The Mitts Are Done - yay!

Hooray, I've finished the cabled mitts! I am very happy with how they came out. I did make a few modifications to the pattern - I made the mitts longer, since I have long fingers. I made them taper a bit at the finger-tips so they don't get baggy. I also didn't do the picot bind-off, as Larissa said that type of ending rolls back easily. This was my first experience knitting cables, and I think it went well!

As to the functionality of these mitts - I was explaining that these mitts could be used when it's cold out but you want to get your metrocard out, or find change for the meter, or use your camera to take a picture for your scrap-book outside in the cold! They'd be good for any time you need to maintain dexterity while keeping warm! Loyal reader Tom said "so... you could use these to smoke a cigarette while standing outside a bar in the cold then?". True, one could. Although the thought of one of my knitted projects getting all smokey does make me sad, he points out an additional valid application of these mitts. I just thought they were a good project to start cables on. And I like the autumn colors of the yarn.

I joined the SOAB (Swap on A Budget) group on Ravelry. I am so excited! I've never done a swap! It's a $20 one, where you get assigned a "spoilee" and send them a little knitting gift package based one a brief questionnaire everyone participating completes. Each "spoiler" puts together a kit of 1 knitted item by you, at least one skein of new yarn, a pattern for the new yarn, plus some treats (such as coffee, teas, chocolates, stationary, etc.). Each spoiler mails their spoilee their package and then it's like Christmas in September! I am so excited to get assigned my spoilee! I think it's just nice that someone puts something special together for you! I'll have that project coming up, I need to get back to DH's other sock, and also work on Central Park Hoodie in time for cooler weather. I like having logs of projects going. If I get tired of one (or have to put one in "time out"), there are other things to keep me busy. And TRUST ME, a busy couch-knitter is better than an idle couch-knitter....

Anniversary and Cables

With all the rain that fell in June, it's particularly nice to enjoy the warm, sunny weather July has brought. DH and I (by the way, DH is short for Dear Hubby) spent Saturday morning at the Bronx Zoo. I haven't been to the zoo is a good number of years, and we really had a nice time. This Wednesday is our 3 year wedding anniversary, so we decided to wander around the zoo and then have lunch in Manhattan afterwards.

I'd forgotten how big the Bronx Zoo is! There was a lot to see, and we didn't even see everything! Highlights were the adorable lemurs, the playful polar bear, and the butterfly garden - I love the fact that you can just sit in the butterfly garden and watch all the beautiful butterflies dance around. My favorite was the giraffes - we saw a family of 5, including a baby giraffe named "Margret". How sweet! Giraffe are beautiful - tall and elegant, quietly munching on foliage... they seem so peaceful!

I will say I didn't particularly enjoy the koi pond in the butterfly garden - I was sitting on the edge of it, enjoying watching the butterflies flutter about, when I heard a lazy splash behind me - I turned around and saw an all-too-shallow pool of water with dozens of overgrown, slimy, slow-moving, straggly-moustached creatures swirling about. There were so many of them, they were practically climbing on top of each other - it was as if they were trying to step on each other to escape their murky pool. Someone really needs to club those ugly beasts. I remember when J and I were in Hawaii at dinner, the restaurant matri'd, seeing that we were newlyweds, seated us right alongside the koi pond. I recall asking DH if I could pour my coffee or perhaps drop a sugar cube into the water to get them to go away. DH, the ever-present voice of reason in our relationship, said no. Anyhoo, now that I think about it I suppose it could be said that sitting by the pond at the zoo this weekend did bring us back to our honeymoon in Hawaii, so if fish do serve one purpose in my life, that was it, and maybe this was an appropriate anniversary activity in a round about way after all.

So what's cooking on the needles - cables, that's what! I've always wanted to try cables, and on Sunday I did. I'm working on a pair of hand warmers (a.k.a. fetching gloves, a.k.a. fingerless gloves - and let's not get into a discussion of their functionality at this point) that call for a few cables in the cuffs. Knitting cables involves re-locating a few stitches onto a spare needle, holding them to the front or the back of the work (depending on if you want a cable twisting to the right of left) while you continue to knit, and then going back and knitting these stitches-in-waiting. It's definitely not as difficult as I thought on paper, but I do have a hard time working with 5 DPN. Once I had the spare needle slip off, which wasn't good. I tried using a cable needle, but found that too slippery as well. I've heard of people using a safety pin, which might work for me. I'll have to give that a try when I work on the opposite mit.

We have a tentative close date for our house! 14.Aug, just has to be vetted by the attorneys. We've got some boxes to start filling, so I plan to work on that during the week, too. So much to do!