Thursday 26 August 2010

Gnomes done!

Yup, I've finished the gnomes. All in all a fairly quick knit! Just goes to show what you can do when you really like the pattern.

Here's the back:



And the front:



Cuteness overload.
Pattern: Gnome Mittens by SpillyJane
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, various colours from stash
Needles: 2.75mm Harmony dpns

No mods, although if I were to make them again I think I'd jiggle the pattern a bit to avoid the ridiculously long 7 stitch floats. I'd change the decrease method at the top too, as it's unusual and I think I prefer standard ssk & k2tog decreases. Also I'd make the thumb larger as it is very narrow.

So Alice has nabbed them for school. They're too big, but she loves them so what the hey. I had figured she'd rob them anyway. Plus she's great for showing off "Mammys knitting" so you never know, I might gain some kudos. :)

A lot has been happening over the last day or so. A couple of us Dublin knitters were talking about our mutual love & adoration for EZ recently. We ruminated on how great it would be if we had a blog for knitting EZ patterns and unventions. Well, last night, sheknitupthatball took the initiative and created a blog for just that!
It's called KnittingElizabeth and so far there's 5 of us set up to contribute. My good self, sheknitupthatball, teaandcakes, Currantine and Léan. A few others have been invited too, so it looks like it's going to be a fun project!
I couldn't wait to get started so last night I wrote a catch up post on the blog of all the EZ things I've made so far, along with much gushing about how much I love her. Check it out!

So, now that the gnome mittens are done, I'm going to selectively ignore the other WIPS that are crying with loneliness & neglect in the basket beside me and cast on a new EZ project.

I'm going to attempt the Pi shawl again. Remember I said I wanted to make one as a lap blanket for snuggling on the sofa watching tv in winter? I even bought yarn specially for it:



The real McCoy, unspun Icelandic just like EZ and Meg used for theirs.
I can't wait to get started! Although I think this may be a longish project as it is a large item, I know it's going to be fun. I'll be blogging about it here as well as on Knitting Elizabeth.

So that's yer lot!

Good knitting!

6 comments:

Emybloom said...

Those gnomes are awesome, dammit!

Nic said...

Fabulous gnomes!

Yay for Elizabeth. Count me in!

Irene said...

I ADORE your gnomes although in Denmark they would be called 'nisser' which translates into 'pixies' really. Nisser live in the house with people all year round and when people get their priorities all screwed up, the nisser start causing trouble in an effort to awaken the silly humans. They might swap the oat flakes with the cornflakes in their boxs or mix all the shoes in the shoe rack up or perhaps hide a mobile phone or the power lead for a while.
Nisser mind the humans and keep us on the straight and narrow; we in turn should mind the nisser for this... ;-)
You can read more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomte!
May your hands stay warm and your nisser stay happy!

Bionic Laura said...

Wow that was quick! Those gnomes are just completely adorable. Love them.

Irene your nisser sound like mischievous little guys. Maybe the gnome mittens will let them know that they are being looked after and stuff won;t go missing in your house anymore Sinead!

Irene said...

Laura, they are particularly cheeky around Christmas during the month of December where in some homes they are up to mischief every night. One might get out of bed to a living room covered in sheets of newspaper or the milk turned green in the carton in the fridge or such like ... ;-)

Tara said...

The gnomes are adorable, of COURSE Alice nabbed them! I think the EZ blog is a fab idea. I've never knit any of her patterns, but I've got one of her books now, so you never know, I might turn into a fan :)