My Peaceful Palms

When I signed up for Nona's Peaceful Palms knitalong, I knew I wanted to finish C's gansey first and, given our trip, that it wouldn't be until January that I'd probably start. But I didn't mean to be one of the last to post! I actually finished a couple of weeks ago, but haven't gotten a good photo taken until tonight. So, here they are...

This photo shows the color of the Koigu pretty well. It was great stuff to knit with; I'd made a scarf with Koigu before and its springy nature lends itself well to gloves. My first pair of gloves were made fingertips down but using double knitting; this time I tried the i-cord method following Nona's clear descriptions. What a clever idea! No doubt that Meg Swansen would have thought of it, or at least unvented it. My only deviation from Nona's instructions involved, for the fingers other than the pinkies, picking up two stitches within the float instead of one. I tried picking up one stitch down the float first but was unhappy with how loose that one stitch looked compared to the others. Picking up two worked fine, although I didn't think about the consequences until I got to putting them together, that by adding stitches my total stitch count was now higher than that for which the pattern was written (duh). Ultimately the added stitches weren't too many, as the gloves fit my hands well (and match my coat!). I used size 2's; once I got the fingers all made, I used two circular needles for the rest of the way.

I love my new gloves and I've enjoyed seeing everyone's Peaceful Palms. Thanks to Nona for hosting this knitalong!

New Beginnings

Happy New Year, everyone. It's been good to catch up and see what everyone's been up to over the holidays, as well as people's new year resolutions, particularly knitting-related. I'll have to think on that some more. Although it is good to be home, it's not been an easy return. It took me a full 10 days or so to recover from jetlag; none was felt going over, but the 15-hour difference hit me hard coming back. Several nights involved knitting from 4am on until it was time to get ready for work. Those nights gave me more time, though, with Scooter, who had been living with cancer for the past several months. We weren't even sure if he'd be here when we returned, but he was, thanks to my sister who stayed with him and to our wonderful vet tech who makes home visits. Whether he was waiting for us to return or not, he made it another five days until the cancer got the better of him. It was a sad day, but we knew it was time and chose to put him to sleep. I think he knew, too. Here's to Scooter, the bravest, sweetest cat around. We love you, Scooby. Thank you for being our friend.