Monday, March 26, 2007

Not Quite Back in the Saddle

I knew I was on the mend Saturday when my kitchen table starting looking like this.

I was searching for a convalescent project. I wanted something different from green stockinette, something easy. I looked at scarves. I don't want to knit a scarf. Maybe something not flat. I looked at socks. I don't want to knit socks. Something clever? I looked at lace. Nope. I picked up the Endpaper Mitts. I put them down.

A scarf is too easy. I don't knit socks (kind of like I don't do windows). Lace is too complicated. So is two-color knitting. My brain is still cotton wool. I need to knit without too much thinking. A project for my sadly reduced stamina and nearly non-existent attention span.

Ta Da! Behold all of the above.

I found something different, easy, not flat and clever in Weekend Knitting. Something, moreover, where the yarn can do the work for me. The pattern by Anne Budd is perfect, just what the doctor would have ordered had I gone to a doctor. Filled with those cleverness-es knitters do so well. They're knit sideways. Short rows add width across the hand while keeping the wrist end narrower. The thumb is a buttonhole. The three needle bind-off makes for a nearly invisible join. The instructions include variations for multiple gauges and sizes, kind of like what she does in the Book of Patterns.

Even at my stage of not-quite-recovered knitting, I finished these in a weekend. Significantly less than 1 skein of Mountain Colors 4/8 Wool in, I think, Pheasant. The yarns was intended for the Red Scarf project, but felt too heavy. The label is long gone.

With the directions for the different gauges, I'm wondering. Maybe a strictly decorative pair out of this?

I may, after all, be convalescing for quite a while.

2 comments:

Diane H said...

Very nice - kind of flat but not really and a buttonhole thumb opening demystifies the whole thing. As I approached that delicate end-of-project time on a pair of socks, I looked through my Maggie book and almost ordered some linen yarn to make something - I can live vicariously through your linen project. Instead I dropped some cash at the Schoolhouse Press.

Anonymous said...

Oh I made those fingerless gloves too and love them! Just made another pair and gifted them. So easy and quick to make.

Can't wait to see your bubbly curtain. GO FOR IT!