Man, that was a long post........I'm exhausted from just reading it.

Keep cool girl. You are the most.

Love the cat pics

From the pictures you have posted on this here blog, I think you are a VERY good knitter, Laurie!

Just do what you enjoy, and don't let anyone pressure you to do otherwise.

And how can you not have fun knitting, when you have such a good helper in Bob? :-)

Hard to conceive of a better weekend than one consisting of laziness AND a yarn store outing. Happy, Happy Belated!

well done, you.

w00t! Nice mitt.

I swear, if fibre arts were contests, I'd be the major loser.

I make things because I want, not because I have to keep up with anyone else.

Have fun and screw the naysayers!

I SO feel your pain when it comes to mittens. I've made one pair for a charity drive and I'll never do it again. I didn't enjoy it and with so many other things I want to knit, why bother? I'm with you on that. Knit what you like because you like it. I have some pricey yarns but I also have some (gasp) acrylics in my stash. Some people make faces but hey, its MY stash. I'm actually EXCITED that Red Heart is coming out with a sock yarn! I'm still waiting for Lionbrand's Sock Ease to hit the stores. Meanwhile I have a ton of sock yarn just waiting to be knit up, some of it pricey, some of it cheap, and some of it pricey but bought cheap (I LOVE me a good deal!)

I'm glad to see you knitting again. I miss the fun things you make. Living in FL gives me the same issues of wearing my knits as you have in CA, but it's fun, right?!?!

So, my last burning question, did you cast on for the 2nd mitten yet?!?!

Gorgeous!! That yarn is fabulous!

What a great miiten!! I tried to knit a mitten once and totally got hung up on the thumb. It sat on my needles for 6 months before I (sadly) sent it to the frog pond. You did such a great job and I love the yarn.

Knitting should never be a competitive sport. I read knitting blogs and can't imagine how people get things knit so fast. I knit for pleasure and avoid fancy patterns. Knitting is my meditation and if I have to count I begin to panic (1,2,4,6, where am I?) and who needs that?

Have a cool day and keep knitting!! You're a pro!

I used to love "The Pretender" back in the day. Nothing wrong with that obsession.

Also a belated happy birthday to you!

Your attitude towards knitting inspires me. I can get caught up in the "do it good, make fancy stuff!" attitude, too. And then I wind up not knitting at all because I tackle projects that are too big and complicated. You remind me that a simple garter scarf can be beautiful, easy, and satisfying. Thanks!

Congrats on your first mitten! Hopefully you will never be struck by that most fatal of knitting diseases "Second Mitten Syndrome" (also known as Second Sock Syndrome) wherein the first of a pair is lovely and well-adored but dang if it's not problematic getting that second sucker going!

It could be that you don't live in Iceland because you don't really speak the language. Imagine if nobody at work understood a word you said...and then found you taking pictures of mittens in the ladies bathroom. Of course I think you could get away with not only knitting but also wearing wool mittens in the middle of summer without looking too over the top.
Love the color -

OK, I admit it, I have ALL of the Pretender seasons on DVD! My husband and I both enjoy it, but I may be slightly more obsessed. :-)

I decided a year and a half ago to make a pair of mittens for my daughter. My husband's grandmother had died only a few months before, and she is the one who made mittens for everyone. So, I decided that I'd learn to do it so that there would still be someone making the mittens. Once I figured it out I was surprised by how easy it was! I don't may fancy mittens, but I can now turn out a nice, simple mitten for each of my kiddos! I get enjoyment out of learning to knit/sew/cook something new. I agree though, if you don't enjoy it, don't do it! I've dumped projects because I just DIDN'T ENJOY IT! I'm with you, I don't need my hobbies causing me more work and stress!

Happy Birthday, by the way!!!! Congratulations on the first mitten, it looks great!

Awesome mitten!

Some of the cheap yarns are so pretty, though! I have a somewhat obsessive fondness for yarns that change colors as you knit along, and got the cutest pastel (TLC Baby Yarn in "Giggle Print" color - how can you not love that?) at Michael's. I'm going to try to make some summer socks, and like you said, if I screw up, hey, it was just cheap yarn!

Hope your birthday was great! And what is it with you running into all the cute puppies lately?

Hey, that mitten (the finishing part at the yarn store) counts as way more than your 5 min. of fun for that day. Hooray!

But I'll bet driving to the place in the heat was NOT fun!

I love love LOVE The Pretender. I would like to have some babies with Jared. Or at least practice. Sounds like a good Saturday to me.

OMG... I have that book... and the damn thumb (and fingers on the glove pattern) pattern drove me crazy. I had to go online and search around for other sources!

Seeing your mitten has totally inspired me to make another pair of mittens. I too am here in the heat of So. Cal., and I too picked up my knitting again yesterday, after a couple month hiatus. With A/C, these things are possible.

