Good Morning :) The sun is out, the temperature is mild and the windows are open. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood and - unaccountably and for no reason at all - I’m feeling rather cheery!
I did get a little something accomplished over the weekend.
Looks like an orchid-colored tree stump with a big knothole
This differs from Voodoo in a couple of ways, though the idea is the same. I decided doing plain ribbing would have me sticking DPNs in my ears just to break the monotony so I did cables instead. Over 48 stitches, you get eight 4-stitch cables with 2 purls between them. I did use size 5 needles and - at least with this yarn - everything worked out hunky-dory.
Model shot :)
As for the knothole…er…thumbhole… I hadn’t done buttonholes of any but the very simplest eyelet sort before, so the instructions “...make a 6-stitch buttonhole” were a little daunting. But I went ahead and did it and whaddya know! It works! It really, really works! Hey Ma - I can make buttonholes! But - and you knew there was a “but” coming, right? - it didn’t fit my big honkin’ hands. Oh I could force my thumb through the hole - and in a half hour, the thumb would have been the exact same color as the yarn! Frog and tink, piss and moan, etc…
I decided to do a vertical thumbhole so when the arm/wrist was long enough to suit me, I stopped after a purl stitch, turned around and went back. I knitted back-and-forth, trying it on every couple of rows to test the size of the hole, for about 10 rows and then re-joined the stitches and went back to working around for another inch or so. This gave me a very comfortable, perfectly sized thumbhole. I found turning the thing inside-out to do the “wrong-side” rows when knitting back-and-forth was very helpful.
I hadn’t realized quite how snug the cabling would be - as opposed to plain ribbing - but I like it a lot. It isn’t tight, it’s just snug, doesn’t slide around and feels really good. And the cables look cool!
I also discovered a new sin this weekend. Well, a new version of an old sin perhaps.
I’m fond of ginger cookies and there’s a variety available called ANNA. They are made in Sweden and are thin and crisp without being brittle and jagged. They are full of ginger and molasses and are, frankly, addictive as hell. Once or twice a month, I break down and get a box of these sinful little things to have with coffee or tea.
Now, a chain supermarket has just opened a new store in this area and has been running the standard loss-leader sales for the last couple of weeks. Last week they had ice cream on sale (good ice cream - not the house brand) at 2 (56oz.) cartons for $3.00. I’m not a huge ice cream fan, but I like it once in a while so I picked up a couple of cartons, one of which was my beloved French Vanilla.
Friday night, I had an evil thought.
One way ticket to the third ring of hell…
See you get your bowl full of ice cream and then you crumble three or four of these awesome ginger cookies over it. Then you go somewhere private because pleasures like this should be enjoyed behind closed doors :)
And you can wear your fingerless mitts so your hands don’t get cold holding the bowl!
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Very funny posting, Robbyn! Third ring of hell—har, har. I can relate, although on occasion I am sure I have made it all the way to the seventh.
The Variaton on Voodoo looks wonderful!
ice cream is my addiction!! if i ever turn down ice cream, i’ve told everyone to just prepare for the very worst!
i’ve never worn wrist-warmers so it’s interesting to hear how they really feel- yours do look nice, and if my monitor is being faithful to the color, the color is wonderful also-
we’ve been hit with the ‘november greys’ here- complete with rain- not really cool yet, but definitely putting us on notice that the season is finally changing- enjoy your beautiful new england day there and
stay happy-
Ryan - Glad you enjoyed. Dante was one of the few classic writers I actually enjoyed (as opposed to endured!).
Barb - That’s my Dad too. Getting between him and his ice cream is an act of daring Evil Knevel would think twice about.
Sorry to hear about your grey November - does that mean the temperatures are coming down too? After all, some good should come out of this!
The wrist warmers are stunning and am thinking about a pair for myself, and love the colour.
Annas? Love ‘em, eat ‘em with my tea every afternoon (just bought three boxes at Ikea) and yes, I believe I may be addicted but with ice cream? Just what I need, another addiction.
Oh, I’m going to do that next time. Thought I’d make a couple of cables with ribbing between but yours look too fab!
Lisa! I assumed other people besides me like those ginger cookies - because the store wouldn’t carry them otherwise - but I didn’t know of anyone until now. Go ahead (she whispers, luring poor, innocent Lisa over to the dark side) - put some on your ice cream. Just once. What could it hurt? (snicker)
Margene - Coming from a knitter of your aptitude, that’s high praise. I thank you humbly :)
Love the mitts! (Ok - I’d love anything in purple) But seriously, great job on the cabled ribbing. 
Hmmmmm…ginger cookies….ice cream….that sounds wonderful. Sigh. You’ve put that thought in my head just when I decided I really *have* to do something about losing that next 35 pounds. :::pout::: Eh - in true Scarlett style, I’ll worry about that tomorrow. 
Bron - thanks about the mitts. Cabling on the DPNs wasn’t as traumatic as I thought it might be.
The cookies aren’t that highly caloric - how about 1 or 2 crumbled onto something fat free? Frozen yogurt or something?
You said “I decided doing plain ribbing would have me sticking DPNs in my ears just to break the monotony” and I burst out laughing… the only problem being I am the librarian at the reference desk at the moment. The students are always baffled if the librarian cracks up at the desk. and about those cookies—what are you thinking, girl, of COURSE you need chocolate with that!
Rob - ROFL - glad to have provided some amusement for your evening.
Chocolate? On vanilla ice cream with ginger cookies? Oh boy - now that’s a combination to conjure with!
