Happy VD

As a Valentine's Day present to you, dear reader, I'm inundating your Bloglines or Google Reader with lots of posts (OK, just two). In this post, I wanted to showcase a recently finished object and the progress being made on a couple of WIPs.

First up: the Little Gems Mitts. I finished these while traveling to visit my friend, Kate, in St. Louis a few weekends ago. These were my sixth pair of fingerless mitts to knit, according to Ravelry, but they are the seventh pair to be a part of my life. I bought my very first pair of fingerless mitts during a school trip to St. Louis many moons ago. In honor of that seemingly life-changing event, Kate and I took a drive-by pilgrimage to Union Station, location of the historic sale. Here's the camera-phone picture to prove it. But while that original pair are buried deep in a closet at my parents' house, my new Little Gems Mitts are out and about in full force. We've even had a couple of unseasonably cool days here in Nola, so I've been enjoying them.


I used the Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift called for in the pattern and really loved it. I'm glad I have so many lovely shades of green left over to make something else.


The first WIP is my brother's work sock. I've finished the first one and have started the second one. Here's a couple of shots of the first one. I'm using Nancy Bush's "Gentleman's Half Hose" pattern from the Knitting Vintage Socks book and Koigu Premium Merino in brown.




Finally, I've been plodding along on the Turkish cape. Stranding five colors while purling is definitely a challenge but not as difficult as I originally anticipated. I'm actually coming along pretty quickly with this knit—but maybe that's also because I love the pattern and the bright, bold colors.