Love the mitten, Laurie, and the color!!

No need to construct a second mitten! You have the makings of a fine mitten puppet!!!!!

"The Pretender" rocks! Also - did you know there are a couple of full-length made-for-tv movies that were done after the series was cancelled? Yep. So you can get EVEN MORE Jared.

I totally agree with you about keeping your hobbies "just for fun." I decided to turn my jewelry-making hobby into a business and there's much more pressure (and a lot less fun) involved in it now.

I made one of those mittens last winter. I ran out of time, but I really need to go back and make the 2nd. I live in the land of 113 degrees too. I was in Vegas over the weekend, and it wasn't any cooler to come home to L.A. Sheeesh. I know I'll never need mittens here. But I so wanted to have some on hand for when the charities come around in the winter and I'm all busy with holiday shopping/knitting. I hope you make your 2nd mitten. You'll probably finish before me.

Yay, I am so happy you are knitting and telling us all about it!!! And I am glad that you have nice LYS people to go to for help.

Happy Birthday again.

Sarah

I love your mitten. I've made that pattern a couple of times and the mittens are great to wear.

I'm a knitter like you. It takes me way longer to complete projects than a lot of knitters, but once I stopped worrying about that, and enjoyed the process, I found that I was completing more projects, instead of getting frustrated and giving up. I still cannot knit AND watch tv. Knit and listen to the tv, yes, watch it, no.

Glad you had a lazy day. Everyone needs them far more often than they allow for.

Oh, and Happy Birthday! It was my son's birthday this weekend too!

so i hope that even with all the thumb drama you got more than 3 minutes of fun out of the day! sure sounds like it...

and the pretender...oh.my.god. i cant remember when it was but i totally got sucked into an episode (i think i was home sick) and seriously started watching it whenever i could find a repeat on. i still wonder how it ended, you'll have to fill us in at some point.

the first time I ever made hand warmers, the thumb part drove me crazy too. I wanted to just cut a hole for the thumb to stick out. Seriously.
Knitting should be FUN all the time. Add that to your list. My SIL informs me that my purls are twisty or some other such nonsense. They work perfect for me, and people seeme to like my stuff. Whatever. I'm not trying to enter the most perfect knitting creation ever contest!

That is my very favorite mitten pattern. You will become addicted. Like hats or berets.

I even made them "fingerless" for my aunts. They have nails, long nails.

And Happy Birthday!!

I only enjoy crocheting doilies, and I have a sister who crochets clothes, and she is always trying to get me crochet clothes.

I don't WANT to crochet clothes.

I want to crochet doilies.

Doilies make me happy.

And like you, I am all about the happy.

I so got this post.
.

Your mitten rocks - love the color. Your knitting philosophy and my own are very much the same. For me, knitting is stress relief; I couldn't do it if it was expected of me.

Good for you Laurie! I wrote a whole blog post of my own on liking acrylic yarn and straight metal needles. I also unapologetically love to crochet. I'm with 'Brat' above...I'm all about the happy. Sometimes it's socks, sometimes it's scarves, sometimes it's washcloths...it's almost never fancy sweaters or stuff for babies. I don't know how you're handling the heat. I'm from LV, NV and now that I'm in Albuquerque, I complain when it's above ninety. I've turned into such a weenie! Glad you're tough and happy!

Heh, I knew I liked you when I got to see you in Houston! I am the worlds sloooooooowest knitter and I knit what I like with the yarn "I" like. :-) Yay You!

PS: Love the mitten.

Happy Birthday!!!

And heck yeah, I'm with you on the "knitting should be fun & enjoyable" idea. I've knit several things (scarves, dishcloths, a sweater, etc.) but the most fun I've had since I started was when I knit the Pumpkin Hat pattern you posted. I wore it to our local fall festival and got a ton of complements on it - of course I replied to everyone I owed that bit of knitting fun to Crazy Aunt Purl. If you can't knit because you love it then I just don't see the point, ya' know?

I've missed your knitting posts. They were always good reading. I totally heard you on this post, too. Happy birfday!

It's a lovely mitten. I'm a bit "jobby" with my knitting. Lately, I've only been knitting what I love and it's ever so much more fun that way!

Part of the fun is jumping over those technical hurdles though. Do you think you'll knit another mitten, now that you know how to do a thumb?

My dad used to call The Pretender "The Miss Parker Show". Probably because I'm pretty sure he had a crush on Miss Parker...who's real-life-non-acting last name I think is really Parker.

I watched it for Michael T. Weiss, who I've been in love with ever since he played Michael Horton on Days Of Our Lives.

I'm pretty competitive when I crochet, probably because I've been crocheting since I was 6 (I'm 39 now) and it's just fun for me to be competitive with the crocheting.

