Monday 23 August 2010

Half knit gnome

I can't quite believe this is my last week off before I go back to work. Time has absolutely flown. All my plans to get things done seem to have come to naught!
Still, I had a lovely rest and we got a few things done round the house.

Like this:



Something happened on Saturday and we bought this gas BBQ. Hubby has always wanted a good BBQ but this baby is rather large! It's fab though. We ate "al fresco"on Sat night and yesterday. It was lovely. Although since yesterday evening it has rained non stop so no eating outside today! Typical Irish weather. :(
Hopefully that's the end of the house purchases, we have to save money for our holidays in October!

Last night I finished the first gnome mitten:






I'm pleased enough with the results, although the fingertip decreases were really strange. I think they could have been written much better.
The thumb is very narrow too, it's a tight fit. The stranding is un-typical too. There are float carries of up to 7 stitches at a time. Too long in my book. But, they are gnomes, and I love them. Definitely to big for Alice though! Still, I can use the chart and make her a pair of mittens that fit.
EDIT: She has nabbed the mitten as is. It's a little big, but she refuses to give it up.
Plenty of ends to weave in, too!


I said last post that Alice & I were cardmaking for the big C. Well, here's a slideshow of the cards we made the other day. 9 in total:


I think they're great, and Alice loves them. They should make nice cards for family.
That's about it for now, I'm determined to enjoy this last week off, it will involve some relaxation for sure. We haven't had a day where we've done nothing, such as a movie day. That's a must. Other than that, I'm just going to try and ignore the impending return to the job as much as possible!
Good knitting!

4 comments:

sheknitupthat said...

I love the cards, I think my favourite is the pink one with the swirls. Well done on the mitten. As you know, I have thumb 'issues' too. Maybe it's symptomatic of mittenknitting? :/

Julia said...

I think you'll be hard pressed getting that mitten back from Alice - I wouldn't give it back either!

Tara said...

Those cards are great, Sinéad! And WOW, I'm SOOOO impressed that you're already thinking about Christmas! Way to make the rest of us procrastinators feel guilty! lol

Nic said...

The mitten looks great! And the cards too of course.

I quite agree. A 7 stitch float is waaaay too long - especially on a mitten that you'll be putting your fingers into constantly. (Sugest wrapping the 2nd yarn all the way around the working yarn between stitch 3 & 4. That should help.)