knitting like a fiend

First, some wee pictures of stuff I've finished recently:





I really am pretty pleased with how the rainbow mitts turned out. I think I'm going to cast on another pair today (because I need some reasonably mobile knitting to take to choir concerts) with an eye to them being Christmas presents. Now is the time for Christmas knitting to begin in earnest, or it would be if the yarn I ordered would show up. Ok, that's mean, I do expect some of it today, and then I can get started on the Big Project, a sweater for my mom.

On the other hand, I could take my purple gloves to the concerts. That would be pretty mobile. No! It should be giftie time, right? Right.

remember books?

The Endpaper Mitts, as some of you may know, finish up with a tubular bind-off. This being the digital age, I looked online in a couple of places to find out how to do it, and they all turned out looking just dreadful. So in a fit of desperation I turned to the book I should have turned to in the first place, The Knitting Answer Book, by Margaret Radcliffe.

I think I've mentioned this book before, but not for a while. Dude, this book rocks. It's not very big, so you can take it with you, and it has really terrific, clear instructions for, well, every knitting thing I haven't been able to figure out otherwise. Needless to say, the tubular bind-off instructions were excellent, and the tops of my mitts look great. I wish I'd thought to look in the book when I couldn't figure out the tubular cast-on from online sources, but oh well, I'm planning to make another pair of the mitts, so I have another chance to learn.

The tubular bind-off looks pretty awesome in the 1x1 rib, by the way. I highly recommend it, and I'm not usually a fan of sewn bind-offs.

glubs.

Or, rather, fingerless mitt-thingies. :)

First off, my friend loved the purple-and-green (with matching motif) mitts. Yay! Apparently they will go very well with her coat.

I've also started a pair of Endpaper Mitts for another friend, one who has been having a difficult time of it lately. I asked her what she likes in knitwear, and she suggested red, or rainbows. Ha! I have contrived to do both, and I kind of love them.



Sure, they'd do better with a bit more contrast between the red and the rainbow, but they will do their job well anyhow. That's a little Trekking XXL in #100, and some Knit Picks Palette in Pimento. Or maybe Lipstick. I don't remember. Oops. I am hoping to have enough of the Trekking left that I can do a pair with black instead of the red. And then either keep them for myself (though, as we know, I really don't need any more mitts) or make someone's Christmas (or Random Present Day) merry.

As for my socks, I only need to do the cuff on the second one, but I have had a migraine for two days, and it's really slowed my life down. I think I'm better now. I'd better be. I will be so cranky if I feel like crap again tomorrow.

Socktober!

Usually I am not a joiner, but I cannot resist the hilarious punny good time that is Socktoberfest. Or maybe I just like knitting socks, and will leap at any excuse. Whichever. Here's what I've been up to, at the expense of various other projects that I should be finishing:

A pair of nice warm thick worsted weight socks, done with size 4 needles. No cold will be getting these puppies! I started them in the middle of last week, when it was all kinds of cold. I finished them on Friday or Saturday, when it was around 75 and sunny, so yeah, haven't worn them yet. I dig them, though!



Orange socks! Oh, how I love the orange. The pattern is Scylla, if anyone's wondering. It's doing pretty well at staving off any horrible pooling, although the second sock seems to have all the bright bits of color on the sole and all the drabber bits on the front. 'Drabber' being a term I use loosely because it's still plenty bright.



I've also been wanting to do some sort of colorwork sock, but really, I should finish my grey shawl--I just have to do the crocheted edging, dammit!--and knit up the last quarter of the heinous woolly undershorts I've been threatening to make forever. Oh, and my purple gloves. Yeah. I don't even know where they are. Ooops . . .