WIP it!

I haven't really knit anything REAL since I finished my Intolerable Cruelty skirt. I've done a bit of playing around with stitch patterns, but not even much of that. I've been reading design books and stuff instead. Now, though, I've decided that with the cold weather starting to set in (jeez, it's not even 40 yet here in Cambridge!), it's time for me to knit those thrummed mittens that I've been talking about. I'm using the Yarn Forward pattern. I have some pretty merino-silk top in purple, aqua, green, and orange that a friend gave me. Unfortunately, it's only one ounce. I need two. So, I'm also going to use an ounce of the red merino top she gave me. I wanted to use that whole thing for spinning, but frankly, I can't imagine that I'll be good enough at spinning any time soon to really do justice to it. So. These things will be for the thrums. For the mittens themselves, I got some lovely black Ultra Alpaca from Berocco. The blend of alpaca and wool should be beautifully warm. It was also quite reasonably priced at $10 per skein. That was less than I thought it would be, and the same price as the Cascade 220 tweed I'd been looking at before I picked it up. I only got one skein. They say 100 grams is enough (seriously, what kind of pattern doesn't give yardage?), so...we'll see. If it's not, I'll get another skein.

I'm so excited about these mittens! I have bad circulation in my hands, and I tend to walk a lot and stand at bus stops and stuff. On cold days in the winter, my hands get cold enough to hurt terribly. Last winter was so incredibly cold that this was a frequent occurrence. I'm hoping that the thrummed mittens will really keep my hands warm. They're going to be super cute, too, with alternating rows of red and rainbow thrums showing through the black! It'll be like a Lite-Brite. Remember those? I loved them. I cast on last night, and I've done the cuff and three repeats of the thrum pattern so far (two rows of red and one of rainbow). Here's a shot of the progress.