I swear there’s been knitting!
School just got out for break on Friday, with my last Holiday Concert! Ahh! Then I went to pick up J at his house (he’s not driving because he got his wisdom teeth out and is enjoying the effects of hydrocodone, yeaah), and took him home. We hung out for a while, then his parents came and got him to go to a movie, and I went to a Christmas-bring-your-grown-daughter party. It was a fun party, even though my mum decided the party started at 7, when it actually started at 7:30, and most people didn’t arrive until 8. Awkward. But fun! Mum and I got time to talk finally, which we haven’t done since like, Monday.
This week at school, I knitted feverishly to finish these:
and these:
Plz to forgive unattractive fingernails.
Also, I’ve gotten 10″ finished on the body of my Rogue cardigan:
It is beautiful! So soft and pretty.
And yesterday, I got to work on my Seaflower Monkey socks (which haven’t seen the light of day for like, ever). They are pretty, and I started the heel flap on the second pair.
Fingerless Mitten Pattern
So, the pattern for the mitts is totally made up. It goes like this (worked on 2 circs, possible on DPNs):
Cast on an even number of stitches (40 for Molly’s, 44 for Sam’s).
Knit in 2×2 ribbing for a couple of inches. Knit straight stockinette for another couple inches.
Begin thumb gusset increasing:
K1, m1, k1, place marker. Knit around to last 2 sts in round: place marker, k1, m1, k1.
Knit a plain round.
Every other round, increase once before the stitch just before the marker (easier to increase here than right at the marker).
Continue until thumb part seems somewhat outrageous (Sam’s is 24 stitches, Molly’s is probably 24 also).
On an increase round, knit to second marker, remove marker, k1, m1, stop. Leaving a fairly long tail, pick up new yarn (the other end of the ball) and knit the thumb stitches. Knit the front thumb stitches with the new yarn (before the m1; you’ll need that for the hand), and stop. With the yarn on the back of the mitt, knit the rest of the hand. You are now knitting the hand and thumb at the same time, as if you were doing two socks at once or something. I like to put the marker back in between hand and thumb so I don’t get the yarns switched, but after a couple of rows they divide and it’s hard to knit the thumb to the hand again after that.
Keep knitting straight for the hand (make sure you have the same number of stitches on the hand as you did before the thumb gusset started). Also knit the thumb straight, until it sits where you want it on your thumb (Sam’s is longer, closer to my thumbnail, and Molly’s sits at my thumb joint because she has smaller hands than I). Cast off thumb stitches. Keep knitting on hand until it reaches the desired length.
Cast off all stitches.
Weave in ends, sew up the hole at the thumb with the end of the thumb yarn. Yay!
And my birthday is tomorrow!
