Selbu Mittens

Selbu Mittens
Originally uploaded by miss_reecie

Pattern: Selbu Mittens from Folk Mittens
Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills/Heirloom 5ply Easycare in Brown and Mushroom (1 50g ball of each).
Needles: Set of five 3.00mm bamboo DPN.
On Ravelry here.
The following disasters (of varying disastrousness) befell this knitting project since I started it in 2006(!):
1. After leaving the first mitten semi-complete for approximately 2 years, due to change in gauge/tension one of the mittens is slightly larger than the other. It's not really noticeable or aesthetically dodgy, just that one mitten fits my hand PERFECTLY and the other is a little baggy around the wrist.
2. All the stitches fell off the needles at least three times while languishing in the knitting basket for said period of 2 years
3. On the second mitten I forgot to put the waste yarn in for the peasant thumb. I realised this when I was almost up to the top of the mitten. This mistake may or may not have had anything to do with concentration issues due to extended viewing of Mighty Boosh episodes. I frogged back and valiantly re-knit pretty much the entire second mitten.

Melodrama aside, I'm actually really glad i finally finished these. For once it appears I chose the right colour scheme, and they're really warm. I left out the bit where you put codfish gall bladders inside the mittens (to cleanse and strengthen the wool) because I'm not a mad 19th century seafarer (more's the pity).

Wintry

Haruha Scarf in progress
Originally uploaded by miss_reecie

I've been thinking a lot lately about autumn/winter knits. Summer is pretty much over already, and the majority of this summer has been crazy rain and weird weather anyway. I actually much prefer winter anyway. Winter means soups and stews. Winter means hot chocolate. Winter means reading big Russian novels. Winter means boys in beanies and girls in stockings.
So I've been ogling various berets, scarves and mittens over on Ravelry and have cast on the Haruha scarf as my first official autumn/winter accessory. I have a gorgeous black Stella McCartney coat to keep me warm, so some hot knitted accessories will really jazz it up.