good-natured ribbing

I seem to be on a small break from knitting right now, however, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a break from shopping. And so I present these adorable handmade knitting needles that I’m considering getting a set (or six) of

From Pertineer on Etsy.

. . . cupcakes! Mmmm…these look amazing. I don’t have the patience to make them, so all I can do is gaze and covet. Enjoy!

Knit Night Cupcakes

Wow…this is quite a thing to see.

http://www.mohairknitter.com/MOHAIR_CATSUIT_MOHAIRKNITTER.htm

So I haven’t been knitting at all lately. I got really engrossed reading a book I picked-up used on Amazon for $1: The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks. It’s a bit trashy, but I’m terribly fascinated by sharks, so it’s been a great read. And hey, it only cost $1!! Now that it’s over, I’m ready to start on a new project. I’m looking for a lightweight scarf pattern, something cute to go with my new black spring jacket. Maybe something lacy, I don’t know. Does anyone have any good suggestions?

My other motive for posting, even though I haven’t been knitting, is to share a picture of Leo that my sister sent me. He’s wearing a little hat I knitted up for him about a month ago, so technically, it’s appropriate for a knitting blog.

After $85 and a new set of sparkplugs, I was finally able to return home yesterday. And my reward…my Knit Mitt Kit had arrived, yay! I’m so pleased with it. The bag is just adorable and I’m really excited to make the pattern she sent. It’s for some very cute pirate mittens. And there was chocolate in there too, which I’ve hidden away from my sneaky, chocolate-fiend mother, so hopefully there will be some left for me when I get home from work today. Many thanks go out to my swap buddy, Jan. Thank-you, thank-you, I love it!

And now, for some pictures. Here’s one of the bag with a small furry creature in it, for scale:

Here is a close up of the interior of the bag, just because the pattern is so cool and to show off the handy pockets and nice decorative strap:

Here is the full kit, including needles, markers, black and cream yarn, wool detergent, chocolates (!), pirate mitten pattern, and a cute sheep card:

I even managed to find a good use for the box the kit came in. Yay mittens!

Are you allergic to any fibers? No

What are your favorite colors? Earth-tones, like taupe, brown, burnt orangy colors, or sea-tones like blue, gray, muted green.

Are you a new mitt knitter? Yes – I’ve been meaning to start some fingerless mitts (the Fetching pattern from Knitty.com), but I haven’t yet, so I am technically a mitten newbie.

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? I like tweeds, heathers, and multicolored yarns.

What fibers do you prefer in mitten yarn? It can get brutally cold in Michigan, so something warm and protective would be lovely — probably a wool or wool blend of some sort.

Where do you usually knit mittens? I haven’t done so yet, but I typically knit at home, plopped on the couch.

How do you usually carry/store small projects? Often in the bag from the LYS where I bought the yarn.

What are your favorite mitten patterns? I don’t have any favorites, feel free to surprise me.

What are your favorite mitten knitting techniques? I’ve not made any mittens, but a general knitting technique I like is knitting cables. I’ve done some cabled scarves and I’m in the middle of a cable sweater.

What new techniques would you like to try? I’ve not done any color work on past projects, so mittens might be a good little project to get my feet wet on that. I especially like items that have a little skully on them (a skull and crossbones…yes, like a pirate). :-)

What are your favorite needles for knitting mittens? Well, I’m not a big fan of tiny, tiny needles, so if I can use anything above a US 6, that’s fine by me.

What are some of your favorite yarns? Tahki New Tweed, cashmerino of any kind, Rowan’s all season cotton, Noro Blossom and Kureyon.

What yarn do you totally covet? Noro Transitions – so pretty, so expensive.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? Probably I would make a long cardigan sweater (like mid-thigh length, sweater-jacket) with some nice cables using either some obscenely expensive cashmere or a soft and subtle hand-painted yarn (ooh, with some silk in it….mmmm).

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? I like bamboo needles best for straight. For circular, I either use bamboo or an Addi turbo.

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Well, according to the “What kind of yarn are you” quiz, I’m mohair. But I don’t know about that…I think I’m probably rather tweedy and chunky.

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Ooh, no candy — I overdid it at Halloween. Well, maybe a little bit of chocolate would be nice…

What’s your favorite animal? I have many, but I especially like big, fluffy dogs, llamas, tigers, and bears. Ooh, and geckos.

Would you prefer super warm mittens or something more like fingerless mitts? Super-warm mittens…like I said, it’s cold here.

If you were a color what color would you be? Hmm, I don’t know. I’d probably be a Jcrew color, like graphite or java or ivy or ecru…

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? Super-vivid pics of frogs, like the ones I have decorating my bathroom.

Do you have a wishlist? I love to read, so my Amazon wish list is about a mile long. And I like big slouchy bags — I’m an over-packer by nature, so even my purse is stuff full of…well, stuff! I’m also a big fan of cuff bracelets in rustic-looking metals. It’s my weakness, really.

Anything else you’d like to share with the group today? Can’t wait to start on some mittens! yay!

According to the What Kind of Yarn Are You? quiz:

You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that’s okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.

Hmmm, I would’ve thought I’d be a low-key woolly tweed myself, but what do I know?

You can’t escape the wrath of my goofy hats, especially if you are a tiny, defenseless baby.

So I finished up the hat I started knitting on the plane to NY last month…finally. I was being a total procrastinator on this, plus I knew I would once again have to look Kitchener’s stitch, because I haven’t managed to free up enough room in my brain to remember how to do it for longer than, oh, 3 minutes. In fact, I managed to mess it up so my hat looks like it’s got a few random perl stitches across the top, but I think I’m over that now.

Anyway, here it is, modeled fetchingly by my hand:

And here is the lucky receipient, my cousin’s newborn daughter Zoe Nicole Parker, taking a snooze: