Just Another WIP Wednesday….

Happy Spring!

I realize a lot of time has passed by since my last WIP Wednesday, but despite my absence, I have been knitting along.  Before I get to my WIPs, I thought I'd share a few projects that have been on my needles over the past couple of months.

We went down to visit my family for Easter, so I knitted some creatures for the NJ kids and my daughter as Easter gifts out of Rebecca Danger's book, 50 Yards of Fun: Knitting Toys from Scrap Yarn.  Here's the cast of characters lined up for their photo op before they were gifted to the kidlings:

Easter Bunny, Easter Ninja, Easter Bunny, Monkey Blue

They were each a very quick knit. In fact, I started and finished the monkey on the sly on the day before Easter. Phew!

Malabrigo March flew by. I knit a Stereo cuff for my sister for her birthday, and I was lucky enough to have it featured on the Ravelry Community Eye Candy for a day.

MM14: A Sort of St. Patrick's Day Stereo

This is a really enjoyable project that goes really quickly, once you string on all the beads!

I also joined a fun KAL for a Carabe sweater. I only managed to get the body and button band knit up by March 31st.  I can't find the progress shot to post here, but if you click on the link above, it will bring you to my project page.  I had started the sleeves and knit about 3 inches before I realized that my knitting was crazy tight, most likely due to my using the magic loop method.  I didn't like how this looked at all, so I ripped the sleeve back. Now the sweater is languishing while it waits for me to pick up a set of double pointed needles in size 7.  One of these days I will!  I'm presently distracted by other projects.

Which brings me to my current WIP! I'm crocheting a Blooming Flower Cushion for my craft room. I had my eye on this project for awhile. After becoming frustrated by the cardigan and being disinterested in the other UFOs I have had brewing for awhile, I decided to work on something fun. This project is very entertaining with all of the color changes, and it becomes rhythmic after awhile. I'm at a stopping point for now because the flower is now at about 13"across, and I want to go shopping for an insert before I continue, so I don't have to rip any of the pretty layers out. Here's what it looks like:

Now I am a crochet novice, so my flower is a little wonky, but it's nothing that an iron can't fix. I noticed as I was crocheting along that some of the petals like to squish up a bit, so I think pressing them down will do the trick.

That's the story for this WIP Wednesday! Hope you are all working on fun projects right now!

WIP Wednesday - Betsy!

As promised, I'm back this Wednesday with my current project on the needles (or at least the project I'm actively working on.). It's another Betsy! I realize that I haven't showed you the finished version of the Betsy that I was knitting last week, and a photo of that is coming soon.  My daughter loved the way that mine turned out, and she asked me to knit her one. A cute hat out of bulky weight yarn? Sure! This hat is being knit out of Malabrigo Rios in the Bobby Blue colorway, and I'm holding the yarn double as I knit along. So far, the fabric of the hat is knitting up so cushy and warm. I hope she loves it!

I apologize for the nighttime photo. The lighting isn't great, but you can check out my progress.

I'll be back with photos of the finished hats soon!
If you had a snow day like we did today, hope you are warm and knitting something fun. :)

It's My Birthday, and I'll Knit If I Want To!

Hello blogworld! I realize that it's been over a year (gulp!) since I've checked in with you all. I've been alive and well, and my absence can be explained by procrastination, writer's block, laziness, or take your pick! Not sure if you missed me or not, but know that I feel a tinge of guilt every time I see that my last post was December 24, 2012!

Nevertheless, here I am. It's my birthday today, and I figured it's as good a time as any to get back in the swing of blogging. I'm having a great day so far, and some of it has been spent knitting this hat.

The pattern is Betsy by Jane Richmond. I went to my LYS last week and fell in love with a gorgeous skein of Mecha in the Jupiter colorway. I have never knit with this base before, and so far it's a dream. The colors are so rich! Red isn't normally my thing, but I totally felt drawn to this color. Garnet is my birthstone, so maybe that had something to do with it!

