I’ve been scouring ravelry lately, looking at all sorts of interesting things as I’m in a place where I have a chance to catch my breath and maybe, you know, make something for myself for once. I wanted to make some fingerless mitts because my hands literally feel like they might crack off when it’s cold and I’m typing. Bonus: I think they’d also work well for driving. (I am really enjoying having a car!!! How, oh how, did I ever live without one?)

I finally settled on the Maine Morning Mitts (my ravelry project page) pattern in Clara Parkes’  The Knitter’s Book of Wool. The pattern is actually available as a freebie right here and there are almost 2000 mitts (well, 4000 if you count 2 mitts per project) made with it on Ravelry as it’s an excellent way to show off one skein of pretty yarn. Side note: I don’t (yet) own the book, but I’ve been flipping through it a lot at work, and not only is it full of wonderful tidbits on wool (useful to knitters and crocheters alike), but there are so many classic, wearable patterns inside. It’s definitely work checking out.

Anyway, I decided to use this pattern to show off some of the Mountain Colors‘  Twizzle mill ends I collected when I was working at the Bozeman Yarn Shop. [Note: the pattern calls for a worsted yarn and this one is a DK, but hey, it worked for me and I love the snug fit!]. If you haven’t seen Mountain Colors yarn….well. Their hand-dyed colorways are simply gorgeous. And since we lived only a couple of hours from their headquarters in Montana, Barb (the LYS owner) stopped by occasionally and picked up mill ends for the store. I was there when she had a fresh batch –I’m talking bags full of mill ends–and so I had fun combing through all of the baskets trying to buy enough yardage for an undetermined project. Mill ends are perfect for me, since I often find it way too hard to decide on one color, and also, have a hard time justifying yarn purchases when I don’t know what they are for. Essentially, mill ends are to yarn as fat quarters are to sewing (only it’s harder to find mill ends! Especially ones you can dig through shamelessly).  To make these mitts,  I think I used 4 mini-skeins of Twizzle, max. The mitts are “fraternal twins” because I used two different–but very similar–colorways in one of the mitts.

I took this picture of Mitt 1 on Wednesday. They’re both done now, save for a few scraggly ends to weave in. I love these quick little knit projects, they take just the right amount of time, I learn a little something with each one, and they’re small enough that I can actually complete them between other projects (and big enough that I can use them as an excuse to avoid all of the housework that needs to be done…). And just in case you think I have forgotten about crochet– I’m working on a cardigan made from motifs right now (from this Portugese pattern). Hopefully I’ll share some progress pics with you next week!

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And a  little reminder in case any San Antonians are reading… My Intermediate Crochet: Creating Texture class begins this Sunday, and there are still spaces available. I have lots of fun swatches and examples from my book to show you along with the techniques. Call Yarnivore to sign up.