Seeing in Color

I have been knitting a pair of black and white mitts for my mother F.O.R.E.V.E.R. This pair of black and white mitts, to be exact.

I have been working on these puppies since Christmas. Why, you might ask? It may have something to do with the fact that it is my first attempt at fair isle, and the completed mitt took me three tries to get right. Well, three tries once I found a good yarn. I actually purchased and twice tried another yarn before finding this one and beginning. And in fact, it still isn't right, as the top is too loose and will have to be redone upon completing the second. As you can see, it has been a bit of a frustrating road.

At first, I was excited about the pattern, the yarn, the fact that it was perfect for my mother and I knew she would love it. It was a challenge, and I love complex and visually stunning knitting patterns. The enemy was tension. For the life of me, I could not get my tension correct or even. I couldn't get the hang of carrying the yarn behind without pulling too tight, not understanding the concept behind it. I tried and tried, getting over halfway done at one point and having to frog my way back to the beginning. My optimism is running thin, and it is taking longer and longer to get anything done with them because I am so fed up. I still love the pattern and cannot wait for the completed product, but the amount of effort is not stacking up in solid results.

Luckily for me, there is such a thing as Mochi Plus, by Crystal Palace Yarns. :) I bought this from Northampton Wools a few months ago, and have been dying to try it out ever since. The colors are amazing, the softness is divine - it was exactly the sort of yarn therapy I needed. So yesterday on the way back to school from a quick weekend home, I whipped up this cute little hat with earflaps (it still needs to be blocked and have the ends woven in). It was easy and fun, and just what I wanted - great results with very little time and effort.
Luckily I still have two more skeins of this yarn left, so I can make another little something before having to buy more!

I also took a little time to spin, and finally finished up some alpaca that I have been working on for months now.
Although I got myself into a little rut with the mitts, all I needed was a break to get me back on track feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the first Knit for Those in Need meeting on Saturday! :)

Keep Knitting!