Into the World of Stranded Knitting...

So. I like challenges it would appear. One of my knitting goals this year was to learn stranded knitting and I wanted to do the 2-handed method. When I was trying to decide on some Christmas gifts, it didn't seem to matter that I hadn't learned this technique yet, onto the list went 2 stranded gifts. The week before Thanksgiving came and with it the realization that I better learn if I were to get these done...and do so quickly. From some videos online I picked up knitting continental fairly easily although tension is still not as consistent as my tension while throwing. And I tried to watch video's on catching the loop in the back but I just wasn't able to pick it up. Complete brain block. Earlier in the year, through Ravelry, I had found a group of knitters here who are not only a joy to knit with, also are very accomplished knitters. (let's first say that I live in a very small town--the fact that I found knitters through Ravelry is just a wee bit pathetic...but I'm glad I did!). Anne came to my rescue and within an evening knit had me feeling confident I could actually do this!

So this post is for you, Anne! Thanks so much for helping me out!

One of my best friends has a very cool husband who has been waiting patiently for a knitted hat from me for a couple years now. Most of the delay came because he is a 'simple hat' person and honestly I didn't want to knit a simple hat. I wanted a challenge (like cables and things). So I waited and looked until finally a pattern came along that I think fit both of us. I could learn stranded knitting and he got a 'manly', simple but interesting hat. This was designed by irenem (on Ravelry) and when I saw it, I knew it was the hat. But she didn't have a pattern for it and wasn't planning on producing one. Undeterred I started pestering her with questions on how she did it. I'm sure I bugged her but she willingly answered everything thoroughly enough even I could understand it! For the design portion, I just recreated the pattern chart by looking at her pictures (she told me where to find the chart but I didn't want to buy the book). So there are some differences between her original and mine because the charts varied slightly.

Because I'm lazy today, I'm simply going to send you to Ravelry for the details. I'm really pleased with it and hope that Rob is too!

The hat was my 'practice' for the more complicated gift. I knew I was going to knit my mom some mittens for Xmas. And for the longest time I focused on the Anemoi mittens which I do still love. But right about the time I was ready to cast on, the LillyField pattern was released and it only took about a second to switch to that pattern. I love it and knew it would suit my mom better. Black and white may seem an odd choice for mittens, but considering the coat colors that my mom wears the most, this is really the only thing that would go with both of them. One mitten is done (about 10 days of knitting here and there when I got time), and I've gotten a good start on the second. I'm pleased with this. I'm still working through some tension issues, especially with my left hand...which shows up some in the design. The only thing that I'm not pleased with is the yarn. Both colors are the same brand but the black seems thicker (noticeable even on the wrist band) and this thickness varies dramatically throughout the skein which really affects the design as well. All in all though, I'm really happy with my first attempts at colorwork, but I'm hoping that I get 'cleaner' with it as I continue to do more. Raveled here.

And with that, I'm off to capture elk. We've had a very mild winter thus far but it never fails that as soon as capture time rolls around, weather gets miserable...a big storm hit this weekend (we got about 6 inches so far...I think the first pass I have to go over to get to the capture location got about 20 inches so far) and now we have an arctic freeze cold front moving in. Temperatures are expected in the negative teens as lows with wind chill and somewhere in the 9-11 range as highs. Freakin' cold 'flying without doors on the helicopter' conditions--need to dig out my woolies (wool pants) and find my stash of foot warmers!

I may get a chance to post again before the holidays but if not I hope everybody has an amazing holiday season and gets to enjoy it with family and/or friends.
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Now playing: The Cobbler's Daughter by Kate Rusby