Saturday, January 30, 2010

The agony and the ecstasy

I generally tend to consider myself a process versus a product knitter. I enjoy the act of knitting in and of itself, everything about it is soothing and calming to me. Maybe that's why I don't mind giving the product of countless hours of work away. By the time the finished object, be it a hat, a shawl, or a pair of socks, is off my needles, I've pretty much been there and done that. I've experienced the agony and the ecstasy, and I can let it go.

These mittens though, were supposed to be for me. I had been deeply smitten with this pattern for months, I dilly-dallied for the longest time on buying the appropriate yarn to cast them on. These were no ordinary mittens. They were going to be spectacular, I tell you. When I cast on for these babies, I knew it was the beginning of a beautiful journey, one that would earn me the recognition and respect of maybe dozens of knitters everywhere.

And they ARE fabulous, aren't they? Just look at those colours! Look at those (mostly)even stitches! Yup, this is one FINE mitten... The only trouble is that it's about the size of an oven-mitt, and I've got teeny hands to begin with.

Now.... knitting anything that comes in pairs requires enough stamina and determination as it is. But when you KNOW that there's NO WAY in heck that you'll ever wear these mittens you're slaving over? It truly is agony.

Luckily, I've got other projects to keep me out from throwing myself into the fun-fur in a fit of desperation.

The Rococo shawl, which is rapidly becoming an all-consuming passion for me. The simple yet elegant pattern, the yarn... Ah, this shawl is what knitting is all about, my friends.

And there's more where that came from. I'll be casting on for the Milkweed shawl with some lovely Casbah just as soon as I'm done with Rococo... and, you know.... the second mitten.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

7 comments:

Montreal Mama said...

Your Rococo Shawl is gorgeous. And knitting up quite fast! What yarn is that? It's a nice color. And the Milkweed will look fabulous in that color!

I still can't believe the Citrus mitten knitted up that large. Was there different sizes in the pattern that could be knit or was it one size fits all? I wonder if other knitters had similar problems? You used Knit Picks Palette right? And that's quite a thin yarn... Hmmm!

Sereknitty said...

The mitten looks amazing -- what a shame it's monster-sized! Hmmm, would felting it be an option??

That shawl is really coming along nicely! You'll be needing it with the weather I hear you've been having :(

You are going to love the Casbah yarn (if you haven't already tried it). I just finished an Ishbel with it and am very smitten -- in fact, I will be first-in-line at the LYS door on Tuesday a.m. when it opens, to buy more!

Happy first-day-on-the-new-job, tomorrow!

Sinéad said...

Monster mitten - am I the only one thinking it would have been perfect for Phils frankenfinger?
but seriously, I'm sorry to see it turned out too big, it's horrible when that happens, especially when you really like the pattern. (and it is gorgeous). Maybe a little timeout is called for it.
In better news, your shawl is looking faboo!

Mrhide said...

the mittens are PERFECT for me!! like they ...ok IT was MADE for me!

Anonymous said...

Oy...that SUCKS about the mittens! But...couldn't you have...y'know...seen that they were big? And stopped? Started over? BEFORE getting to the end? (I mean there's sucker for punishment and then there's BLIND sucker for punishment!) At least your hubby likes oranges!

p.s. congrats on new job! How did day 1 go? Were you the hottest librarian around?

Cynthia F said...

Dang! That's crappy about the mittens coming out so big! But they are seriously gorgeous, you did a beautiful job on them!! I say frame them & hang them on the wall as art!

birana said...

Lovely mittens..I'm much too lazy to start this kind of colorwork! So I wil only say hummm!casbah ;_