Finishing Things

After finishing the mini-sweater in my last post, I decided to tackle a pair of Bavarian Knee Stockings. Ahhhhh - they were fun. And they took a while. The pattern was a bit vague - no gauge or schematic, just 'fine wool, size 0 needles, to fit size 40 shoe (German)'. I dove in with my trusty 2.75mm, Spud&Chloe Sock, and decided to see what happened. The first thing I discovered is that for the ribbing, one is supposed to work stockinette. Ooops! I persevered, and with some help from a friend, had enough yarn to finish off two stockings that fit nicely (thanks to decreasing an extra pattern at the ankle)
Sometime this year, I knit up a sample mitten for a forthcoming project, but I wasn't happy with the gauge. Dale Heilo seems thinner than it used to be - but the stats don't support my fingers' report. They're a nice easy knit.
But I wanted to get a denser mitten, so I pulled some KnitPicks Telemark out of the stash and worked these guys up on Sunday. 70 minutes per mitten, not counting weaving in tails.
After the tails were woven in, there was still more time left in the day. I pulled out The Complete Photo Book of Knitting (nifty book, but pleasepleasePLEASE do not use it as a reference for picking up stitches from bound off or cast on edges, or mattress stitch.) and worked up a twined mitten. Found two errata! My day is made when I can fix a little bit of errata in this big wide world of ours.

Yesterday I made the mate, and then cast around for something to do. It needed to be small, since a large project is lurking in the wings and I don't like having too many projects on the needles. I settled upon the Wooly Bear Mittens from the latest issue of Knitting Traditions, and got started on those with some Bartlettyarns Sport - until I discovered that yarn and gauge did not go together. My new project ended up being a pair of socks for Filius.

For a few months, I've been listening to audiobooks while knitting. I didn't have anything on my iPod I hadn't listened to, though, and was in the middle of Giants in the Earth - so I got that out and read. It's a nice change to have a knitting project I can read during! Those Bavarian stockings are NOT something you can knit and read through.

Giants in the Earth is, so far, an enjoyable book. It's like Little House on the Prairie for adults. I think I may have to hunt up other books by the author.