Knitting and a Temari ball

A couple of weeks ago I finished this mitten:



I had to do quite a bit of fussing to get the mitten to fit me, but I really liked the knitting pattern.

The mittens turned out to be fraternal twins, and the color jump at the thumbs was not too drastic, so that was fine. DD2 is making me a pair of fingerless mitts to go under them; the combination is so wonderful in the wintertime! My fingers were the warmest and toastiest they have ever been with my red and white mittens this past year!



These mittens are made from the same yarn I used for my window pane scarf and the tam.

I also followed the tutorial by Joan Z on the Temari Challenge group, and made this temari:



I am very pleased with how it turned out! In the first two steps you add more and more detail, and then in the 3rd step you cover over a bunch of the stitching and leave only what you want to show. I have admired this temari in one of the Japanese books (Kii Temari) for a long time, and couldn't even imagine how it was stitched. With Joan's explanations I think this one was successful. The variegated thread I used make it even more confusing to figure out, because it looks like I used a green and a coral/purple.

I am always taken aback when I use this color pink for a temari. I always feel like the thread is a brighter pink, but when I go to match it, it turns out to be a more mauve pink.

I am going to try this one again with more contrast. Do you like the negative space flowers?

I was doing quite well, with only a couple of started projects, but... I fell in love with a shawl pattern, I found the yarn for a reasonable amount (wool and silk laceweight!) and couldn't resist casting it on. It is mostly stockinette stitch, but with enough complications to keep it interesting to look at, and interesting to knit. I will get a picture for you soon.