Saturday, January 23, 2010

Hot and grumpy

grey mitts

I've spent quite a bit of time today working on some fingerless mitts in Rowan Felted Tweed. They're Friends of the Forest Mittens by Katrin Silvius, from which I've omitted the bobbles. I can hardly think of a less appropriate thing to do on a day where the temperature has hovered in the high thirties centigrade (about 100 Farenheit).

But I've had such trouble with this relatively simple and straightforward project that I'm determined to get it back on track - despite the weather. I think I've actually re-started these mitts five times. An initial problem was that the recommended needle size was 2.25mm, which resulted in an unpleasantly dense and immovable fabric. I changed to 3.00mm. Once, I actually knitted as far as the thumb gusset, only to realise that the lace pattern was just out of kilter. I was so tempted to ignore it, but I knew I would see the error every time I wore the mitts. After I'd unravelled and reknitted, the same misalignment happened again. So, I've either misinterpreted the pattern the same way twice, or there's an error in the pattern. I'm too grumpy at present to work out which applies, and I've adjusted the pattern so the outcome is fine. Consequently, I'll wait until I make the second mitt to work out just what's gone wrong.

Anyway, a cool change to the weather seems to be blustering through, and I'm off to meet friends and see the Australian musical film 'Bran Nue Dae' in an air-conditioned cinema. Around 1990 I saw the theatrical version of 'Bran Nue Dae' with my children. We also had a cd of the sound track and sang bits of it for weeks afterwards. I'm going to have fun.

And then I'll come home and knit some more on my mitts - and be cool and calm.

5 comments:

Sel and Poivre said...

I'll be interested to see how the pattern turns out without bobbles. I'm generally turned off patterns by the presence of them but it never occurred to me to omit them!

Is there any chance doing that is what's getting in the way of success for you?

DrK said...

yesterday made everything grumpy i think, knitting included. they do look lovely tho, and i see you are busy planning for the trip! what did you think of the movie version?

Lynne said...

Hurray for Sydney's "southerly busters!"

Rose Red said...

Oh, how annoying about the error! I think I would have picked a different pattern after that - but I do admire your persistence!

Looking forward to hearing what you think of the movie.

M-H said...

These are such chic petit mitts. You will be tres parisienne with these on your hands.