Fingerless.

So while my fingers have been keeping busy, my hands have been staying warm :)

I finally figured out this mosaic hullaballoo, so here's my first one.

With winter practically here, I have been getting lots of requests for fingerless mittens. This is good, mainly because I hate knitting fingers. I cannot think of anything more tedious and fiddly. People are lucky to get thumbs, that's all I can say.

The mitts have been a bit of therapy for me really. Nice quick projects (most finished over one or two days) and usually I learn some new technique with them. (Warning: Lots of ravelry links coming.)

First there were the Dragon Scale Guantlets for myself. These were made using leftover yarn from my Soft Kid Bubble - Rowan RYC Baby Alpaca DK. These are so soft and snuggly - not to mention warm! - and aren't too scratchy to sit against my skin (see blog title above!). The pattern kept me pretty interested too, which can sometimes be a problem when I have to knit two of something (sleeves, socks, etc.).

Then there was my second-ever Dashing - a request from my friend Naomi, who was gifted the first set after I realised I really can't handle Kilcarra Aran Tweed on my arms. I used Rown Kid Classic on these - a yarn that's lovely and fuzzy, with a nice, soft stitch definition that produces pretty professional-looking results no matter what the pattern.

As you know from my last post, I have also been working on Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. These are obviously going to be a bit more slow-going than the others due to the stitchwork, but I have run low on the Baby Alpaca DK (even more leftovers from the Soft Kid Bubble and Dragon Scale Gauntlets!) so may rip back and shorten the wrist portion.

Then there's Veyla. This used the tiniest amount of RYC Cashsoft 4-ply and is the extremely well-written pattern from Ysolda Teague. These were originally intended for my friend Lara's birthday present - she being an aficionado of all things Victorian, but I decided that the sheen from the yarn was a bit too much for these - if you look at Ysolda's original, the halo from her use of an alpaca blend is really what clinches the vintage look. So I stole the buttons off these and used them instead on...

The Plain Talk Ruffled Mittens by Laura Irwin (in the lovely book Boutique Knits). I think these are my favourite. I decided to not to go full-mitten (Lara's a smoker), so shortened the hand portion, adding some ribbing on the top and keeping the thumbs open. The ruffles are glorious, and the first thing Lara said when I gave them to her was, "How Victorian!" Mission accomplished.

I am off to Wales tomorrow for the first time and am looking forward to so much: walks in Brecon Beacons Nation Park with the Australian, cosying up in our rented cottage in front of the inglenook fireplace, wearing wellies in the mud, sitting in warm pub with a pint of cider, visiting the National Wool Museum... and knitting of course.

The Australian and I are both bringing our cameras (he his big SLR and the Lomo my dad gave him, and me my little digital Fuji) so expect lots of photos of our adventures.