Emergency Winter Woollies

Recently, my depuartment acquired a new staffmember from the other end of the country.

Crossing all those latitudinal lines in a hurry causes a small problem.

It is  MUCH cooler down here and they're just not used to it yet.

(There is a reason why we call out-of-town students 'Scarfies'. They're almost never seen without 2m of wool around their necks.)

Bored and itching to do some colourwork, I offered to make this poor, frozen northener a woolly welcome gift.

They asked for black and red.

Black and red?

But. . . Those aren't Warriors colours. . .

. . . you sure you want the Canterbury colours?

But. . . but. . . THESE ARE OUR BOYS HERE!

Do I really have to use our Arch Rivals colours?

. . . Welcome-to-town present; so yes.

Yes I had to.

At least it turned out looking moderately Goth instead of screamingly Cantabrian, so I feel like a little less of a filthy traitor for using red and black.

Hopefully they'll keep our poor northener from freezing to death before spring ^.^;

The patterns used were the Waffle Stitch Fingerless Gloves and Snowflake Slouchy Beanie from Ravelry. They're very fast knits, I was able to knit both hat and gloves up in 3-4 days while catching up on some reading.

Both patterns knit flat and sewn up later. In my opinion those gloves would be excellent for stash-busting and stockpiling for Christmas gifts. The beanie would be excellent for a first colourwork project. It's got a nice simple chart and you don't have to wrap stitches very often. (Wrapping while purling=DISLIKE)

I have a sneaking suspicion that the colourwork bug has not been fully satisfied. . .

This can't be good.

~Topaz



(Also: Thankyou SuperXV for the rugby booty photos)

Arms of an Indian God

Oh man, do I not enjoy knitting gloves.

I love wearing them and I love looking at them, but actually making them comes in pretty low on the list of activities I enjoy and actively seek out.

A few years back I got pretty desperate for PROPER fingerless gloves, so I broke and made myself some.

Warm hands? YES PLEASE!

Purple possum-merino goodness.

If they're so pretty and snuggly warm, why do I dislike making them? BEHOLD THE REASON:

Successful juggling of all the needles and stitch holders requires that you posses approximately the same number of arms as the average Hindu deity.

Yeah, seems legit.

Did you know that threading the on-hold stitches onto a circular needle makes thing much easier?

I do now -.-;

These are Glamour Nana's Wintertime Driving Gloves, in the same Corridale she used to make herself a cardigan. There wasn't quite enough there is grey possum/merino to pad it out.

I really shouldn't watch Doctor Who while knitting.  Fingers are different lengths, silly Topaz!

Have a wonderful crafternoon!

~Topaz