A Lot of Needles

A very large part of my day yesterday was spent with needles in hand. No, I wasn't working on the Miralda shawl. I did, however, cast on for a second pair of gloves. I am so loving this pattern!

It's a Drops pattern, #86-5. The yarn I'm using is SandnesGarn's Sisu, a fingering weight sock yarn that's 80% wool, 20% nylon, making the gloves machine washable. The pattern calls for 2.5 mm needles, but I'm using 2.25 mm. The first of the two pictures was yesterday, well into the first glove. The colour in the first picture is also truer to the actual colour of the yarn (same colour, but a deeper shade in real life).

The second picture was taken this morning. Once I found my stash of 2.25 mm needles (I have about 8 sets of them, I'm sure), I cast on for the second glove. In order to get them done in a reasonable length of time, I've decided to alternate working on them. What I mean is that now I'll work on the second glove until it's at about the same point (almost to moving the thumb stitches to waste yarn) as the first one. Then I'll work on the first one until I'm ready to start the little finger and switch back to the second one, getting it to the same point, and so on.

Right now, I'm enjoying the almost mindlessness of the knitting. As you can see, there is some lace patterning on the back of the hand, but it's a simple pattern, easy to read and easy to memorize. The best part of knitting these gloves, though? They're knitting up quickly!

I do love knitting things that work up fast. If I have the opportunity today, I have every intention of continuing with the gloves. I do believe, however, that John would like to get out for a bit today. We're out of coffee, after all, and that just won't do! I'm tempted to let him go and get what we need so that I can stay here and knit. Umm... knit and bake Butter Tarts. It's his birthday tomorrow and he doesn't want me to bake him a cake. Butter Tarts* aren't cake, and I know he'll appreciate them (so will I... yummm!!).

By the way, there's still no podcast. My voice just can't handle all that talking right now. Be patient with me. Please?

*For those of you who have no idea what Butter Tarts are, they're a uniquely Canadian pastry, a tart shell filled with raisins, walnuts or pecans (optional) and a blend of butter, brown sugar and eggs (with a few other ingredients); they should be slightly runny on the inside, although there is some debate about that. They're insanely sweet and tasty, almost like butterscotch. From what I've read, the closest thing you have in the States is Pecan Pie. I'll post my recipe (and pictures) another day. Just trust me when I tell you that they are absolutely delicious!