Mitten madness

I finished my first Briscoe Mitten. I think I need to reblock it, though, because the pattern is a bit distorted. Anyway, here are photos:





















The good news with these guys is that now that I've re-designed them, you can really see the Star of David. The bad news is that you can really see the Star of David. My mittens make a somewhat more emphatic religious statement than I'm ordinarily in the habit of making. I'm not usually a person who wears her Jewishness on her sleeve, so to speak, or really any other part of her body. Also, I'm thinking about doing the second mitten in orange, in keeping with the Irish theme, and I'm worried that people will mistake it for some sort of statement of support for Israeli settlers. I think that in the future, I will attempt to be a little less literal-minded when I design mittens. Who knew that stranded colorwork could be such a cultural and political minefield!

I've also knitted some toddler mittens for the KFO service project.


We're knitting things for members of the Mattaponi Native American tribe in Virginia. I did these little mittens in Paton's Kroy. I really liked this yarn. In fact, I think it may be my favorite yarn that's available at big-box craft stores like Michael's. It doesn't feel like plastic, and "crayon" is a nice unisex colorway that is great for kids' stuff. I plan to make at least two more pairs of kids' mittens with it: another one for the KFO project and a baby pair for the forthcoming baby who I am too superstitious to name here.

Itty bitty little projects

I made a hat for the Knitters for Obama chemo cap drive:

It's a Coronet in Cashsoft Aran. I really like the pattern, and the yarn suits it, but I'm not sure it's a great combination for a chemo cap. It's really warm, which makes it perfect for outdoor wear this time of year, but I think it might be a bit too heavy to wear indoors or in the summer.

I also made some not-entirely-successful Saartje's booties. I'm too superstititious to say who they're for, but here's a picture:


I either had some gauge issues or added a row to one of them, because the one on the left is a lot bigger than the one on the right. Luckily, it takes about an hour to knit one of these suckers, so I think I can churn out another one and hope that it's the same size as one or the other of them. The yarn is Louet Gems fingering. The blue is the leftovers from my Blue Sun mittens. I'm surprised more people haven't used gems for these guys, because it's machine washable, and the colors are really vibrant.