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When I first started reading knitting blogs I was amazed by the amount of passion many knitters feel for their sock yarn of choice. 
As I've had the opportunity (and funds) to try many of the sock yarns, I've developed my favorites as well. 
However, having had the opportunity recently to try some new yarns, I got to wondering why I like some better than others.
For me, finishing things comes all at once. And this is not one of those times.
Instead, I have been working on projects that have been stuffed in corners. This is one that was, quite literally, under the chair in our living room for most of the past year. I got to thinking about it while I was traveling and decided to play with it a bit more.
By play with it, I mean knit a rectangle.
Although lovely once knit, I hated working with this yarn. It is full of dirt, extremely unevenly spun, and has to be worked on large needles (which I just don't like on general principles).
So, last night, I counteracted the effects by winding this:
I was stunned to discover SeaSilk really does smell like seaweed. Even my husband, who likes to eat it (seaweed, not yarn) agreed.
Just before I left last week, as it was starting to snow, I washed and blocked these mittens.
They were dry and amazingly soft by the time I back, and the weather had improved drastically. So today the mittens and I went outside to say hello to Spring....
The chives...
The recovered crocuses....
And the squills...
Coffee Bean Mittens
(I think it was Grumperina who first pointed out the similarity to Coffee Beans. I have never been able to see this pattern as anything else since.)
Yarn: Wool Bam Boo (50% wool, 50% bamboo) from Classic Elite Yarns Color 1603 and Color 1613 (2 balls of each)
Needles: US 0
Gauge: 20 sts = 2 inches (after blocking)
Pattern: Kalev's Mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush
Size: one
***As if the gift of beauty wasn't enough, the news today adds to my feeling exceedingly lucky to have such a peaceful and safe way to spend my afternoon.***
I have been wandering around England instead.
It was Spring there!
There were streets to cross:
(As dumb as it sounds, and having dealt with it before, I still struggle with this when the cars are on the opposite side of the street -- and, more importantly, going the opposite direction -- from what I think they should be.)
And there were an awful lot of beautiful, old things to look at.
Incredible music to hear.
Oh, and a conference to go to.
Incidentally, you can't carry knitting needles onto the plane when leaving the UK... It strikes much more fear in my heart to hear my luggage has been lost knowing this is in it:
I was more worried about the knitting than the poster. (But, I had already presented the poster.)
I had the opportunity this evening to think about time I spend knitting. One of the thing I am almost always asked when I give someone something I have knitted is "how long did it take you?"
First, I think it would be tacky to say. Kind of like telling the price of a gift. Second, I simply don't know. I knit to make time go faster when I am waiting, to make me more patient, to keep my hands busy. I never time how long my rows take or how many stitches I can knit per minute. There are plenty of other things I do that require that exactness. Knitting time is my break.
