One Down, One to Go

This past week, I finished one of the Vanalinn gloves. Oh my goodness, these are nice! The glove fits perfectly, it's light, it's warm, I love it! The second one is now on the needles; I'm about one inch into it.

In this next picture, you can see that there's ribbing on the inside of the cuff, helping the glove to fit snugly. I made the ribbed section a little longer than the pattern calls for, simply because I like my gloves (and mittens) to stay securely inside the sleeve of my jackets. I do not like cold wrists!

It seems I will have ample time for knitting today. John will be leaving shortly to help the gentleman across the hall. He needs to find some rims and tires for his car. He's elderly and has emphysema and John doesn't mind helping out if he can. Once he gets home, he's got a table full of tomatoes to deal with. Yes, I could help with that, but he's particular about how he likes them processed, so it's his show and I will stay out of the way, knitting needles in hand.

In other knitting (surprise, surprise), I started another project. Do I need an excuse? If so, I can only say that I wanted to try out the new KnitPicks Zephyr needles. Oh my! Do I like them? Can I recommend them? One word....YES! They're smooth without being sticky, but there's just enough stick that the yarn doesn't slip and slide all over the place. I like them better than bamboo and as much as the other KP needles (Harmony and Options). The price, as with most KP items, is reasonable and the quality is good. I can definitely recommend them! It's getting to the point now that I'm using the KP needles more than any other brand of needle, including the Addi Turbos that I have. I just like them better.

The pattern is Miralda's Triangular Shawl from Nancy Bush's book, "Knitted Lace of Estonia". I am happy to report that I got the cast on (331 stitches) right the first time!! So far, it hasn't been particularly challenging, but there are some interesting stitches coming up. I'm thinking I'll cast on a small swatch to practice some of the stitches. This pattern contains nupps, gathered stitches and another stitch in the upper section. I have no problem with the nupps; as long as you keep your tension loose (very loose), they're easy enough to work. I've read the instructions on the gathered stitches, and that's the stitch I want to swatch for before I get to that part.

The yarn I'm using for this shawl is the Jarbo Garn Gastricke 1-ply. It's the same yarn I used for my Evolution shawl, my Aeolian shawl and my Icelandic shawl, one of my favourite lace yarns. It just has an earthy, organic feel about it that I really like. It has a nice "bloom" to it and is nice and cozy knit up. It feels just right for this shawl. I'm pretty sure I won't have enough on this skein, but I'm equally sure that I'll still find it at my LYS. It isn't a colour that a lot of lace knitters want to work with, you know? I think it will go very nicely with my black winter coat.

And now, John's heading out the door, so it's a good time for me to pick up my needles and get knitting!