Having Fun With Mitts

Hello!  Are you having a good weekend?  First thank you for the well wishes, I am feeling better, not tip top yet but almost there.  I have no idea what was wrong, just an overall feeling of yuck!  So now I only have a slight feeling of yuck, so things are better.

I am being quite stern with myself in this new year.  I made myself finish the last Elise shawl, and now have marked two more projects off my list.  I have two very lovely friends that deserve a bit of a surprise.  Two different people, with different interests, both in different stages of their lives, and both  deserve a treat.

I think fingerless mitts were in order.  They are easy to knit up and fun to embellish. 

Pair number one were created from my Malabrigo stash, they are soft and yummy and lovely to wear.  I tried a bit of needle felting on them and it just did not look right, this yarn needs a more defined embellishment, nothing with rough edges, something simple, pure and pretty.

  

Just a little something to add a bit of pop.  Something to keep wonderful, thoughtful, hands warm on chilly days.

Mitts number two were an experiment in patience for me.  These little flower petals were cut up from my disaster Lucy bag.  I swear I am having such a good time finding ways to use these little bits of stripy felt.  I have never tried to needle felt something that was already felted onto something that was not felted at all.  I know that was one crazy sentence.  It took a LONG time to get these petals to attach to the knitting.  I believe this is Plymouth Encore yarn, maybe the wool content is too low for this process, maybe there is no wool at all?  I of course would have the answers to this if I had kept the ball bands with the yarn content information.

These are not upside down in the photo above, I made them especially this way to add a bit of whimsical interest.   How could you not be happy to put this bit of fun on your wrists to keep them warm?

 Sorry for the fuzzy photo above, but you get the idea.  Just a little bit of fun to say thank you for someone special, for being a lovely friend.

To continue my sternness with myself  I have now made it impossible to work on anything else until the dreaded African Flower Baby Blanket is complete.  I started this way, way back in the Spring and it has been in time out for months and months.  I actually moved it up to the top of my yarn cupboard so it would stop glaring at me.  I kept my head down every time I entered or exited my craft space so I would not have to see the disapproving glances from it that were directed my way.   The great niece this blanket is for was born in November, I think it is high time I got it finished.

So now I am on a mission, nothing else can be worked on until this baby is done.  I am creating 26 more African flowers, doing every single stage at once to get them done.  Yesterday was round one and two.  Today I am hoping for most of three and four.  Round five, the little green one always throws me a bit, I am not sure why but it does.

Last night I had a dream that I was running amuck in a yarn store grabbing yarn and buying a ton of it without thinking about it.  I had the fear in the back of my head that I was going to have to confess it all, to all of you.  Seriously!  I think all this sternness with projects and not buying yarn is starting to get to me.  I have really no desire to buy yarn right now, well consciously that is.  I just don't like anyone telling me what I can and cannot do, and that includes myself!

Maybe my yarn problem is much deeper than I thought?  By the way, I have made it to day 15 with no new yarn, all of the projects above are stash-busters!  Hooray for me!!!!

Are you also being stern with yourself this January?