Basic Fingerless Mittens in Noro Taiyo

I posted here about the fabulous Noro Taiyo yarn I had purchased while visiting a friend in Providence, RI. That was back in 2010. In December of 2011, I finally used it! I made Basic Fingerless Mittens by Julia Vaconsin. Excellent pattern - easy to follow, and the result was beautiful. Only problem I had was not knowing how to join the yarn at the thumb gusset, but I figured it out (and then I did some research and found out how I was actually supposed to do it!). ;) I used about half the skein of Taiyo for these.

Here they are in progress:



Here's the completed first mitten on me:





And here's the finished set.



I had started these as a selfish crochet project, but when I tried to wear them, my hands got itchy from the wool. (I'd been hoping that I wouldn't have a reaction to the Taiyo, since it's got a relatively low percentage of wool, but no such luck.)

Luckily, a friend of mine had a birthday (funny how people do that!), and these were perfect for her. (In my opinion, anyway. I hope she likes them and isn't made itchy by the wool!) She wore them for a while when I gave them to her, and they looked so good with her outfit! I am so happy they went to a good home.

Playing catch-up

Wow, it's been almost a year since I last posted! Oops. Sorry, dear readers. Also, happy Valentine's Day!

I have been doing much with the yarn (and not much with the beads) since my last post. I stopped doing anything with either hobby for a while, actually, until a close friend of mine had a baby last October and I decided to make a sun hat for the baby. That got the creative juices flowing again.



Hat made with Lily Sugar N Cream yarn. Free pattern can be found here.

After that, I made a Bellflower Infinity Scarf. I was loving the way it was turning out as I worked on it, but I am less satisfied with the finished result. I used Red Heart Soft yarn for it, which is acrylic, and I am way too scared to block acrylic (or anything, for that matter, but especially acrylic), so of course I didn't block it. As a result, it is sort of sloppy and bunchy. Also, the part at the end of the pattern where you slip-stitch the ends of the scarf together resulted in an ugly seam. I don't know if that's because I somehow did it wrong, or if it's just supposed to have an ugly seam! Either way, when I wear it, I keep the seam in the back.





More to come very soon.