Warm hands, warm heart

My grandma always says "warm hands, warm heart" which I think means that having warm hands is proof that you are a "warm-hearted" person. This does not bode well for me because my fingers are always cold. Recently I've been craving a pair of fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm and still allow me to use my computer (my school says they're being "green" by keeping the classrooms freezing cold, but I suspect is has more to do with being cheap...) I was in my LYS, and they had a sample of this simple pattern, and it stole my heart.



This pattern is Brushed Suri Mitts by Merri Fromm. I used the exact yarn called for Blue Sky Alpacas Brushed Suri. The yarn is 67% baby Suri alpaca, 22% merino, and 11% bamboo. It's a halo yarn like Kid Silk Haze from Rowan or Suri Dream from Knit Picks. There is a "core" to the yarn that fuzzy alpaca fluffs out from. The pattern only takes about 75% of a skein.



It's not super clear from my bad photos (we had a week of gloom w/ no natural light at all when I took them, now that the sun has returned I should go outside and take some more) but one mitt is actually about an inch shorter than the other. That is because after you knit the thumb gusset you are supposed to knit straight for 10 rounds before actually separating the thumb... I forgot to do this on the second mitt. I love this bunches, so I bought another skein and I will make one long (correct) mitt and one short (leaving out the 10 rows) then then have a pair for myself and a pair that I can give away (or a backup).



This photo is blurry, but it shows the halo coming off the gloves well. I was worried that I would find them itchy because of the high alpaca content and because of the halo, but they're pretty much the softest most comfortable thing ever and I wear them all the time.

You've been flashed

You've just been stash-flashed. That is a giant pile of all the yarn I own as of the new year. Actually, it's not all the yarn I own because there is still some at my parents' house in New Mexico that has never made it up to me...

I decided that my previous stash organization of "shove yarn in closet or under bed" was not working so well because when I wanted to work from stash I had to comb the apartment looking for the skeins I wanted all with added uncertainty because the yarn might actually be in the New Mexico stash.

I decided to take action. I pulled out every skein of yarn in my apartment and piled it on the floor to survey.



Then I organized it by weight into big plastic tubs. In the end I filled four 66 gallon tubs plus one and a bit of two 45 gallon tubs. I would like to say that this experience has staved me off of ever buying yarn again, but it has not... There is a Knit Picks order on its way to me as we speak... In my defense, two of the skeins coming are needed to finish a project that I underestimated yardage needs for (and the other 15 were being clearanced.)

If you would like a detailed accounting of what exactly is in my stash, my ravelry stash is completely up to date as of last night.

Adam's Hat, part 2

Before Christmas, I showed you the hat that I was working on to give to my brother Adam, but it wasn't very far along. I managed to finish it, even with law school finals happening all the way up until December 23rd and my family arriving and needing entertainment on the 23rd... (that is a rant in itself that you're likely uninterested in.) The 24th I finished the last of the seaming, and voila:





One silly hat for Adam. The hat was a kit from Knit Picks called "Into the Woods" and it's still available as of this post, but is "last chance." The yarn used is Red and Bittersweet Heather Wool of the Andes for the main colors and Oyster Heather Wool of the Andes and Natural Suri Dream for the inner ear flap. The Suri Dream is carried along with the Wool of the Andes to make the ear flap fuzzy and soft.



Like most of the Knit Picks patterns I've encountered this one has, what I would consider, too many spelling, grammar, and technical errors for a pattern that is paid for. Also, for the earflap, the pattern is completely unhelpful. The ear flap has to be knit back and fourth. Rather than cutting the yarn and moving it I just used it from where it was. Sometimes this meant knitting a row with the red, then needing to do a bittersweet heather row but the yarn wasn't on the end of the fabric to set up a purl row... in these cases I just went back to where I started (you must have a circular needle to do this) and knit a second row rather than cutting the yarn and moving it to the other side to do a purl row.



The pattern makes a huge hat (I knit to pattern gauge) that sits up really high, sort of like Elmer Fudd's hat. I could never see wearing this hat for anything other than using it as some sort of prop, or trying to win a silly hat contest... Adam is all dressed up in these pictures because they were taken Christmas day and we're about to go to a dinner party. He wore the hat through most of the party.