Finally! Some Recent Knitting!

I lost my motivation to knit right around the time I went to the writer's conference in April. Or maybe it was the month before, I don't remember. I lost the motivation to do a lot of the things I love right around the same time. I wasn't reading, and despite the fact that I'd pledged to work on my novel and short stories for at least one hour a day, I wasn't even doing that. My life over those months consisted of an annoying commute, a stressful workday, and going through the motions of dinner and bedtime stories before plopping on the couch with a closed notebook in my lap and staring like a zombie at the television or falling asleep. Rinse and repeat.

But in the past couple of weeks, some of the stress has lifted, and I'm getting back in the groove, slowly but surely. (Many thanks to Serena for motivating me to write and blog again and to Dawn for motivating me to pick up the needles again. It's great to have friends who care!) I still need to read more, but even that's improving. I finished a book on Friday and another this afternoon. I've been sleeping on the train and recently slept through my Metro stop. So not cool. Anyway...

I picked up a mitten project that I started in February. I'd cast on for the second mitten and never started it. I brought it with me earlier this month to one of The Girl's baseball games and had two boys on her team compliment my knitting. One actually leaned up against my chair and casually said, "That's some nice knitting you got there," almost like it was a pickup line. I just about died laughing. I digress yet again.

Red Cabled Mittens

Pattern: Basic Cabled Mittens by Amy O'Dell of Whistlepea Knits

Yarn: Sandnes Garn Smart Superwash (approximately 2 balls, color 4065)

Needles: U.S. 6 bamboo DPNs

Started: Feb. 2008

Finished: June 2008

Modifications: Out of stupidity, I crossed the cables wrong on the left mitten, but I didn't want to lose my motivation to knit again, so I didn't have the heart to unknit and start over. I don't think it looks bad, though. The only change I made was on the thumb; I picked up 6 stitches instead of the 2 stitches called for in the pattern. It makes the thumb look pretty big, but it fit perfectly and looks completely normal when I put them on.

This was the first time I knit mittens in the round, and it won't be the last. I'm not good at picking up stitches without leaving holes, but I'm willing to fudge a bit to avoid seaming (not that I really mind seaming, it just takes a lot of time to do it right). Amy's pattern is fairly easy and involves cables...what's not to love?



**Photos Copyright 2008 Serena M. Agusto-Cox**