Mitten Knitting Mission

I have had a wonderful weekend, one of the best in a long time. Think it was because someone upset me on Friday with their incompetence and I took the decision to sort out the problem myself and felt satisfied and more relaxed that I did so,  that's the perfectionist in me talking. Ooops!  So to allow me to get over my little upset I watched the Tim Burton Animation called 'Frankenweenie' (I'm a big fan of his animations with 'A Corpse Bride' being one of my favourites) whilst knitting some mittens. Mittens that had been sitting in my queue forever; Suzi's Gloves, and today I decided to put my needles to work and knit them. I think I’m on a mitten knitting mission as I have just finished one mitten pattern Veyla, and now I've jumped straight onto another pattern. I've always liked this pattern but just never got round to making them, so when I came up with the perfect yarn; Rowan 4ply fine I knew it was about time I made them. However, I didn't read the pattern through before starting them and as soon as I cast on amount required I noticed the pattern was knit in the flat. I didn't like this one bit so I didn’t go with it,  I decided to knit them in the round only because I thought it would give a better finish and because I'm lazy, I really didn't fancy seaming them. I did, however, knit the thumb flat and then seamed it. I have found sometimes knitting thumbs in the round causes some gaping, between the thumb and index finger,  but knitting it flat and picking up the stitches at the base to continue in the round has somehow given the area a wonderful finish. I also decided to use pearl beads in the centre as I did not have any flower buttons to hand.

Oh! How I've missed you knitting.

After all the studying, writing essays and attending placement for my college course, I have finally found the time to return to some of my hobbies and some much-needed care of my home. Paul and I have spent a lovely couple of very busy weeks on the gardening front, where we have managed to turn our back garden shell into something more respectable, just by laying turf and setting up a slabbed floor (latter all Pauls'doing) for a new craft shed to be erected. With so much time on my hands I have managed to pick up the needles again and cast on 3 different projects, one of which is pictured at the top of this post. This is called Hetty and is a test knit for Andi Satterlund over at Untangling Knots. I'm not sure when the pattern will be available to buy, but I can say it's a wonderful knit and very addictive, it took me no time at all to make. I used the yarn suggested by Andi; Berroco Blackstone Tweed in plum, a yarn I had never used before. I was concerned it was going to be too heavy and hot to knit with, the weather has been extremely clammy, but do you know it has no real weight at all, it's very light and quite deceiving. Anyway, enough wittering, the buttons are my own selection and are from the Rowan range purchased from my local yarn store. The other piece of knitting is part of a swap I'm involved in with the forum Pheonix Knitting.