I'm Back

This blog has been badly ignored, almost abandoned, for the last seven months. I have nothing better in the way of excuse other than that life got in the way.  I put away my needles for the summer and all the other crafts also took a back seat to my family obligations. The next few months are also going to be busy but I hope to put up a few posts now and then.
In knitting news, I only restarted knitting last month and have knitted only two pairs of fingerless gloves.

The first one was a DROPS design that I made on comission. I always enjoy colorwork so it was a breeze. Once it was done, I wanted to knit another.

This design was reverse-engineered from an pin on pinterest. It has some embroidery too, in the form of a flower an the back of the wrist, and I add some pearl beads for good measure. I guess my eldest daughter will be claiming this pair.

  In other news, my biggest project of the year (fourteen months to be exact), the dollhouse, is nearing completion. I just need to add a few minor things and take pictures.

  Other than that, our life has been most ordinary and routine, Alhamdulillah. The weather is slowly turning milder and I feel knitting beckoning me once more. Letvus see how much I can manage in the coming months.

Gloves

The past few months have been intense. Important family affairs took much of my attention, time and energy, so I had little to give to this blog. My crafts slowed down but did not halt, as I would be lost without them.

Coming to knitting, I got some comission work for the first time in my life. I used to dread knitting to someone else's specifications, but it was surprisingly pleasant. I knit some things, I would not normally knit and it was refreshing and fun.

As for the actual projects, these were fingerless gloves_ four pairs. The first was straightforward enough, a DROPS pattern which went fast and quick.

The other three I had to reverse-engineer from some photo the client sent me. There were two pairs of same design in different sizes.

The last one was unique in that main and contrasting colors were revesed for the two gloves of the pair and there were pompoms. Now while I know how to make pompoms, I have not had much practice. So it was an interesting experiment and I got them right in the second try.

Here is the completed comission in full. I am happy to report that it was well-received.

The glove saga does not end here, as last week, my son handed  me some yarn (he has some of his own, isn't that cool?) and asked me to make a pair for him. He drew out the design for me. This one was simple enough to knit, but six rows of duplicate stitch took almost three hours. He is well-pleased with his design.

Hopefully these are all the gloves for this season. I'm eager to work on something new and have just cast on a different kind of project.

Snowflake Gloves

These days, my son is really taken with all things frost-related. So it came to me as no surprise when he wanted me to make him a pair of gloves with snowflakes on them. But it was taking a things to far, when he decided he wanted the color of gloves to be light blue. I tried to talk him into navy blue, but there was no dissuading him. Also, he handpicked the snowflake and all.

   Though not my first choice of color, the light blue has slowly grown on me and the finished gloves do look quite cute. And, of course, they make him very happy, so much so that he has worn them to school for two days straight (and brought back an intact pair).

By the time these pictures were taken, the gloves had seen two days of  wear.

 For the actual knitting, I took elements from a couple of patterns, with a bit of improvisation thrown in. The patterns are listed on the ravelry project page. I ran out of blue yarn with an inch of thumb left to be knit, and the extra few yards that I managed to get from the yarn shop, were not an exact match. So, I did a bit of striping, alternating both yarns at the left thumb, in an effort to blend them. All in all, this pair for a pleasure to knit, and I think I love knitting fair-isle more than the cables.

Little Red Gloves

 My older daughter requested a pair of red gloves for the chilly mornings at school. She was very particular about the details. She wanted a simple pair in red with a tiny cuff. The only red yarn I had was worsted weight, so I picked out a pattern in that size, on ravelry and got to work. These went incredibly fast especially when they come at the end of a cardigan. The pattern is a no-brainer and goes really fast. I used up less than half a ball of Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (Red Fox).

DinoMitts v 2.0

I had made a similar pair although in dull colors, a few months back. Now, I decided to write the pattern and test knit again. So, this pair was created. The colors this time round are quite bright and cheery. My son helped me with the yarns. Other than that, the spine of the spinosaurus is slightly different, so that my son tells me it is no longer a spinosaurus but rather resembles a T-Rex, LOL. May be some parent with greater knowledge about the dinosaurs can help with the identification :)

It's amazing what a different the right yarn and colormake to a project. My son is thrilled with this new pair.

Now, I'm going to have another test knitter knit these, before putting up the pattern in a week's time, inshaAllah.

Hands Warming

There are a few accessories I really love even if I don't get to use them as much as I would like, bags being one and gloves another. Now with the promise of winter in sight, I wanted to knit myself a pair of fingerless gloves. I also needed a break from my tangled yoke cardi.

The pattern is Bronte's Mitts and the yarn is Mystic Alpaca. No modifications in the pattern.
I can not wait to try out these gloves. These will go well with my winter scarf and abaya.

Thread Crochet Lace Gloves

I had started this pair of gloves in 2000 but after completing the first, I was hit with the second glove syndrome and the WIP(work in progress) went into hibernation. Finally, I got these out this year and listed as WIP on my raverly projects. Seeing these day in and day out, gave me the required motivation and I finally finished them. The pattern is from a burda crochet lace magazine. I did it in simple black sewing thread with 0.6mm hook. The black color and it being thread, made this project a little hard for the eyes. However I still love the patten as much as I did seven years ago. If I remember correctly, I had also started a pair in white. I will have to finish that as well if and when I find it. As for spinning news, I am almost halfway through the roving and loving it.

My fingerless gloves

With the temperature dropping below freezing here in Islamabad, my hands were feeling pretty cold. So, I had to find time to make a pair of fingerless gloves for myself. Here goes my first project for the new year!