Comfort Knitting

Big week-end here on the home front with the Road to California Quilt show, I got to finally take Lenni for a test drive and I have to say, he won me over completely!  I had waited a whole year to give this little guy a try, didn’t expect much, and ended up getting my goldy locks moment, I finally found a longarm quilting machine that felt “just right”!  I never thought it would happen.  Not that I can afford him by any means but it does give one something to dream about.   I admire the people who have invested in these and been able to have them pay for themselves by quilting for others.  I also went to go visit the Kath Kidston store in Santa Monica hoping to find some pretty fabric like the print in her napkin in the photo but learned that they went out of business, very sad moment indeed!  But all was not lost, the beach was having a very good day and I ended up driving over to Malibu, parked on top of a hillside, and just took it all in for a little rest (I wish I could bottle this up and send your way), and then hiked over to Wild Fiber and visited their Koigu wall (yes, a whole wall of this gorgeous yarn) and finally made my way home contented and happy.  (I feel spoiled and I know this sounds idyllic but we have lots of not so nice things here as well like horrible traffic (bumper to bumper all the way home on a Saturday night! and terrible smog, gale force winds, wild fires etc.)  I made these fingerless mittens in the mornings over the week-end while watching State Fair, I just love this movie.  Santa brought it and I think I’ve seen it 5 times already.  I’d just love to have a bedroom like the one in this movie!  Overstuffed rose chintz chair near the fireplace, another by the window, and all frills on the bed, very sweet and feminine!  I found the pattern for the mitts in a new book that just came out, “12 Months of Knitting” (lots of Aran and Fair Isle knitting with soft yarns, my favorite is the photo to the left which uses the same yarn as the one I used for the other fingerless mitts below). For these mitts I used Malabrigo yarn (see pretty swatches here) on size 9 needles, pure comfort knitting!  I first saw this yarn a year ago, fell in love with it, but didn’t know what to do with it until I saw the pattern in this book (which actually called for Manos Del Uruguay - I was told these are “twins” and I found the Malabrigo to be softer, nice for warm weather climates - both are kettle dyed, both from Uruguay.  The Malabrigo looked more tye dyed, while the Manos looked more hand painted, both remind me of Noro Crayon but different enough to have it’s own personality from each other and Noro).  I don’t know if the designer intended this, but the pattern is not centered.  I tried to change the pattern to center it but didn’t quite make it so I’m hoping to make another pair and try to center it better for the next ones.  On the plus side, they knit up fast, the yarn is gorgeous and cuddly, and you don’t have to worry about playing in them (made these for trips to the ice skating rink), they are made for every day fun!