Mitts!!

I've been tutoring three wonderful kids - two of them for three years! Today was graduation (from elementary school) day!! Woo-hooooo!! I'm so very proud of all them. They are very bright, talented kids and will do great things with their lives. I'm thankful to have a little part in that!!

For "Congratulations" gifts, I made them fingerless mitts. They were a big hit with all three, AND were the envy of all the other kids on the playground!!

Fetching

Plain ol' Mitts

Fetching

Rationalizing

I've really been trying to stay out of stores for a while now. Not only because I'm trying not to spend money, but also because I've been scolding myself about my stash taking over my living space! As you know, I love thrift stores. I (almost) always find something that begs to go home with me to be rescued.

Today, I found myself with an hour between clients in an area close to THREE thrift stores! What a dilemma!! Well, I succumbed to the call...kind of.

In one shop, I found these lovely handknit wool mittens for 99 cents. While they were a pretty shade of yellow, it's just not a color I wear often. A little Kool-Aid later, and I had bright cherry-red mitts!!

I then embroidered them with a bit of recycled white yarn and some sparkly beads. Ta-dah! Christmas mittens!!

My second find was this lovely linen tablecloth. It's hand-embroidered and is in pretty good shape. There is one small hole (about 1 cm) that I think I can cover up with another flower. Not bad.

Okay, so I didn't strictly stay with my "no-stores" plan. I did, however, keep it in control. Kind of like having a bite of a cookie instead of the whole package, right? (I love rationalization, don't you?!)

Mittens for Winter

Remember this yarn? I love the colors, love the yarn, but just didn't enjoy the scarf I knit from it. I decided bright mittens for this winter would be best. So I frogged the scarf and knit up these babies. I didn't follow any specific pattern and had almost exactly the right amount of yarn for them. I love them, and will enjoy the bright colors in the gray of our NW winter!

Folk Mitts and Hot Chocolate

I haven't done any colorwork for a while. Playing with bits of my hand-dyed recycled sweater yarns, I came up with these bright and cheerful "Folk Mitts." They are happily keeping my hands warm while I knit up the rest of my Christmas gifts. Check back...I'll post the pattern later.

And here's one more gift ready. It's a simple beanie for Zak. He likes things plain...no designs, no bright colors. So to make him a hat that he will actually wear, I had to reel myself in. But I don't like to get bored, either. To satisfy both of us, I whipped him up a "Hot Chocolate" beanie with my hand-dyed recycled sweater wool in dark brown and black. The color changes are very subtle and not even noticeable unless you're up close and personal!