03 January 2014

what a child does when he’s given something to keep

Let's finish up the Christmas knitting:

Soft Ruffles

Pattern: Knit Ruffle Scarf
Yarn: KnitPicks Gloss DK in Guava
US 8 / 5mm needles
Copper and rose quartz pin from Ingo Design on Etsy.

This finished a cycle of accessories for Maman out of this yarn. Two years ago, I made her a hat; last year, mittens. There are several lovely things about this scarf pattern, one of them being that the hardest part is counting to 10, and another being that it can keep going until you are almost out of yarn, so there is no niggling half-skein reproaching you from your stash.  I knit until I had about 2 yards left, and gave that remnant to Maman with the scarf.

Then for my sister I made the Godzilla of mittens:

Mitten of Doom

That's a 10-inch skillet, for scale.

I did not just give my sister a giant mitten, of course. Who does that? Not this woman. I do not knit random giant items just to give to people. What would she have done with it? Worn it as a hat? A giant hat with a thumb? Shadowboxed it and hung it on the wall, as a conversation piece for visitors?
That's some big mitten, there.
Yep, real big.
Yep.
No. I felted it into an oven mitt. A normal-sized oven mitt.

Mitten of Doom, brought down to size

Pattern: Felted Thanksgiving Oven Mitts from Purl Soho
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Almond, Fern, Persimmon Heather, and Cloud.
US 11 / 8 mm needles

Plus two coordinating potholders, because who gives oven mitts without potholders, I ask you. No one. No one does that, no more than they would just give you a giant mitten. Both potholders felted strangely, but are still functional as protection from hot pans, if not as wall art.

And knitting-related gifts to me? A lovely book of patterns.



None of which are knitted for Godzilla and then felted down to mere-mortal size, though there is a scarf pattern that is similar to the guava-pink one. I am more intrigued by some of the pullovers.

Li-Young Lee

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