More Little Things

So goes the month for small projects. I'm really enjoying casting one one day, casting off the next! Makes for lots of FO's! Some projects go so fast I don't even have time to blog about them!!! Like these mitts.

They are the Peekaboo Mittens from MagKnits. I do love my fingerless mitts, but sometimes even the tips of my fingers get cold. These are a perfect solution. Flip top mittens, to me, take too much time and fiddling to get the top on and off. With these, you just slip your fingers out, then slip them back in, easy peasy.

They will be perfect for dog shows as I can take my fingers in and out as needed to open crates, give treats or whatever. Then, I just tuck them back in and they say toasty warm.

I used some stash Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. A charcoal type color for the bulk, then scraps of other colors for the stripes. It is one of those skeins I have gotten sick of looking at every time I open the stash bin. For some reason, I inherited bunches of small balls (most full skeins, some partial) of Debbie Bliss stuff (mostly merino aran and cashmerino) and really need to find a use for them. Every time I go to look in my stash, there they are, staring back at me. I know they will probably pill like crazy, and they are not machine washable, but I knit them up in about a day, so no big loss if they don't survive long.

For the next stashbusting little project this month, Thorpe is also a really quick knit that is super cute. Once again, I used stash yarn (Lang Polar, discontinued) that has been sitting way too long. I have been wanting an earflap hat, and this fits the bill!

We had really gray skies this morning, but if you look really close you can almost see buds on the trees!

I love the earflaps. The only thing I think I'd do different next time is maybe put the flaps a bit further forward (bind off less stitches for the front). I'd love to make the stranded version - anything I can incorporate colorwork into! It won't be the warmest hat - I couldn't knit the yarn as tight as I would have liked, but I love how cute it is! More of these are in my knitting future for sure!

Now, with NOTHING on the needles (I'm feeling slightly panicked) I'm off to browse my Ravelry queue to see what else I can cast on for next!

The Little Things

This month is going to be all about the small projects. Things that take only a few days or a week or so to complete. There is something about completing a project that rejuvenates a knitter. Casting off, seaming and finishing - all the closing ceremonies of whatever you had been working on, and for me, permission to cast on for something new.

The mittens made great strides this weekend and are about two-thirds complete. Another project was cast off, but not quite finished. This was pretty quick and I'm not sure I even blogged about it!

This is a combination of the Elisa's Nest Tote and the Everlasting Bagstopper patterns. There were little things about each one I liked, so I just combined them. All that is left to do is sew on the strap and load it up! I thought it would make a great bag for the beach - all the sand can just fall right out and not get trapped at the bottom. The yarn is leftovers from the wrap cardi and it shrunk a lot more than it did in the wrap. Maybe because it was a much more lacy and open stitch pattern? It will probably hold a towel, maybe two, and not much else. Oh well. The vertical stretch isn't as much as I have seen on other similar bags (or even these bags!) Even with about 30% extra length, it is not as big as I would have hoped. Luckily, it didn't take up too much of my time!

Moving on, I looked to find other small knits that have been sitting in my Ravelry queue forever. Being that I wear a hat almost every day to work, along with walking the dogs, I have been wanting a hat with earflaps to keep out the wind. I tend to get ear aches on those cold, blustery days. Enter Thorpe. Another great pattern by Kirsten! I have some yarn in the stash, and plan on casting on today. The other hat I have been looking at (I may just make myself two earflap hats) is Minty's version. Also very cute - with a pom-pom! Odds are, I will have stash and time to do both.....