Maloja Mitts for Lily

You'd think that after coming back from Las Vegas my first project would have sequins or yarn with some super-sparkle to it or maybe involve feathers...

That is not to say that this project isn't REALLY exciting.  Because I think it is.  Dark purple fingerless mittens with a subtle cable just isn't the expected project.  What makes this project so exciting, you ask?  Well, I knit both of these gloves at the same time and I used a technique called Magic Loop to do it. I'm pretty impressed with myself; this was something new for me.  I'm planning on writing a tutorial for how to do magic loop (complete with pictures and/or video if I can figure out how to film and knit at the same time) and posting it here, so keep a look out!  If you want to be emailed updates, send me a note at knittinsmitten@gmail.com and I'll add you to the mailing list.

In fairness to the visually inspiring city, these gloves were planned in advance and not a product of the Viva Elvis Cirque du Soleil show (which, I must admit, was pretty spectacular).  Like many of us who choose (or are forced) to leave our homes from October to mid-March, my friend Lily's hands get cold.  Mittens may seem like an excellent solution, but not for Lily.  I know she is asking a lot, but she wants warm hands and to be able to use her fingers at the same time, a demand that mittens just can't meet.  So!  Behold!

Maloja Fingerless Mitts for Lily

This isn't Lily. This is me.
But soon I'll try to take a picture of
Lily wearing her delightful new gloves.

I used one of my favorite yarns for this project: Cashmere Merino Silk in DK weight by Sublime.  This yarn is so soft and it knits really smoothly.  This is the same yarn (different color though) that I used for Lauren's gloves back in August and it was just as easy to knit with.  No pilling, no splitting, no yarn barf.  (Yes, Mom, yarn barf is a thing.  Remember that ball of pink lace-weight yarn that you so kindly detangled and wound up for me?  And how it would go really well for a few seconds and then you'd pull a little more yarn out and BAM! it would be all messed up and tangly again?  That was yarn barf.)

The original pattern, designed by Tracey Grzegorczyk, had the gloves being quite a bit shorter.  I added a few inches in the wrist section so more of the forearm would be covered and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.  This also had the added benefit of having a more fitted look to the glove.  Without these few inches, the ribbing of the cuff was pretty loose around the wrists, but when it is up higher on the arm it fits more snugly.

The pattern was really well-written.  She even had a little chart to help you keep track of the increases in relation to where you were on the cable pattern -- something I hadn't seen before and most sincerely appreciate.  If I had been knitting the gloves one-at-a-time, this would have been especially helpful to make sure that they were the same length and that the thumbs happened in the same spot.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.  I need to figure out a way so that when I knit in the round, my cast-on edge is even.  I usually have to do funny things when I weave in the ends to make them even.  Maybe a question for Debie at Serial Knitters!

But this doesn't mean sequins, beads, and feathers aren't in my knitting future...

Peasblossom Creations

Well, I've done it.  I've made the first steps to opening my own (small) business!  I am rationalizing this as a way to pay for graduate school (side note: I got into the University of Washington's Information School for fall 2011! Woo!) but really I just like the idea of people wearing and using the stuff I make.  And maybe making a little bit o' cash on the side.

I've been reading The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin and have been making preliminary plans.  All this is tremendously exciting!  I have a new blog and an Etsy store but there isn't anything in them yet.  I want to get a little inventory stocked up before I go live and have a better plan for how to maintain my online presence.  There is also a whole bunch of tax, "doing business as", and official stuff that I need to figure out before I really get going.  I need to do this right; accidental tax evasion is apparently the same thing as intending not to pay your taxes.

This book has been really helpful and I foresee it continuing to be so in the future.

So, without further ado, let me introduce...

Peasblossom Creations!

The blog will be at PeasblossomCreations.blogspot.com and the store lives virtually at PeasblossomCreations.etsy.com.  As I said earlier, there isn't anything there yet.  But just you wait (Henry Higgins)!  Soon enough there will be things to buy and request and comment on and generally admire.

On Facebook? Like my page at (Facebook link)!
Do you Tweet? Follow me at @PsblossomCreate (Twitter link)!

In the mean time, if you're interested in ordering a hand knitted object, send me an email at knittinsmitten@gmail.com and we'll talk.