Even though I've been absent from the blog, I've still been knitting, knitting, knitting. It would be ridiculous for me to list here all the projects I've been working on over the past year. Moving forward though, I would like to officially announce WIP Wednesdays on Kat knits a lot. That way I'll be sure to check in at least once a week!

I'm off to celebrate with the family, take-out, birthday cake (I hope!) and more knitting. :)

Hope all has been well with all of you!

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Greetings to you! Not much productive gift knitting going on over here, unfortunately.  I do have a couple of projects that I knit up for my daughter, but I'll have to keep them under wraps for now. ;)  The road to my knitted Christmas gifts is always paved with good intentions, but procrastination, a frustrating pattern and the rehearsals and five performances of daughter's dance school's production of Nutcracker slow things down quite a bit.  

The plan was to knit gloves for my husband (with five full fingers), hats for my nieces and nephew (although this pattern hasn't been set in stone) and some kind hat for my sister.  The reality is I hope to finish one glove for my husband tonight, and then crank out some snowball buddies for my nieces and nephew tomorrow. (I won't see them until Thursday).  Looks like I need to hand out some IOUs.  Good thing Knit Picks was kind enough to provide some printable ones that are ready to go.

In the past, I have stressed and stayed up all night to try to finish an insurmountable quantity of knitting projects, always feeling defeated because I haven't managed my time well.  I smell a new year's resolution.... 

This year, I'm trying not to drive myself crazy and enjoy things for once.  Not really productive, but a bonus for my sanity in trying to get through the holidays happily. 

I hope you have been more successful with your knitted gifts than I this year.  If you've knit any great projects, I'd love to hear about them. 

I wish you all a happy, healthy and blessed holiday! I'm off to ice gingerbread trees!

Kathleen  

Here I am!

Hello blog readers!  Not sure if anyone else is around these days, considering I've been MIA since I posted about my sweet beagle.  Life interrupts a bunch of things, including blogging, but I'm back for at least today. :)  I want to show you some of the things I've been up to!

I have been on a Mochimochiland kick since the summer, and it seems like I can't stop!  I often turn to Anna's patterns for quick and fun knitting projects.  Her book, Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, has fun ideas to knit for anyone for any occasion.

It all started with this guy!

Tiny Green Monkey

I knit this little guy for a friend's birthday in July.  I usually like to knit the mochimochi out of worsted because it's a little less fiddly.  He's still tiny, just not teeny-tiny.

Of course this was around the 4th of July, so I had to knit one of these:

Tiny Firecracker

It turns out that on the evening of the 4th, my daughter was complaining about fireworks keeping her awake.  I decided to whip this little guy up and left it in her room with a note from him saying, "I'm sorry".

The next project that popped up was inspired by the TV show, Gravity Falls.  Not sure if you've ever caught an episode, but it's a pretty amusing cartoon on Disney channel that features twins who uncover quirky situations that pop up during their visit with their curmudgeon of an uncle.  One of episodes involves gnomes and at one point in the show, this happens.  When my daughter first saw this, she was laughing hysterically.  I knew I could make this little guy in knit form.

I bring you.....a rainbow barfing gnome: 

Rainbow Barfing Gnome

Knitting this gnome got me a little obsessed with gnomes.  With gnomes getting sick, you need a doctor gnome, right?

As well as a Gnome To-Go:

The Gnome To-Go got me thinking about traveling:

Tiny Airplane

And knitting a bunch of other fun little mochimochis for little gifts just because!

See?  I'm completely addicted!  In the grand scheme of things though, it's a really fun addiction!

That Gnome To-Go is on my keychain and he makes me happy every time I see him dangling from my keyring.  

So, need some happy?  Go make yourself a mini mochimochiland friend!

It's been awhile

I've been meaning to start blogging again for the longest time, but I keep saying to myself, "I'll just do it tomorrow."  Well, after what has seemed like a million tomorrows later, there are still more tomorrows, but now is as good a time as any to stop procrastinating already.

