I have entered a stage of tiny tiny things. I can’t seem to tackle anything that takes more than a few hours to knit. I think this is directly related to how behind I am at the shop. Losing four days to a severe cold really set me back and it is obvious in my knitting habits. The sweater projects are stressing me out! I knocked out a couple of holiday gifts this week. The brown fingerless mitts are the Mitten Cuffs by Jane Richmond. It is a paid download on Ravelry. You might remember Jane’s other designs, which we have featured – the Marian Cowl and Oatmeal Pullover. I like her designs because she tends to use larger gauge yarns, which are perfect for quick knitting! I need to pick out a button for these guys and finish seaming them, but they are almost done. I think they might have taken an hour to knit. I used a slightly smaller gauge yarn so I cast on 29 sts instead of the 27 that the pattern calls for. I used just one ball of Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran and the pattern calls for Berroco Vintage Chunky. We have both at the shop, should you also need a one hour gift project! They tops of the mitts fold over and button for a cuff look or can be worn unfolded for more coverage up the arm.

Since these didn’t take very long and I had yarn leftover, I decided to make a matching hat. I chose the Meritursas Beret from Kelbourne Woolens (also a class!). We have so many yarns for this project – Canopy worsted or Terra would be amazing. I used my leftover Kashmir Aran and a good bright blue color. Of course, I ran out of yarn…using leftovers of the contrast color didn’t work so well. I eliminated some of the stripes on the top and just decreased with the main color instead. (needed two total balls of the blue color). I have literally one round left but it requires double points, which I couldn’t find in my piles of knitting nightmares at home. I might have an unfinished object hoarding problem…