Easing Slowly Back To Work

I've been back from my holiday since last Thursday and after spending a few days getting rid of the jungle my garden had become and cleaning up the house it's time to get back to doing a bit of work, so I'm on a "the kids are home and I don't have a clue what my work routine is but I'll try spending some time with them and doing some work anyway" kind of work schedule.

The first thing I'll share with you is the summer top I managed to finish knitting while at my parents' house. In the Drops pattern books my sister brought me for my birthday, I found this pattern that I thought would look great in my Tussah Silk yarn. I'd started making a crochet top without a pattern that wasn't going anywhere fast, so off I went ripping that top, and I used the yarn for my favourite kind of knitting pattern: the kind of top made in one piece on circular needles and without any sewing at all, not even sleeves!

While I was in France I visited the local yarn stores and look what I found in one of them:

I'll use the big pack of thinner blue wool to knit another pattern that I eyeballed, still in the Drops pattern books, but this time it will have sleeves as it will be for autumn/winter.

With the thick wool (I got 3 balls of each colour), I'll knit or crochet (or both:) some winter accessories for my Etsy shop.

I can't wait to get started on these but first I'm making some more of my cable mittens and trying to publish that knitting pattern I've been slaving on since June.

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Cable Mittens Indecision

I probably don't deserve this as I have been more than slacking lately but the trip has been booked for the last few months and my parents need to see their granddaughters so here we go, heading on the Ferry to France tomorrow!

I thought I would have the pattern for my cabled mittens well published by now, but of course since I'm never happy with "just OK", I've been wasting time (hence the slacking I was referring to in the 1st paragraph) knitting up a few pairs of fingerless gloves trying to make them perfect... And perfect they would be, only for the amount of wool they are using, or perhaps for the yarn I chose to knit the mittens with.

At first I wanted to make some really stylish long wristed fingerless gloves with a chain cable running over the back of the hand: my first mistake was to start with an already opened ball of wool, so of course I needed a second ball to finish the second mitten, and I thought I might get both done with only one ball if I had started with a brand new ball of wool.

Long wristed cable mitten

So I knitted another pair of mittens in a different colour and starting with a new ball of the same brand of wool, this time trying to get the gusset to run over the whole thumb, unlike the first pair where the gusset only appears on the first 8 rows of the thumb, which doesn't look bad, but it could improved; the hand part is a little longer too. Of course I ran out of wool again towards the top of the second mitten. That and the fact that my decreases on the visible part of the thumb may look like a pattern feature, but actually do not look that good.

Long wristed mitten, funky looking thumb (not in a good way)

So I had to try another pair of mittens, making the wrist a little shorter with a long hand (maybe I should have made it a little shorter like for the first mitten?) but not too short so they still look stylish, and this time with a proper professional-looking gusset: this time I think my mittens look good, but guess what? One ball still wasn't enough, even though I only need a little extra. 

Medium wrist cable mitten (not as nice as the long wrist and still using too much of that wool!)

So am I going to ask pattern purchasers to buy 2 balls of wool (which I think is being discontinued anyway) when they'll hardly use any of their second ball for the pattern? I would hate to buy a pattern like this, so I don't think so!

I can still sell my mittens in my Etsy shop, but for the pattern, I'll have to knit up a pair of long wristed cable mittens in a wool with more yardage to get less waste (or 2 balls with less as long as it's an affordable one and very soft): and here goes to once again making changes to my cable mittens knitting pattern!

I'd like to get a second opinion so please let me know which one you prefer: long wrist/medium wrist? Long hand/short hand? (the wool is 100% merino and a dream to work with, a pity it's being discontinued).


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