I didn't forget how to knit...

It's been a long time since a knitting pattern grabbed me, but JennyPenny's Calaveritas mittens did the trick. A friend posted the pattern link on Facebook, and within 10 minutes, I had bought it and was printing it out. I dug through the stash for some Knit Picks Risata yarn, and an unknown stash white fingering, and was off to town.

I skipped the Latvian Braid (whose instructions come in a You Tube Video), but otherwise knitted the mittens to the pattern. They came out a little big, but that's okay because I intend to wear them with commercial gloves underneath. If I was to knit them again (not likely), I'd drop down to 3mm needles (I used 3.25).

I love everything about the design, but I especially (and I do mean ESPECIALLY) love the skeleton thumbs.

If you have knitted mittens from a chart, and understand how chart decreases are indicated, and if this is not your first stranded pattern, then this should not be difficult (lots of float-anchoring, but that's just the way it goes when you have long streaks of a single color in a stranded design).

I give away most of what I make, but these are mine, mine, mine!

Wordless Romney Handspun Shawl

And she knits some more!

Once again, the pattern is Optical Delusion: Conflagration

These are the colors in regular daylight. Note how the blue nearly disappears.

I used larger needles than the pattern calls for, so I couldn't do the required 11 repeats of Chart #3. But it's plenty long enough, especially after blocking. The blues, which were quite visible in the skein, ended up being pale and very subtle in the finished scarf. This pattern is far too fiddly to let subtle colors blur the stitch detail, so.... I got out my blue sharpie and I traced over the lightest blue stitches.

Much better!

Also note: The pattern calls for wrapped turns, which will not leave those holes in the fabric. I did a different kind of turn (I just turned, and then slipped the first stitch), which resulted in the holes. I like them, and did not mind the effect.