Leaving the fair isle behind

Now that the snow is starting to melt in Alberta with somewhat longer breaks till the next snowfall, my thoughts are turning to lace. Apparantly my knitting interests are seasonal, though I didn't deliberately set out to make it that way. But over the winter, my favorite projects have involved some sort of colorwork. Here's a few I was too lazy to update as they were finished:


pattern: Maimu's mittens, from Nancy Bush's "Folk Knitting in Estonia
yarn: Sandnesgarn Tove, sport/dk wook
needles: 2.25 mm Brittany birch - a big mistake - broke two needles in the process. Next time, metal for sticky wool!
knit Jan 21 - Feb 19 with lots of breaks in between.

This picture really is in focus - the pattern doesn't show up as well as I hoped because the brown yarn is a bit heathered, which I didn't really realize till quite a ways into the project. I love these mittens - they're a bit thinner than the Fox and Geese mittens below, but they're perfect for frosty mornings.

Here's the Fox and Geese mittens:



I finished these Boxing week - it took a while to get a picture. They turned out biggish (but I have tiny hands) so I flung them in the drier to start with, then after a few weeks of wearing them all floppy, flung them in a hot wash to felt them. They didn't actually felt or shrink that much, because they were knit fairly tightly to start with, but I got enough felting to make them very thick and cozy. They turned out to be perfect Alberta winter mittens.

pattern: Fox and Geese mittens, by Robin Hansen
yarn: Paton's Classic merino
needles: size 4 inox circs

And finally, a stranded beret, mixing and matching motifs from Anna Zilboorg's book.



I like the underside too - love the white waves on blue:



Pattern: Beret from 45 Fanciful Hats, by Anna Zoolberg
yarn: Paton's Classic Merino - again, I have loads of the stuff
needles: 4 mm and 5 mm Aero and Inox circs and DPN's

The fit was really too big, unfortunately:


so again, unable to leave well enough alone, I flung it into the washer, where it shrank and felted quite a bit. I like it the size better now, though it definately lost some elasticity. Next time around, smaller needles should do the trick. But probably not till next year. Spring is in the air, and that means lace and short socks. Planning, planning, planning.