Strawberry Fields for Breakfast

It's so fuzzy!

January is for starting new things, right? Is that why I have started knitting a cat bed for the guest room, two pairs of lace socks, a pair of purple mittens, and a lace cowl?

The cowl and mittens are to match my new jacket (umm, is it new if I got it two years ago? yes, because my not-new jacket I got 11 years ago, and my old jacket was purchased in 1990) They are also kind-of my school colors- burgundy and silver. I am scheduled for parking lot duty soon, and I wanted some layers with a “be true to your school” kind of theme.
When I was planning the mittens, I wasn’t sure what yarn to use- I thought I would have to buy some, thinking, “oh, I don’t have any  purple, this must mean a trip to the yarn store.” Then the voice of reason said, “seriously? no purple yarn?” and I looked in my stash. Of course there was purple yarn.

There was a ball of solid purple mohair that I remember getting at the sheep festival a couple of years ago- no label anymore. I had started a blanket with it, but decided I didn’t like it. It has been sitting in a ziplock bag for 3 years. I also had some purple and grey mohair that I had gotten on sale, for the same blanket project. It was time to make something with them.
The mitten project is easy- look at http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/FEATmittens101.html for a quick tutorial- make a mini mitten, and you’ll learn everything you need to know. Knitting in the round, decreasing and grafting are the big skills. They go pretty quickly- I was able to make these during a couple of tae kwon do classes and a night of TV. If you are nervous about moving on from scarves or blankets, mittens are a good next move- useful, and people lose them enough that it makes sense to make them. I know I have lost multiple pairs of mittens, in a way that I don’t lose socks or hats. Or sweaters… I hardly ever lose sweaters…

March 17 edited to add: Yes, I lost one, about a month after I made them. Sigh.  I weighed the surviving mitten, and weighed the yarn I had left, and am working on another one (yes, I looked for it!) I wouldn’t have bothered, except they are predicting snow for Monday.