In progress

I have a touch of startitis this spring, even though I have several projects just a button or seam away from being 100% done.

From Mason-Dixon Knitting, the Bubbly Curtain, because I got tired of being blinded by the late afternoon sun streaming into the window above my kitchen sink:

Lace always looks like a blob before blocking

The Ambidextrous Mittens from Knit One Knit All, because there was pink yarn leftover from the Suspender Sweater and Katmandu Cap:

Never enough pink

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's sock recipe from Knitting Rules!, because I almost always have a pair of socks going:

For moi

The socks I work on at work, during long boring meetings, the curtain is my go-to project for TV (up to season 6 of "Desperate Housewives"), and the mittens, well, they seem to have taken up permanent residence on the diningroom table.

The magic of short rows and built-in i-cord

To escape the fiddleyness of the fingerless gloves, I worked up EZ's Katmandu hat over the course of a couple of days. It's pink!

Pattern: Katmanu hat, by Elizabeth Zimmermann (in Knit One Knit All)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool, in colorway 9478 ('Cotton Candy') - a little more than half a skein
Needles: US8
Modifications: None

The cleverness of EZ's patterns never ceases to amaze me. This hat requires no seaming (yay!)

Even though my gauge matched that for the larger hat, it does not fit me the way it fits the model in the book - mine is much more snug. I must have a big head.

But not this CareBear.

Fiddley fingers

One think I do not like about knitting gloves are the fingers - too fiddley, especially in fingering. But I do like the result.

Pattern: Basic Glove Pattern by Ann Budd (I frogged the earlier attempt at the Leap pattern because they were too small)
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock yarn, in colorway S95
Needles: US1
Modifications: fingerless, with 1x1 ribbing at the end of each finger.

I have enough yarn left over to knit another pair, which I will do someday, when I recover from the fiddleyness. Next time, however, I will shorten the hand length. That is, if I remember to reread this post.

No toasty toes

Even though the yarn for these leg warmers is called Toasty Toes, my toes are not toasty. But my legs are, which is the point of leg warmers, I guess.

Pattern: Takeout for Two, by Cathy Carron
Yarn: Interlacements Toasty Toes, colorway 202
Needles: US4
Modifications: Lots

I basically followed the pattern except for using stockinette here and there, switching to 2x2 and 4x2 ribbing when it seemed appropriate. In spite of my efforts, these don't stay up very well. Their purpose in life, though, is to keep my legs warm in bed when I wear a nightgown.

This variegated yarn did not like any of the stitches I tried - it pooled with wild abandon - and the colors look electric and dark at the same time, very saturated. I'm not sure what else I could have made with this yarn, except maybe a Baby Surprise sweater. But with the recent downturn in the temps here - threat of hard frost tonight - I am glad I have these.