Patons Next Steps Seven

by Kelly

Time to push the envelope again...this time the challenge is mittens.

Sorry for the poor lighting in that picture - it's awfully early here, because kitty has to go to the vet today and I won't be home at my normal posting time.

At any rate. last time I made mittens, there was a hole near the thumb that I couldn't close up to my satisfaction. So when I was buying the Mary Maxim Kimono kit for my aunt, I also got the book above, Paton's Next Steps Seven, firstly because I needed to bump my total purchase over $35 to get free shipping, and secondly because I wanted to be able to knit mittens and gloves, darn it.

This book is really amazing - it walks the beginner knitter through many styles of mittens and gloves, on two needles, double pointed needles, and circular, and all in only 98 pages.

So I'm past the thumb and starting the main body of the mitten. Can't wait for the seaming ahead! So far, though, it's been quite fun.

And now I'm really interested in the other Paton's Next Step books. They have quite a variety. including a whole series of crochet books. My next step will probably be this one on cardigans. I have quite a selection of gray hoodies, but only one cardigan, which I never wear because the zipper doesn't work and replacing a zipper is way out of my comfort zone. But if I make my own cardigan, rest assured, no zippers will be involved. Of course, there may be buttons,and that means knitted button holes, which are also out of my comfort zone. (*Sigh*)

And by the way, that picture above reminds me of a television interview I saw with a magazine model, who related some of the strange instructions that were written into her scripts, which included 'laughing at fruit'. Google that phrase and you'll see what I mean. Modelling seems to be a very odd business.

Color of the Season

THE hot color this season is...Oxblood. What a truly horrible name for an albeit gorgeous color. Pantone puts out a color of the year, which is usually some wondrously flowery name like Honeysuckle or Tango Mango, but fashion designers everywhere are gaga for oxblood this fall.

http://shine.yahoo.com/the-thread-how-to/how-to-dress-in-falls-sexiest-color-oxblood.html

I'm trying to think back to my little Dawn kindergarten days, reaching into my big box of Crayola 64s which I'd finally convinced my mother was a necessity, sorting through my colors of thistle, cornflower and violet only to pull out oxblood! Can you imagine the psychological damage? Oh sure there were questionable colors, salmon, raw sienna, and even burnt orange, but I don't recall any colors inspired by bodily fluids back in Mrs. Stiglitts class. It's interesting to look at the current list of Crayola colors - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors and note names like, macaroni and cheese and manatee. My how things have changed. They're up to 133 standard colors now and I'm sure if I were 5 years old again, I would NEED every one of them. And then it occurred to me, I haven't really changed at all, I've just traded crayons for yarn. I NEED every one of the colors I see and luckily now I only have to convince my husband and he's a much softer sell than my mother ever was :)

So, if you see some oxblood yarn out there, you better grab it before I do!

Works in Progress

by Kelly

A short post today, about three projects in the making. Remember candy dots? Well, I thought it would be cute to make a candy dot scarf and hat set. What kid wouldn't like to wear candy as clothing?

I've been plugging away at this project for awhile now. It's a strange mixture of boring knitting and frustrating knitting, but I refuse to put it aside.


Then, of course, Dawn took Donna and me to a truly enormous Joann Fabric store, and I came away with material for two other projects:

The materials above look fairly ordinary, but the projects are actually really interesting, or at least I think so. Stay tuned!