While using this yarn, I imagined old gold necklaces, small tarnished silver boxes holding pins, and pewter mugs. There are hints of green barely discernible which add to the whole effect.

No sun today, so the colors are muted.

Garter stitch cuff. Chevron stitch on the leg.
Eye of partridge heel flap.

Purl ribs run down the instep and then dissipate into the toe.

An inside picture using flash. The colors in this picture are a warmer than the actual colorway. The color is somewhere in between the inside and outside pictures. I like the way the chevron stitch moves the colors.

DETAILS
YARN: Fleece Artist Sea Wool, Bronze colorway.
PATTERN: My own. I swatched 4 different patterns with this yarn, finally decided I was done playing with the yarn, and made this up as I went along. Once I finished these, I noticed there is a sock pattern on the yarn band that is surprisingly similar to my final pattern. Too funny.
NEEDLES: 2.5 mm circular, magic loop method.

Open-end mitts

This reminds me of something....










These are the open-ended mitts that I started Wednesday afternoon.

A picture that gives an idea of the color (a little washed out due to the flash) ...
It is nice to have my daughter at home to model my knits.

A side-lighted, no-flash picture for stitch definition...


And one that shows the detailing on the thumb (a patch of garter stitch to mimic the hand)....

DETAILS
YARN: Stampato Extra, 100% Australian Merino, shrink resistant.
PATTERN: My own. I believe the stitch is called 'broken rib'.
NEEDLES: dpn size 6 U.S. (yarn calls for size 7)

Edited to add:
I thought I would like to explain the reasoning behind my madness. I want to wear these while driving to and from work and the store, so they need to cover my fingers to keep them warm. I have diminished sensation in one of my hands and I tend to drop things, so I did not want to have to take them off to get things out of my purse, such as keys or change, and risk dropping my mitts. That led to the open-end design. If I want to wear them while knitting or typing, then I can just fold back the part covering my fingers eliminating the need to take them off. In my mind, this made them a little more versatile than mittens or gloves.

Paroxysmal startitis

My son had exams until 4 p.m. yesterday (the day before the Thanksgiving holiday), and so he and my daughter were not able to start their drive home until it was getting dark. Driving a 20-year-old car in holiday traffic over 3 mountain passes in freezing temperatures in the dark is concerning to me. I decided I would not allow myself to be fearful, but I noticed I was increasingly unsettled as the day wore on. I had the sudden need to knit a second pair of gloves, and so when I had trouble concentrating on work I would pick up my yarn for a few minutes (I am still surprised how much that helps focus my thoughts). I went from gloves to mittens to fingerless mittens to 'I will decide when I get there' indecisiveness. It is going to be a quick knit. I think fingerless mittens that are extra long to cover my fingers will be perfect - which would make them 'fingertip-less mittens'.

p.s. My kids arrived just fine and on time. Silly mother.
p.p.s. Nothing wrong with 20-year-old cars. My car is 20+. I noticed that sometimes young drivers don't always recognize a car's warning signs that maintenance is needed.

This is keeping me company tonight while I work...

I am swatching the Tudor Grace pattern designed by Knitspot with Posh Yarn Lucia. Have you had a project that causes you to feel "Aaaahhhhhh...." relaxed inside? (silly question?)

The colors, yarn, and pattern all come together and make me feel knitter's bliss.

PATTERN: Bobble Scarf by Ann Budd
YARN: Noro Cash Iroho, 5 balls, approximately 450 yds. (Mr. and Mrs. T - do you recognize this from your blog contest?)
NEEDLES: Size 8 ebony needles

I kept knitting until I used all the yarn. The pattern calls for over 600 yards so mine is a bit shorter, which is just fine with me. The pattern uses faux bobbles and 1x1 rib, so it is reversible. One of the design features that attracted me to this pattern was how the faux bobbles are taken to the very edge of the pattern so that is makes the edge irregular. I really like that. I wanted the faux bobbles to have more definition and thought about doing real bobbles, but then it would no longer be reversible. I am attached to this scarf - the color has depth, the yarn is yummy against my skin, the 1x1 rib feels wonderful and adds depth, and the faux bobbles are rather wild. I enjoy noticing patterns in nature and ordinary things, and hopefully you will understand if I say this scarf reminds me of flies on the screen door. This time of year as the seasons are changing the flies sit on the screen door, and I noticed the pattern of the flies against the grid of the screen, how some flies are together and some are alone. (I also notice birds sitting on a wire, the pattern they make, and how they group while they are chatting.) Anyway, my private name for this scarf is "flies on a screendoor".



Wouldn't you like to see a group of knitters get in the Cash Cab? (a game show on Discovery Channel that takes place in a taxi)

Wow! Excellent book.
I preordered Knitted Lace of Estonia from Amazon a while back and it just arrived. I have browsed through this a couple of times and it has everything I look for in a knitting book: history, construction techniques, plenty of lovely patterns, and a stitch dictionary. I look forward to reading it cover to cover. It is written by Nancy Bush and edited by Ann Budd, so it is no surprise to find it exceptional.

Gloves summary:
YARN: Socks that Rock, medium weight.
PATTERN: The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, Ann Budd.
NEEDLES: KnitPicks fixed circular size 3 mm, magic loop style.

I liked the pattern. The gloves fit nicely. I was going to embelish them and add a stitch pattern to the back of the hand, but I decided I would prefer that they were interchangeable, so I left them plain. The color is so pretty that I don't feel they lack anything.