mitten im leben

I haven't had time for too much crafting over the last couple of weeks, but I did just finish these little mitts for my sister-in-law's birthday.

The pattern was very easy-to-follow and it should have been a straightforward project. However just as I was finishing the second, I noticed a small anomaly in the pattern, halfway down the mitt and although it was a small error that I doubt Ruby would have noticed, the perfectionist in me was compelled to rip it down and do it again!

 

I used about 40g of Palette Vintage yarn in Otter. The yarn was interesting to knit with- at first I was struggling to believe that it was worsted weight, because it felt quite fine, but, to my surprise, it did knit up to the required gauge. It's a 70% wool / 30% soya bean mix (I must say 'Vintage' is a strange choice of name for such a modern fibre) and I think the soya gave the fibre strength, as it was quite a fluffy yarn that would have kept splitting without the soya. My main criticism of it would be that it is very unevenly spun and quite lumpy, making the stitches look a little scruffy in places. I really love the colourway  but I think the lumpiness was just too much of an irritation for me to use it again (although it appears to have been significantly reduced since I bought it, so I may just have to stash a few more balls- you know me and a bargain...)

Despite those few minor whinges, I do really love how these mitts turned out and I will be using the pattern again to make some for myself, as I seem to only be able to find one of my mittens from last winter and my hands are getting chilly!

Oh, and things are looking up on the home-front. More about that another day, but I may be a little absent for a few weeks while we start the daunting task of packing up!