The Pitter Patter of . . .

FOs falling off my needles. What a happy sound. Especially since I have way too many projects on the needles. Ever since SCCD (Stash Come Clean Day), I've been concentrating on finishing, hoping to use this month to clear the decks of lots of UFOs, and then be able to go to Madrona with a clean slate ready for inspiration.

One of the first to fall were these Men's Fingerless Gloves, a KnitPicks pattern that I've done before for gifting. These were a last minute Christmas gift, as during Christmas dinner a friend leaned over and said, "Hey, would you knit me a pair of those?"

Sure, it's not like I don't have some extra yarn lying around. Out came the Mission Falls 1824 Wool I had leftover from some of last year's Christmas knitting. See, stash does come in handy.



But then I remembered why I don't like this pattern. The fingers are fussy to knit, and the mitt itself sort of pouches out above the cuff. I really had to force myself last weekend to sit down and knit the fingers. Okay, self, do two fingers and then you can knit something fun. This is not how knitting is supposed to be. But finally they fell off the needles, the ends were tucked in and it was gifted and out the door. Good riddance.



With the snowfall and disruption to the holidays, I also had time to knit up a pair of Fetchings for the kids' circus teacher. Yes, I send my kids to circus school. So when I tell them they can run away to the circus, I actually drive them there. But she's been so kind to Matthew that I wanted to do something special for her, so back into the stash and I dug up some Lion Brand Cashmere. It's a nice sub for Debbie Bliss.

I've made so many pairs of these fingerless mitts, that I have my own version of the pattern. I always add one more cable repeat to the wrist to make it longer, and then after I do the waste yarn for the thumb stitches, I reduce out the 4 knit stitches and a purl stitch right above the thumb over the course of the next 5 rows. It tightens up the portion around the fingers that if you don't reduce, on other pairs I've knit, gets way too loose.



But for every couple FOs, a girl's got to cast on something new. And to continue this theme of mitts and gloves and mittens, I did just that, starting up a pair of Postwar Mittens, from the Twist Collective. I've been eyeing the completed ones on Ravelry and just love this pattern and the endless possibilities. Pretty, huh?

And best of all? No fingers.

What have you cast on lately?