I have been knitting, just not blogging about it so much.  I have plenty to share with you, but before I do, I need to share a bit of sadness that our family has experienced.  We put our sweet 15-year-old beagle to sleep two weeks ago.  She was having trouble walking, and she had to work hard to get up and move around. She was so good to try to get outside if she needed to go even though she was in pain.  It was really difficult to let her go, but it happened at the house in the most peaceful way it could possibly happen.  Here's a photo of her with my younger dog a few hours before she died.

R.I.P. Emma

I'll be back soon with more, I promise.  

Bon Voyage!

I mentioned awhile ago in this post that I have been working on making some comfort dolls. I had planned for the dolls to go to Haiti originally, but when I found out that they were close to meeting their goal in December, I decided to make them for Swaziland. I knit ten dolls in total, and I shipped them off today! These dolls take no time at all and customizing them with bright yarn scraps from your stash is a lot of fun. I made 5 girls and 5 boys, and here's a photo of them, all snuggled in the box and ready to go.

I wasn't too familiar with what is going on in Swaziland until I watched this video. Too many of the Swaziland children are orphans who deal with very real grown-up problems like hunger, poverty and sickness on a daily basis. These dolls are a small way to bring a little comfort to these children.

Feel like making some? Even one would be great! You might find that knitting or crocheting one of these little guys can become addictive! You can find the pattern here, and there is more information and support in the Comfort Dolls Knitters and Crocheters group on Ravelry. Or contact me, and I can steer you in the right direction. :)

Thanks for stopping by to check out the comfort dolls! Happy Knitting!

Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day! I realize that I've been MIA since before the start of this year. I can't explain it, but it's taken me awhile to get into the swing of 2012. For one thing, I had a massive case of startitis that I couldn't shake when January 1st rolled around. Plus, I had a birthday thrown in there somewhere, which always throws me for a loop. I do love Valentine's day though, especially because it always gives me a reason to knit a cute little creature, like Louie the Lovebot for my daughter.

Even though I had startitis at the beginning of the year, I've managed to knit a few things. My husband was sweet and gave me yarn and a pattern to go along with it, so I whipped up an eternity scarf. It was a fun knit, and it's fun to wear, so win win.

I also knitted up a Pookie for my daughter. I guess I don't need Valentine's day as my only good reason to knit up something fun. This little guy popped up in one of my Ravelry friend's favorites, and I just had to knit one!

I also knit the Pullover version of the cardigan I mentioned a few posts back. I was in a big box store and saw Thick and Quick on sale. Pair that with some fingers itching for a bulky, quick knit, and I figured it was worth picking up a short-sleeved sweater's worth of the stuff. Usually acrylic is not my thing, but this yarn did me a solid when I knit up the huge monster featured in my banner up top. I considered it to be a wooly (or I guess not so wooly) experiment.

Four and a half days later, and I had a sweater! It was a quick knit and the yarn behaved, so far, so good. I wore it out on a 49 degree day with a long sleeved t-shirt, and it felt just right for the day. So far, it held up well for the first wearing. Not bad.

I hope that you and yours and having a wonderful Valentine's Day! Tuesdays are very busy in our house, but I did manage to whip this up for dinner:

Heart-shaped mini honey-mustard meatloaves with roasted potatoes and salad - a family favorite of ours. :)

And we had red velvet cupcakes for dessert!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas is coming! (Yikes!)

Hello blog readers! I apologize for this long lapse in between posts. The holiday season always seems to sneak up on me, and this year is no different. I'll show you a couple of things I managed to knit lately.

First off, I finally finished my Polly Cardigan. I was a little unsure about the buttons, but deep down I always felt like they were meant to be on this sweater. I bought them from The Hickory Tree on etsy, and I have to say that I really love them. They are literally slices from a tree branch. Pretty cool, right? I really love how they look!

