so lost on a trail walked by so many

I took more pictures of sheep in the last week than I have in the rest of my life combined. (And all of them were basically in one day.) However, since this is a knitting blog, I'll try to limit the pictures to the ones that are slightly less tangential to knitting.
Despite its clear proximity to our hiking trail, Wamps did not pick up any of this fiber to spin at home.

(Apparently, animals are allowed to graze on the National Parks lands during the winter.)

Even almost on-point: That's a cowl that you've seen briefly before, knit out of Plucky Cashmere Fingering Weight in an improvised pattern (colorway: London Calling). (I did sew in the ends just so I could wear it on this trip.) And a Wispy Cardy in Plucky Merino Lace (colorway: Summer at the Shore). Plus the wristwarmers that Wamps made me years ago. (See their first trip to the UK here.) Here's to traveling knitwear!

knitting and other happy-making things

I've sent off a few handknits in the last week or so, so I figured I should also post them to the blog. The first package included this hat: Foliage, in Plucky Knitter cashmere fingering weight in Rustica.
I worked the hat with two strands of the yarn on US 6s. Hat mods here. The matching wristwarmers were knit with one strand on US 4s. (Details here on adapting the hat pattern to wristwarmers.)
As with many lovely yarns, I struggled to capture its color but think that the first shot of the wristwarmers probably gets it the best. As far as cashmere yarns go, I think this one is a great value, since this whole set used less than 1.5 skeins (hat: less than 1 skein; wristwarmers: less than 0.5 skeins).

On EW's orders, I am posting two non-knitting, but happy-making things to the blog. First up: flannel pajama pants that my mom made me. The fabric is Amy Butler flannel from Stitchers Crossing. She was working off a pattern, but, apparently, they were turning out odd so she basically winged it. I am so happy for cool nights when I can wear these. (They have shrunk a little in the wash since this photo, but that's all for the best.)
And my new fall bag, which is what came of having too many lovely birthday gifts.
I hope you all have time for knitting and other happy-making things!

These may look familiar...

I think one of the reasons that knitting continues to be something that I enjoy and want to continue with is that the craft is a constant source of learning. And it's a learning process that very much has to take place as a learn-as-you-go, which is also very satisfying.

It's not just that you learn new techniques (I <3 Magic Loop!) as you go along, or that you figure out how to correct mistakes (being able to unknit a few stitches still makes me really happy), but the community of knitting, and how we as people function within it is so interesting and (at times) satisfyingly methodical. Maybe this is stuff that other people get more immediately than I, but I still find it rather fascinating.

These mittens are a perfect example of that. Before "publishing" a pattern, one (of course!) must get it test knit by other knitters. It's the editor job of the knitting world, and so so fun!

Not only do you get a first run at a new pattern, but you can to participate in the art of creation. (And sometimes you don't even have to provide the yarn!)

Ms. HEB designed these mittens as a gift for a friend, and after several requests on ravelry, decided to publish an official pattern for them. I was lucky enough to win one of the test knitter positions.



As this picture shows, these mittens are awesome. They're perfect for surprise chilliness in relatively warm weather, and fit perfectly under light sweaters or jackets.*

Furthermore, they use up hardly any yarn. Two whole pairs can be knit up with one skein of plucky fingering, and it goes fast, and can be accomplished while writing a thesis!



So, test knitting. One more box on the "now I get it" knitting check list. If you're still on the cusp of the knitting life, come on in. The weather is perfect for fingerless mittens.

*In fact, I finally sewed the ends in on these when I was house sitting and suddenly there was all-day-long foggy, chilly weather and I had only packed summer clothes. Thank you, HEB mittens, for preventing pneumonia!

this post brought to you by many proxy purchases

Now that they have all been gifted, I can finally post about a series of wristwarmers that I knit this winter. They were for some dear friends from law school under the theory that fighting the man is easier when your wrists are warm. (We'll ignore the fact that one of those dear friends is, actually, the man, but, you know, less so than under the last administration. And she was finally transferred to the division that she actually agreed to be in, so now she's the man who prosecutes corruption within the man.) Ideally, they would have made it to this group's mid-January reunion, but a few other knits took up the space in my queue during the months prior. But everyone loves getting packages in the mail, right?

First up: for the friend who's fighting teen dating violence despite the best efforts of non-profit bureaucracy, Easy Lace Fingerless Mittens knit in Plucky Knitter Merino Cashmere Nylon (MCN) Worsted in Vito. (Mods here) Next on line: for the friend who's fighting the creation of a 180-page Constitution that actually reduces rights held by the people, a pattern of my own design in Plucky Knitter MCN Fingering in Riverview Drive. (Rav details here)
(Her wristwarmers are fingering weight because she's dividing her time between the States and the much warmer country where they are considering adopting that Constitution.)

For the friend who's fighting snarky questions from Posner on oral argument, Evangeline knit up in PK MCN Worsted in Montgomery. (Rav link here)
And for the friend who's fighting 200-page memos to help inform the decisions of the highest court in her state, the worsted-weight version of my wristwarmer design and a hat designed to match in PK MCN Worsted in Nectar and Well Read, respectively. (Rav links here and here)
(It was also her birthday, so that's why she got a hat, too.) Well Read has to rank high on my list of favorite colors ever, even though it's not in my usual range. It really looked like the leather on an old book and I couldn't get my camera to capture the pure glow of the yarn. Thinking about it right now, I'm still a little amazed that I managed to ship that hat away from me.

I had a lot of fun designing these patterns and am planning to publish them at some point. The fingering weight version is in the process of being test knit right now, thanks to a wonderful Raveler.

I'm incredibly grateful to EW for the proxy purchases responsible for three of the skeins of yarn represented here. Since she knew I was hunting PK MCN Worsted for this series, she kindly purchased Vito, Nectar and Well Read on my behalf at PK updates that I could not make. Thanks, EW! Way to be!