I’ve been deep in the knitting weeds the last few weeks, which has cut into my blogging time in a big way — but there are finally some results to show for all the effort, with more to come.

First up, a present for a friend whose birthday is at the very beginning of the month. She has kept a pair of fair isle mittens I made for her birthday some 25 years ago in very, very good condition. I thought she was was due something new!

The floppy beret is Cassidy’s Cap, from Chic Knits — a very easy, very pretty pattern for worsted weight. The mitts are One Cable Mitts, from Blue Sky Alpacas, an absolute whiz-bang of a pattern that takes all of four hours to finish. Here’s a close-up of the mitts, modeled on my paw.

Paw

The yarn is Wool of the Andes (Knit Picks) in a kettle-dyed colorway called Wine Tasting. There is a metric ton of this in my stash — alas, the kettle-dyed type has been discontinued by the company, though they still have plain colors and tweeds. It’s a great yarn — a real workhorse, and excellent value.

Making the mitts and the hat gave me a good idea of how the yarn will knit up for the sweater I want to make out of it — should be a bit less stripy, of course — but making small items rather than dinky 4×4 swatches helps in project planning.

photo

I think I have a hit on my hands!

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