Sorry for the headless photo. The expression on my face was not blogworthy, I promise.

I also knit something for the season. I had wanted to make these last year, but my disorganized self did not get it together in time. This year, I made it happen. So, I have korknisse on the tree this year!

I loved Elliphantom's version on Ravelry with tiny jingle bells and ribbon, so I followed suit. I made one for every member of the family, including the two beagles. I just love how cute they are! I plan to make some as gifts next year.

As for gift knitting this year, I have completely fallen flat. I'm in the eleventh hour knitting a hat for my 1-year-old niece. The first one I tried was a bust because it fit me. Now I need to speed knit another one this weekend. As for the rest of my family, I dilly dallied on deciding what projects and what yarn to use, so I ended up making a big bunch of nothing. It's so ridiculous that I haven't been able to make up my mind about these things. I think this time of year though that I need more enjoyment knitting and less process knitting. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, the last thing I want is to be stressed by one of my favorite activities, right?

I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season so far. Hopefully, you are more content with your knitting that I am! Enjoy the weekend! I will try to check in again before 2012! :)

Kathleen

November Already?

Where did the time go? I was away for a few days as October turned into November, and I'll give you a hint where I was:

We went to the Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party, and it was so fun! We went to Florida for a little longer than a long weekend, and it was perfect. Just enough warm weather, just enough Disney and not too much school missed, which worked out well.

Now that Halloween is over, I immediately feel like it's dangerously close to Christmas in terms of knitting gifts. Right now I only have one gift on the needles, and while I don't have anything too ambitious to complete in time, I should at least think about acquiring the yarn for these projects, don't you think?

Have I mentioned that I could teach a PhD seminar on procrastination?

I digress.

In the meantime, I did finish up a few projects. The gobbledyghost was finished in time for Halloween.

He's pretty cute even though he's trying to be scary.

I also finished some cabled snowman mittens for my niece. I had knit them for her last year, but being the peanut that she was, they would have been swimming on her. This year they will be a better fit for sure.

Since I only had the embroidery left to do, my knitterly guilt kicked in for some reason. Maybe because I knit them last year?I decided to knit her a tiny mermaid to adorn her gift. My plan was to use pink and purple to customize the mermaid to appeal to my niece's color palette. I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to mermaid colors, but I think she turned out all right.

I especially like her funky hair. See?

I also started knitting Comfort Dolls for Haiti. My Ravelry friend, adventuregurl, inspired me to join with her enthusiastic participation in this project. The Comfort Doll Project collects handknit dolls and will deliver them to children in Haiti for Christmas. Here's my first one:

Isn't he sweet? These dolls knit up so fast and use scrap yarn. Instant gratification and stash busting, what more could you want? If you'd like more information, feel free to pm me on Ravelry or leave a comment below.

That's enough news for the start of November, I think. The sweater is ripped out and the body is knitted up again. Just waiting to feel like knitting sleeves. :)

Happy Knitting!

Comfort Food Cowl and What's On the Needles

Usually, I'm a monogamous knitter. I like to knit and knit and knit, until I have a finished object off my needles. Then, I'm prone to panic because I haven't thought ahead, and I'm left without anything to knit immediately.

This month, however, the tides have turned for some reason. First, I saw the Comfort Food Cowl and Fingerless Gloves set by IrishGirlieKnits featured on her blog of the same name. I had just finished Dancette, and I was eager for a relatively quick, worsted weight project. I had 2 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Water Green, so that satisfied my need to knit right there. The cowl is finished, and I love how it turned out. See?

When I finished the cowl, I cast-on for the fingerless gloves right away. The pattern was going much more quickly in the gloves, so I got about a third of the way up the cuff of the first glove.

Last Sunday, I had the house completely to myself because my husband and daughter went to a football game. I was so excited! I was going to watch movies and craft all day. I really wanted to start something new, so I decided to start crocheting a Queen Anne's Lace scarf for myself out of a pretty skein of Malabrigo Rios that I had picked up in Maine. Things were going swimmingly, and then I saw it.

