Just in time for winter

Here, and knitting, and making progress. Last night I finally finished the wip that I started in February 2012. A pair of fingerless mitts, knit in the sanquhar style on 1.5mm needles.

Finally done only five months late

These started as a knitters study group project way back in February 2012, there was some stopping and starting and frogging as I realized that to make these to fit me I would have to use teeny tiny knitting needles. The pattern is Compass Rose by Beth Brown Reinsel, and was for gloves, but I knit mine as fingerless mitts. The only way to size these is using smaller (or larger) needles and yarn. The thought of working ten digits on such small needles was beyond me. I love the gauge, 30 stitches in 2.5 inches, or 12 stitches to the inch ... But I don't like knitting at that gauge. Those teny tiny needles are just to hard to hang on to for any length of time. Now I just have to block and enjoy - and explain why they have last years date on them. Oh the signs of an optimistic knitter. Imagine thinking I could knit these in a mere 10 months? Now I know they need at least 15 months especially as I juggle several projects, I am easily distracted, and so I spin and do other things in my 'relax' time. Next time I should add the date to the second one not the first.
And you may have noticed the seasonal photo. We have snow, real falling and staying snow, early snow. Bear who is a repository of local weather lore keeps mentioning how we shouldn't get snow before Queens birthday weekend, which is this weekend. And here we have snow in late May. Little cub thinks this is just the best early birthday present.
Not only that but significant snow, still snowing after sun rise snow, schools closed for the day snow. That in itself is unusual as dunedin schools are so used to snow that melts mid morning that the usual response to snow is a delayed start of 10 am. Not today, the radio broadcast all primary schools are closed, and elder cubs secondary schools is as well. I am relieved that I don't have to navigate slippery icy roads to get him to school. That is one thing that makes me tense, driving on ice and compacted snow.
This is what we awoke to this morning, and I love that my 2011 birthday snow gate looks spectacular in the snow.

Snow gate 2013

Now I have only one unfinished languishing wip ... Tammy, even older than the 2012 mitts, as it dates from 2011.
Na Stella ...

Ps it is still snowing

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20,736 stitches later

And my pi shawl is done. Started 17th August 2012, finished 18th March 2013, blocked one day later. The sheer number is stitches explains the long delay for this post, there wasn't much progress to show ... Just row after row of a garter band.

Here the shawl before blocking, and to explain the 20,736 stitches, I decided to add a nine-stitch garter band as the edge. Which meant that I worked nine stitches up and nine stitches back for each of the 1,152 stitches of the last full round. Before blocking the shawl measured 44".

During blocking the shawl spread a full 55" or 1.4m across, pretty much dominating our small living room. Bear spend much of the day shooing Yoyo the cat off the mat, and Yoyo spend much of the waiting for bear to leave so she could sit on the wet shawl.

The lace opened up beautifully, which was a surprise, as I thought the possum part of the yarn would bloom and close the lace considerably.
The shawl weighs 221 g dry, and was worked on 3.5mm needles, the garter boarder on 4mm. I slipped the edge of the boarder to make a neat chained edge, and attached the band with a simple k2tog. I blocked the shawl with TIG welding wires and tee-pins, running the wires through each slipped stitch.
And I went for the heart option on the edge ....
So time to knock-off and complete the other WIPs ... and plan something for my swap partner.
Na Stella

Cat included for scale

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