In a similar fashion to when semester exams ended, I am breathing a sigh of relief. I have successfully finished my first semester of Freshman Year at Loopy Academy! Let’s review:
Freshman Year, First Semester Assignments (each project needs to use at least 175 yards):
- Cowl in a multi-colored (defined as 2 or more distinct colors in the same skein) or self-striping Fingering weight colorway.: Irish Mesh Cowl Blogged Here
- Hat from a designer new to you, in a Sport or DK weight: Dan’s Dembow Hat Blogged Here
- Mittens in a solid or semi-solid colorway in a Worsted weight (extra credit for using a new-to-you cast on or bind off).: Eugenia’s Mittens
The Eugenia’s Mittens pattern was one suggested by Sheri, on the Loopy Ewe blog, and it was the cables that sold it for me. Being a free pattern also didn’t hurt in my decision making process. I will say you get what you pay for – the charts were great (nice and big!) and I found the written directions to have a bit of wiggle room. “Here’s a direction for knitting… but I did it differently” I don’t think patterns need the editorializing. I look for that sort of anecdotal commentary in blog posts and Ravelry pattern notes. Here are a few of my own. You may notice that my finished objects look slightly different than those on the pattern page. Knitter’s fault, I misread the directions myself, and knit chart rows 1-8, then 1-16 (twice) then 1-6 again. I do like how this worked out, as the middle twist section is longest at the wrist, slightly shorter in the middle, and shortest at the fingertips.
This is a pattern that worked up rather quickly, and kept me calm while waiting on an oil change. I will say that at that oil change I unfortunately overheard the sales staff being chewed out for end of year sales and an unhappy service technician curse out some higher-up over a broken tool and how he didn’t really have to be there. A lady in the waiting room mentioned to me that she could never be patient enough to knit and I was able to tell her that I am certainly NOT patient, but knitting helps me be patient. I’m not waiting around for my car to be done, I’m knitting! I did find, after the car was finished, that I missed a cable cross and that’s when I realized my mistake about where to start the chart.
These mittens are for me, so I am ok to keep the mistakes in there. I also, somehow, managed to cast on fewer stitches on the second mitten – I noticed after I put the thumb stitches aside, so I very quickly fudged the increases to have enough on the palm side. Not really a big deal, but a reminder to myself that just because it’s the second mitten doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention. Or, to always do this sort of project (along with socks) two-at-a-time.
2014 has brought a lot more madelinetosh yarn into my stash. Mostly that makes me very happy, as it is a gorgeous yarn, but when I finished these mittens I had to do a double take. The second mitten is slightly darker in color than the first. And the thumbs on each are even darker still. I understand that it’s part of the yarn and the way in which is was dyed but it still feels a bit bothersome. Please don’t mention it if you ever see these mittens in person. 🙂 Though Loopy Academy and Camp Loopy bring in more yarn to my stash, it doesn’t stay there long. I’ve enjoyed each of the projects I’ve completed for these virtual events and am looking forward to what is to come in 2015!