As for the knitting...not so much. I never expected that I'd be able to learn to knit. Knitting saved my sanity two years ago. I have a chronic medical condition, that caused me to temporarily lose my vision in one eye 2yrs ago. A day or two before my eye went fubar on me, I had learned how to do the knit stitch.

So, during the stress of not being able to see out of one eye, and having to sit for hours in the opthalmologist's office, I made my dad stop at a yarn store and let me buy some knitting needles (circs) and dragged a skein of ugly yarn with me to the eye doctor. Started my first scarf that day. Knitted on that thing at every doctor's appointment. I was half finished when I got diagnosed with my chronic problem in January of 2007...finished the ugly scarf a few months later. Last winter, my dad found the ugly scarf, and has since claimed it for himself. He loves that scarf. It's done in garter stitch, and looks like crap and the yarn colors are ugly (varigaited) but my dad thinks it's a great scarf. (he's a knitter, so I guess he must see something in it that I couldnt see)

I knit when my medical condition is bugging me. It's a stress reliever and keeps me from stabbing people who annoy me in the eyeballs with knitting needles.

love mittens! make one and then you can make a dozen more with your eyes closed!

hbd!

Laurie M -- yes, I will definitely knit the other mitten! I was really mad at the pattern for being so hard to understand but now that I know how to do it, I plan to cast on for the other mitten tonight on the bus ride home.

I like making mittens! I love mittens, too, it probably won't get cold enough here to wear them but hopefully I will go somewhere cold on vacation one day and need them.

Way to go on the mitten! I've been wanting to try that particular pattern too! I've done lots of mittens, but I like that big thick one a lot. Glad you got the thumbstuff deciphered. :O) That looks like an amazing yarn shop, and you're right about the puppy. Glad you're past that first thumb. On to the second mitten! :O)

Amen! I am a slow knitter, I like cheap yarn, I make silly things and I do it FOR FUN.
I love these inspired posts lately. You've become a guru! :)

I could've written Sarah's resolutions, but geeze, I don't even see a reason to write resolutions. I don't even see a need for a Knit in Public Day, since I pretty much knit in public 3 or 4 days a week. I knit what I feel like knitting (I knit TWO large flamingos-kept one, and the cat tunnel from your book.), knit when appropriate (in my estimation YMMV), and don't ever apologize for it. Sometimes I'm slow, sometimes I'm not, I just don't feel the urge to be part of a pack. Maybe my knitting motto should be "whatever".

You go girl!

That is the best mitten ever. Ever! I'm with you though, don't anyone try to make me disciplined about my knitting. That is my hobby. My one place it is OK to be sloppy, completely creative, and fickle. Also, I'm what they call a process knitter. I'm only knitting to play with the yarn. If I finish stuff, yay! But if I don't, I don't care. That is about when I stopped knitting for presents. ;-)

When people ask me to knit things for them I warn them that I'm the worst kind of knitter to know. I don't like having deadlines or specific projects. I love to knit for people but I love to knit what I'm in the mood for.

First, best wishes for your birthday and the new year! Second, you are not alone in your Pretender love! Third, I myself am a scarf knitter and proud of it though I've expanded a bit. Fourth, does the mitten mean that you'll be travelling somewhere mitteny this year? Finally, hope it cools off there soon.

Rock on, Laurie! Happy Birthday! And remember that nothing says July in Las Vegas (114 in the shade) like alpaca yarn! It's pretty, it was a real deal, and there may be 1 or 2 days in January when I can wear alpaca without dropping dead of heatstroke, right?

Your mitten ROCKS.

ErinLindsey, your comment reminds me of when I took up knitting again. I had learned a few years prior, but my first project - a fairly easy baby blanket - just wasn't happening. Then, one day the worst kid evar came into the library and was being his usual worst kid evar self. I eventually kicked him out and he shot spitballs in my face on his way out. I wanted to throttle that kid! I walked home and passed the knitting store where I first learned to knit. I decided I needed to get back into knitting so I could have a relaxing hobby.

I'm so glad I took it up again bc I've really been enjoying. Like many commenters here, I do it the way I like to do it. I'm very much still a beginner. I like to keep it casual although I do try to learn one new thing - even a small thing, like a new stitch - with each new project.

Laurie, as always, a great post!

Congratulations on your mitten! I felt like a proud parent reading your blog. You have inspired me to take up the yarn again!

So glad that you had a lazy day...they are so nice to have once in a while. And most importantly, you had fun. Your mitten looks great - I too am a slow knitter. Painfully so. But if I kept churning out item after item so rapidly, would I enjoy it as much? I think not..... I do however, need to get a move on if I am going to get holiday gifts ready in time. I TOLD you I was a slow knitter.... ha ha!!