A mouse.

Now I do not like mice....AT ALL! In our neck of the woods, it is pretty common to have mice trying to get in your house. I know they've been in the garage and stuff, and we have a pest company on the situation. Or so I thought. I had not seen one inside my house in a very long time. So, I watched this mouse climb up the side of my fireplace and duck into a tiny hole in the stone. What did I do? I called my sister, and I yelled and whined and basically freaked out.

After I commiserated with my sister, I saw the offending mouse stick his head out of the hole. I thought to myself, there is absolutely NO WAY that I am going to watch this mouse run around my house. I yelled at it and pounded on the stone of the fireplace. I swear the thing sneered at me. I sprayed it in the face with water and it rescinded into the hole. I called my sister back (for moral support), and then I cut up a stainless scrubber and shoved it into the hole where the mouse had peeked out. (I had read that mice do not like to chew through any type of metal or wiry material.) I didn't see him again that day, and I was relieved. Maybe he was too. My day was a bit deflated after that. I did crochet, and I did watch a movie, but it wasn't the same. My family had a terrific time at the game, so at least they didn't have to deal with our uninvited creature.

It took me a couple of days to calm down, but getting yarn in the mail helped me forget about the creatures. (That and several visits from the pest control people).

I had been watching the progress of Susan B Anderson's Polly Pullover turned Cardigan KAL on Ravelry. I just knew I had to have this cardigan, knit out of super bulky weight yarn, for my fall and winter wardrobe when I saw it featured on the Spud and Chloe blog. I finished my other sweater first, and then spent a good two weeks hemming and hawing about my color decision. I loved Susan's version in Carbon, but since I already own a plethora of charcoal colored sweaters, I decided to go with Sequoia, a reddish, terra-cotta-like shade. Then I was in a holding pattern, anxiously waiting for its arrival.

I received the yarn for my cardigan to be last Monday, and I was so excited to start. I really love the color! With the gauge swatch completed, I cast-on right away and made it through the body in just a few days. Love super bulky weight yarn!

I love that I've come this far, but I'm going to frog half the body. Why? I included the waist shaping dictated in the pattern on the sides of the cardigan, and I don't like how noticeable it is. I've tried it on several times, and reasoned that the sweater will be fine without it, and I'll be happier. Plus, it will take me almost no time to catch up because this yarn knits up so fast.

Although, I am starting another project today. (How many is that now?) A Gobbledyghost for my daughter for Halloween. She has requested a purple one, so I'm trying to knit it on the sly in time for the big day. So, the fingerless mitts, the scarf, and the sweater will be on hold for a bit. At least, I can't say I don't have anything to work on, right?

Happy Monday! What are you knitting these days?

Yay! Dancette!

Fresh off my needles is a fun knit from Irishgirlieknits. I saw Carrie's design, Dancette, featured on her blog and fell in love with the striping and chevron goodness displayed in this beautiful shawl. Then, after reading rave reviews about the lovely hand dyed yarn from The Plucky Knitter, I decided that I just had to order one of her Living A Mystery yarn kits that was equipped with 2 skeins of The Plucky Knitter Primo MCN 75/20/5 and the pattern. The skeins are selected by The Plucky Knitter herself and shipped off to you. As far as I know, you don't have any say in the matter.

And that makes project that much more fun.

I poured over the FO gallery for Dancette for days after I placed the order, wondering if my skeins would be similar to the projects that I was viewing. I am a huge fan of blue, so I was imagining opening the box and finding a beautiful shade of blue and another beautiful skein, maybe grey? (Well, let's face it, I was fixated on the blue.) Then the box arrived and inside was this:

No blue? What? I was taken aback a bit. This was not what I was expecting. Red and brown? Really? I mean I knew it was a "mystery" box of yarn, but somehow I thought that I would get what I had been dreaming about. Hmmmm......

