It ain't the heat...

I was going to whine about the heat (80's & 90's) and 85 % humidity, but pretty much everyone in the good old US of A is getting the same weather. So I won't say anything else, except that I have spent the last 6 days at my parent's house because they have air conditioning.

It's hard to knit when it's so hot and sticky, but I have done a little. I did finish the the spiral eyelet socks, but they are home in a drawer and so I cannot photograph them. I decided to joint the Bitchin Mittens knitalong. I bought this book a year ago and the patterns are just beautiful.

I choose the Gotland Island pattern. Gotland Island is in Baltic Sea, southeast of the Swedish mainland. It has the oldest knitting traditon in Scandinavia. They used their knitted items, which were highly valued, for trade. The women did the spinning, carding, and dyeing together in groups to lighten their chore load with companionship. They did most of the knitting too, although children and men sometimes helped. I finished my first mitten and here it is.

This is the view of the back of the mitten. The tip of the mitten is knit using the flat decrease method.

This is the palm side of the mitten. The thumb is a peasant thumb and it also used the flat decrease method. Do you see what happened to my gauge? When I started I was knitting more slowly trying to follow the chart and pickup the colors in the right order. Once I memorized the pattern and got used to the stranding I picked up speed and my gauge tightened. I don't think it makes a big difference, but I do notice it. I shortened the hand chart by one pattern repeat to fit my hand, otherwise it would have been too long. For the thumb, I started the decreases when the thumb was half way up my thumb nail. It actually fits very nicely.

When it's too hot to knit anything else, you can always knit a dishcloth! I knit this one last Sunday and gave it to my Mom. She and Dad are so nice to put up with me and my dog as refugees from the heat.

That's all folks.