Odds and Ends

Good Monday evening, friends! Mo and I feel perky because a lovely fall-y cold front blew in today. Nothing cuter than a Pug in a Puppia vest, so classic. [and Mo is relieved his old vest still fits,lol.]

And sad that this one still doesn't fit, despite Mommy's efforts to , um, make it bigger.

This weekend instead of sewing on the deck I decided to finish my long neglected Odds n Ends mitts.

Leftover bits and pieces are okay in quilting, some people even save scraps and make scrappy quilts. [more on that later], but tiny leftover balls of yarn are just annoying. Yarn seems too costly to throw these bits away.

If I crocheted I'd make a granny afghan, maybe, though Mel points out something she and I both despise, lots of color changes means lots of yarn tag ends to deal with while working and then to be tediously woven in at the end of a project. So---no granny square blanket or stripey vest for Mo.

I love fingerless mitts because I can handle Mo's leash better with free fingers; I also like them for driving and for flea marketing on chilly days. So when I saw the variegated mitts a few years ago, I knew they were a perfect project.

Of course I am even a slower knitter than quilter.

I made one mitten Fall of 2015, then got sidetracked making requests and Christmas gift mitts for other people. The pair do not exactly match because I don't use a pattern and my notes were for a different needle size and different yarn. The new mitt is lumpy because it's not blocked in the earlier pics too. This pair is just for me, so I simply did ''approximate'', no one looks at both hands at the same time, right. [Thanks to my dear friend LK for modelling!]

The original inspiration mitts were made with a single variegated wool yarn from Noro.  Or maybe not! Here

I used my odds and ends---a poison green Irish tweed, red cashmere/ mohair blend, black alpaca, and yes, two ends of Noro variegated. One is wool, the other other is silk and wool. They're the middle of the gloves and the variations were expected, even planned.

The good news is that this was ALL the yarn I had left!

Most of the black blew away at the beach  [cozy bird's nest come spring?] and the variegated leftovers were the ugly outtakes one does get sometimes on Noro, wine, puce, dirty grey. The bad news is, if I lose one mitten, as I usually do, I cannot now make another.

Oh, scraps and scrap quilts? ...I myself do not save fabric scraps. Coming from a garment industry background where every bit of fabric was hoarded, I do not save scraps separately, but instead fold the small usable bits back into the bigger piece or pieces. But Lori of Humble Quilts showed a scrap crazy quilt today that could change my mind. It's the cotton one , first two photos of today's post, where Lori admires the one striped block.  HERE  I love it too. Scraps might be my future!

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Mo and I walked at sunset, so early now. Makes me a little sad. Mo doesn't seem to notice when it's dark out---I wonder if dogs have extra good night vision?

Tonight's dinner is Pork chops or chicken cutlets with seasoned crust, oven ''fried''; Baked sweet potatoes and baked white acorn squash rings [yum!]. And microwaved ''fried '' apples, w cinnamon, honey, and a bit of water or  Grand Marnier. [The liqueur cooks off.] The house smells good! Like Autumn.

Enjoy your fall days and crisp cold nights! 

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Knitting Info:

Easy fingerless gloves on Ravelry [free pattern] HERE

or my Pinterest Knitting page for many fingerless glove ideas :here

best wool yarn, Noro: Kureyon  much better in person // be sure to look at the pics of the skeins.