shi Bui yarn line. I bought two skeins of baby blue Shi Bui.
That glorious wall on the left is the Koigu. I swooned. I took only a quick walk over there and back to my friend’s place, as it was blustery and cold out. I tried to stop by another yarn shop in the area but it was closed.
Anyway, back to the mitts–I decided to nix the purl seam stitch, just let the pattern jog at one side, and I was decently pleased with the result. I knit the second one on the way home–from Portland to Chicago–and then finally wove in the ends and got it in the mail in the second week after Thanksgiving. Laura received them, and they fit great. See her wearing them here.
*Many thanks to Big Alice for pointing out that fingernail clippers are allowed on flights! I brought them with me on this trip to Singapore and they’ve been a lifesaver, as the pattern I’m working on now involves lots of starting and stopping.
