Hand and Neck Warmers

As is often the case for me, these little projects started with a trip to a cute little yarn store in Sister's Oregon called "The Stitchin' Post" a few weeks ago. If you've ever been to Sisters, you know that nearly everything you describe there starts with "cute little" and ends with "expensive". I was pleasantly surprised to find this shop was not too bad. Although they do specialize is some higher end stuff, I found some great standard yarns and a couple of deals too.

The yarn I was most excited about though was a new one to me called Sulka by Mirasol. It is 60% Merino, 20% Alpaca and 20% Silk. As you can imagine it is sooooo soft! Unfortunately, it looks like it only comes in a bulky weight (55 yards per 50 grams), but it was surprisingly affordable. I bought 2 skeins in a soft cocoa color (colorway 206)

I knew I wanted to wear it next to my skin. I also knew I am unlikely to wear a hat and 2 skeins would not be enough for much of a scarf. I finally settled on some fingerless gloves.

Pattern: Fingerless Mitts from Weekend Knitting, Yarn: Sulka by Mirasol, Needles: size 8 straights

This was my first time using this pattern and boy was it quick and easy! I knit these with smaller needles to make the gauge nice and tight. I also made a size smaller than my hand measured because I wanted them to fit snuggly.

Mission accomplished on both. I have been wanting some fingerless gloves to wear during work and these are fitting the bill just fine.

Unfortunately, this pattern ended up taking just slightly more than 1 skein. I had slightly less than 1 skein left and I wanted to use every last bit of it. Ideally I wanted another something to wear next to my skin. A little neck warmer seemed like just the right thing.

I just made up the pattern:

1. Cast on 12 stitches, size 10 1/2 needles
2. Knit until I nearly ran out of yarn
3. Added a button hole near the end
4. Sewed on a button

This picture shows the color the best.

I love this little thing and have rarely had it off since finishing it. Obviously, I had to give it up for the photo shoot, but put it right back on as soon as I snapped those pictures.

I have started another new project. I'll post some progress photos soon. All I'm going to say about it today is that it is a new direction for me and a long time coming...