the blue blog archives: the sound of one hand clapping

I had three weeks of knitting between the holidays and the start of the spring semester. I taught a mittens class at the store and decided to knit something along with my students. Except I went with dk weight instead of bulky yarn and gloves instead of mittens. Unsurprisingly, mine took a little longer. And they aren't quite done yet (now two weeks into school!).

I do love the yarn though. Frog Tree alpaca... dreamy. And the purple is so lovely. I'm kinda into purple now. In addition to my purple ruffly scarf, I also got a beautiful crocheted scarf from Garnet Hill for Christmas.

With two purple scarves, I suddenly felt like I needed something purple for my hands. (And my head, which is next on my list.)

So I ignored the little voice in my head saying, You'll never finish ten tiny fingers, and went for it! And, I'll have you know I've knit five fingers already. One of them was even good enough to keep. So there. Okay, lesson #1 learned: I have weird hands. I had knit all four fingers of one glove and then after starting the thumb, I realized it was way too high for my actual thumb. It took me a while to figure out that I needed to knit A LOT of extra rounds after my pinky before beginning my ring finger. Who knew?

Now the little voice is saying, You'll never find the time to finish these! I hate that little voice. Especially when it's right.

posted by alison at 11:33 pm | in 2010 winter knits

Comments

Yes, you can finish the gloves. I finished one red one and am determined to finish the other while I can still use it in our subzero chicago cold snap.
Do one finger per day!!!!!
Also, there is a pattern for your lovely garnet hill style scarf on Ravelry.
Good luck...

Posted by: mary kate at February 8, 2011 8:57 AM

Maybe you can do your reading and some of the knitting at the same time. Then you can get the gloves done before the semester is over (and you decide to knit something else for the summer).

Posted by: Seanna Lea at February 8, 2011 12:37 PM

I think gloves would be worse than SSS for me. I think I will stick to mittens and fingerless mitts :) Good luck with yours! I know you can do it!

Posted by: Jane at February 8, 2011 4:35 PM

Love the purple, love the yarn. They will make great gloves and you will love them once you get them finished. You *could* alsways do half fingers instead of full ones. I use mine a lot.

Posted by: Linda at February 9, 2011 2:09 PM

There is nothing wrong with having wierd hands, as long as you know it.

Maybe next winter . . .

Posted by: garret at February 9, 2011 3:30 PM

I knit a pair of gloves using an old pattern from the 40's and found I had the same issue with the thumbs. My fingers were longer, too. Just knit to fit. I agree with a finger a day; that's how I finished mine!

Posted by: Dava at February 9, 2011 3:56 PM

Hi Alison, I haven't been here for a while, lots of fun as usual. I couldn't comment on the Cha Cha post but underneath the video that you linked to there were some written instructions on binding off. Wondered if you saw that? It said to turn over to hem but then mentioned binding off as usual until the last stitch & using a different piece of yarn to tie off the last stitch? Didn't read it carefully but thot I would tell you about it.

Posted by: Donna S at March 5, 2011 4:41 AM

Beautiful gloves! Are they finished? I'd love to see a "Ta-Da!" photo of them completed. Lovely blog...please keep posting!

Posted by: Annie at March 12, 2011 6:37 PM

Curious to see the gloves completed. I prefer dark colored one myself :)

Posted by: Chandramouli at March 22, 2011 1:33 AM

Are you done with knitting?

You haven't posted here in quite a while.

The trees are interesting and all but not knitting. I noticed there aren't any comments over there.

I guess Sockapolooza is just faded memory.

Posted by: Anita at May 4, 2011 10:02 PM

Are you coming back?

Posted by: rosemary at May 6, 2011 12:28 PM

Hello again, lovely knitters! Thanks for asking about my return. I've not officially given up this blog. I'm just still in the throes of schoolwork right now (which includes my tree blog) and haven't had much time for knitting or blogging here. I hope to be able to post more here in a couple of weeks when the semester is finally over.

Happy knitting to everyone! :)

Posted by: ALISON at May 6, 2011 7:51 PM

Missing you!

Posted by: lawheezer at May 9, 2011 11:31 AM

Patiently waiting :)

Posted by: Sandie at June 2, 2011 3:32 AM

You left such an ugly picture up for so long. Please take your blog down. It is a very negative knitting energy.

Posted by: Rosemary at June 8, 2011 12:52 AM

I can't seem to leave comments on the tree blog, but I want to say here that it has been amazing!!!!!

You photographs and attention to detail leave me anxiously awaiting for each new installment.

Keep well.

Posted by: speattle at June 21, 2011 1:45 PM

Curious to see the gloves completed. I prefer dark colored one myself :)

Posted by: Dogwood trees Tennessee at June 27, 2011 11:44 PM