Now I don't usually choose red when choosing yarn, clothes, etc., so this was new for me. I carried the skeins around the house with me for a bit, and then I put them down so I could think a bit about the whole thing.

Then I grabbed my long lost blue sweater in progress to try to finish it up. The sweater took me about 10 days to finish, and after that sea of blue had held my attention for that amount of time, enough was enough. I was so ready for a change.

I saw The Plucky Knitter skeins on the table where I had left them, and I had a new attitude. I thought to myself, "This isn't a bad thing after all." I wound the yarn into skeins and got down to business.

I decided to use the red as the main color with the brown as the complementary color. I cast on in the red and started on the pattern. The color changes were so fun, and the varying width between stripes really kept things interesting. As I watched the shawl get bigger, I was liking it more and more. By the time, I reached the chevron edging, I was couldn't wait for the finished object.

And here it is:

I really love how it turned out, and what I've come to appreciate about this project is that it has broadened my color horizons. I am looking forward to thinking outside the blue box for future projects. Who knows? Maybe I'll even branch out to a mustard cowl or pumpkin colored sweater.

That's begs the question: What am I going to knit next?

My Favorite Sweater

I have a sweater that I wear all the time. As soon as the temperature starts hovering around 60 degrees and below, the sweater comes out. Although I have been known to wear a tank top, boxer shorts, flip flops and this sweater when driving my daughter to school in May or June, along with glasses and a haphazard bun.

I pull it on first thing in the morning, and keep it around during the day to don if I feel chilled in any way.

Now I didn't knit this sweater, and I didn't receive it as a gift. Well, not really anyway. My mom was cleaning out her closet about 6 or 7 years ago, (She is very good at that sort of thing, by the way. I am not.) and she asked me if I wanted this sweater of hers, a heathered gray 100% wool cardigan with a collar and pockets. I said, "Sure!" After all I love sweaters, and I love gray, so this seemed like a decent score for me.

This sweater seriously became my goto for everyday life. It's not particularly stylish by any stretch of the imagination. It's very basic, has a healthy dose of positive ease and might even be bordering on frumpy, but I love it. It's warm, it's cozy and it's comfortable. It's like a favorite sweatshirt, but I like sweaters better. I affectionately call it my "Mr. Rogers sweater". If I am home, I probably have on that sweater. (Yes, I have it on right now.) Don't get me wrong, it's been out and about too....to the supermarket, school meetings and that kind of thing. It is my favorite sweater.

Since this sweater has been providing me with warmth and coziness for the past 6 or 7 years, some things are starting to go. Take the elbows for instance. I noticed the fabric wearing very thin in the left elbow 2 years ago. There was no way that I would ever consider throwing this sweater out on account of a hole in progress, so I found some multicolored dyed yarn and just kind of whipstitched over the offending gap. Not a very knitterly solution for a knitter, but at the time I was in a hurry to get the sweater back on. While I was at it, I took the same yarn and whipstitched the cuff, 2 stitches in each purled section of the ribbing. Just because I felt like it. While I don't have a photo of my classy elbow fix, I can show you what the cuff looks like.

Pretty fancy, eh?

Yesterday, my quick fix of the elbow blew out, leaving my elbow exposed to the drafty elements in my house. What to do? What to do? I grabbed the same variegated handdyed yarn and knit a patch. I cast on about 15 stitches and knit in stockinette stitch until it seemed like it would cover the gape. While I was knitting, I decided that I liked the purl side better, and then I unexpertly mattress stitched the sucker in place. See?

Yes, I know it's not perfect. You have to understand that my attitude about this sweater is very laid back. It's missing a button, and it now has a wonky patch on the elbow and will probably need another one on the other elbow soon, but I don't care. I love it just the way it is. It keeps me warm, it's my favorite and it's mine.

