Well, yes. I took a little hiatus from my Christmas knitting to make myself these.

Thuja mitts

So sue me.

Pattern: Thuja-inspired fingerless gloves, by Carrie (aka irishgirlieKnits)
Yarn: STR mediumweight in Henpecked, waaaay less than one skein (1.9 oz, to be exact).
For: me! Duh.
Needle: US 2 (the smaller 2)
Begun: November 16
Finished: November 21
Mods: Carrie’s pattern called for STR heavyweight, but since I have hands approximately the size of a seven-year-old, I used the mediumweight instead. Plus, that’s what I had in my stash that matched my coat. I knitted the size L, but it worked out perfectly. I also added ribbing at the top. The curling edge was cuter, but the way it made a lump on my palm bugged me. So, rip rip, knit knit, my aren’t these mitts the shit?

thuja mitt left

I really, really like the way they turned out. Thanks for the great pattern, Carrie! They are super cute and they went really fast. I have enough yarn left over to make a pair of socks if I want. I think that it might instead end up as a hat and mitten set for Baby J. Which I will knit after Christmas.

Anyway, I heart them.

thuja mitts happy

Can you tell?

Besides knitting these over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to meet up with Macoco from Craft Pirate. Yay! But being a bad blogger, I didn’t even take my camera with me. Boo. We met up at Knit Stop in Indianapolis. All I can say is–whoa! If you live around here and haven’t been there lately, please go. They had doubled their space (and inventory!) since I had been there last year. Yarn up to the ceiling! I had to climb up a ladder to get this stuff down.

sublime yarn

It’s Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran, in granite. I got it to make Odessa for my SIL. The pattern called for DK weight yarn, but I got this instead. Silly me, it didn’t even register that it says ARAN right there on the label. I blame the yarn fumes. I think Macoco will back me up on this. That store was overpowering! Plus I got there five minutes before they closed, and thought I should hurry. I don’t know why I thought that, because the women in the shop were in no way shape or form rushing me out of there. In fact, Macoco and her friend were sitting in the back with the owner, knitting and chatting away for about a half hour after they were officially closed. Very nice people at Knit Stop. Plus they have cute dogs. Macoco and her friend and I went over to the Barnes and Noble across the street after that, and knitted for a bit. It was very nice, and wonderful to meet them.

Oh, hat. Right. I figured I could change the pattern a bit to fit my gauge. It should work out fine. Plus I got these nice beads to go in it.

odessa swatch

I cannot stress how nice this yarn is. So soft, with a beautiful sheen. And super sproingy! I was having a ball knitting beads into the swatch, until I realized that the more beads I put in the swatch, the more I would have to string onto the yarn later. Hence the abrupt end of the beads there. I used a short piece of small gauge wire, folded in half to string the beads, in case you’re interested. About half the beads didn’t fit on my big yarn, but I got enough on in the end. So happily knitting away on this one.

After that: only two gifts to go! Wish me luck.