Enough said. :)

A Letter From My Sweater

Dear Kathleen,

Thank you for finally finishing me last week. I'm not sure what I did to you last November, but it was getting really boring in that drawer. I didn't exactly understand what you muttered as you hastily thrust me into the plastic bag and then into the drawer, but you sounded pretty cranky. Did I mention that the drawer was dark? Or that the only other knit in the drawer was a too-small baby hat who wasn't much of a conversationalist?

Sorry. Have I told you that I am happy you finished me?

One thing I'd like to point out is that if you hadn't stuck me in the drawer when you made that mistake on the sleeve last November, you wouldn't have made the same mistake last Sunday all over again. Although I will concede that if you had kept the edging that you planted on me around the same time, I would look a little off kilter right now. But, did it really have to take you a year to make a decision on the edging?

The other thing that I'd like to mention is that I look alright. What, with this being the first adult sweater that you ever knit. And I know you doubted yourself big time. Well, you should have. You almost made some unfortunate choices, and maybe you would do some things differently next time. You did learn things on this project, right? Lots of things. I hope you realize now that it sometimes it takes a good bit frogging to make a decent sweater. When you think about how many times you ripped back, you know I'm right. And at the end of the day, my dear, I'd like you to realize, that I'm only a sweater. So, there's no need to stress so much. Really.

I'll forgive you for the things that you said to me. You just wanted me to be wearable. I get that.

Looking forward to keeping you warm sometime soon,
Your Sweater

P.S. Go out and knit another one. I know you can do it.

Moonlight Raglan
Pattern: Easy Top-Down Raglan Knitalong by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Spud and Chloe Sweater, color Moonlight

Cabled Pumpkins

Two years ago, my sister asked me to knit her some orange fingerless mittens, so she could look fancy at her son’s school’s Halloween festivities. I knit up Lisa M. Beamer’s fun pattern for Fast & Easy Fingerless Mitts and put a row of cabled pumpkins at the top of the mitt to “Halloweenize” them a bit. I’ve had a few people ask how I did the pumpkin cables at the top. I figure now would be a good time to get the ball rolling on my blog with my pumpkin cabling secrets. Just in time for you to whip some up for this Halloween.

First thing's first:
Once I had knitted the gusset and knit 10 rounds, I began the pumpkin cables. At this point in the pattern, I had 38 stitches.

(Note: This is the stitch count I had when I knit the mitts in the round based on Lisa’s pattern written for the flat knitted version. In Jan 2010, Lisa released Fast & Easy Fingerless Mitts v.2 - Circular which features her version of the pattern knit in the round.)

Okay, here goes:

Cabled Pumpkins
Round 1: *(K2tog, knit 4, p1, k5, p1, k5, p1) repeat from * to end of round. (36 sts)
Round 2: *(C1b, k1, c1f, p1) repeat from* to end of round.
Round 3: *(K5, p1) repeat from* to end of round.
Round 4: *(K5, p1) repeat from* to end of round.
Round 5: *(K5, p1) repeat from* to end of round.
Round 6: *(K5, p1) repeat from* to end of round.
Round 7: *(K5, p1) repeat from* to end of round.
Round 8: *(C1f, k1, c1b, p1) repeat from * to end of round.
Round 9: *(K5, p1) repeat from * to end of round.

Bind off loosely.
Embroider two vertical stitches with black yarn in center of each cabled pumpkin for eyes. Backstitch 3 stitches in a wide u shape underneath eyes for mouth. Embroider a stem in green or brown with one stitch on top of each pumpkin.

Cable Key:
C1b: Slip 1 stitch onto cable needle and hold in back of work. Knit 1 stitch and then knit the 1 stitch from cable needle.

C1f: Slip 1 stitch onto cable needle and hold in front of work. Knit 1 stitch and then knit the 1 stitch from cable needle.

Now go and get yourself in the Halloween spirit. It's never too early for that. :)
Kathleen

Edited 10/24/11 to correct errors in the pattern. The pattern as written above is now correct. Each cable is a 2-stitch cable, not a 4-stitch cable. I apologize for the errors.