First, didn't mean to put an exclamation point beside my name - I am not all that exciting.. :)

Second, wanted to mention what a handsome critter Bob is. He knows this, right??

I learned mittens last winter because my four year old goes through them like a hot knife through butter. But the pattern has to tell me how many stitches to increase for the thumb thingey. I cannot for the life of me figure how to increase with those goddamned stitch markers.
It makes me cranky just thinking about it!

That is an excellent mitten, I am inspired to try double points - you make it look do-able.

Hope you had a happy birthday!

yeah.. I don't get the 'there can be only one way' thing. I recently had the nice (old) ladies at my LYS in palpitations b/c I DIDN'T KNOW THE LOT NUMBER AND HADN'T SAVED THE BAND!!!!!!!! Funny that they would think I would even care!

Hope your birthday was all lovely once you got past the 'needles being eaten by 'someone'' thing :-)

Halleluia! (Had to spell check that one!) I stopped knitting for a while because I had all the components of a sweater done except for half a sleeve and I didn't know how to sew it all together. I didn't want to take it to the yarn store for help because I was embarrassed by my "not perfect" edges. I just stuffed it all into a bag and made some "safe", easy stuff. (I love safe, easy stuff!) You are so right - knitting should be fun and I am not going to get fired or have to pay a fine because I might have messed up where to put the increases at the edges. I will finish that sleeve and take it to the store for help - proud that I turned all that pretty yarn into something I like, whether it is perfect or not!

It was 100 behind the Orange curtain (read as Orange County). And we don't even have a Santa Ana to blame it on! I'm not looking forward to the rest of summer.

I finally started the sleeves on my sweater too. I agree with you wholeheartedly! Hot outside? Go get the Alpaca and start knitting!

Yeah, your first mitten!

I made a few mittens years ago, and they'd never match, and they wouldn't fit me or the anyone else. Part of the culprit was the thumb gusset. I could knit sweaters, socks, everything, but, not mittens! I gave up, swore I'd never make a pair of mittens. I almost moved on except I did have three tiny pair of mittens that my great-grandmother knit framed and placed them on the wall in the living room. Talk about reminders of inadequecies! Last winter, my wise friend and co-inhabitor of our house took up real knitting, and whipped out mittens right and left. She refused to allow me to wallow in my mitten impairment any longer. She gave me a pattern she had used, some yarn and said...make these. I heeded her direction, and produced a perfect pair of mittens. So I know your joy! Sadly, that perfect pair of mittens was lost this year, hopefully, as a pair with someone enjoying them. (I get sad when I see a lone lost mitten) The silver lining is, I can now make more!

No longer mitten impaired with a clean, dry, uncluttered, unflooded basement!

Amen to that sister- sometimes when I read "other knit blogs" I feel all inferior and stuff, and I'm not a consistant knitter at all, but when I do it, it's fun I'm after- relaxation, enjoyment. I started knitting as a way to quell some of my job stress, and kept at it because I love the colors, the texture, and just looking at what I'm creating. (I think I often spend more time looking and touching than knitting- especially if the yarn's self-striping!) The thing at the end, the scarf, sock, whatever- is just a great big bonus!
And happy birthday to you!

I love the mitten. I'm knitting an afghan. I big chunky thick one. And I live in Baghdad. Where it's like 120 deg plus.

And I still can't knit properly on dpn's. Can you give pointers?

Keep cool!
Melissa

I always feel a little bit ashamed when people say "When are you going to knit a sweater?" I know they're only asking because they're interested and curious, but I feel like saying "When pigs fly." I just like to sit and knit (and maybe purl, too). I'm going to let go of the shame now and just 'fess up that I am a simple knitter and just like to knit scarves and other linear objects! I like to knit scarves. I really do. I recently got wild and crazy and made some dishcloths, in your "Magic Scarf" pattern, with a border. That pattern helped me refine my purling and it looks so cool!

The end of your post touches on much of what Yarn Harlot's new book talks about. (Yeah, I live in the blogsphere too much when I talk about people (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) as their blog names (Yarn Harlot). But seriously, the new book is funny as all get out and she touches on the points of the fustration of knitting and the enjoyment of knitting purely for the enjoyment of knitting.

Yeah, that made sense.

This is the book I'm talking about:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1603420622/yarnharlot-20

Anyways, my 92 year old grandfather thought it was a joke book; I was laughing so much while I was reading it.

Jenna

It's a perfectly lovely mitten, and I hope you're having a wonderful birthday. ;o)

And the nicest thing about mittens? Someone somewhere always needs mittens and mittens will always fit said someone somewhere...no swatching necessary.
And I so hate that whole "suck the fun right out of it" attitude about anything except global warming and world peace.

Jo

Wow! That IS a beautiful mitten.

I feel like a party pooper, and I'm cringing about asking this, but bear in mind that I have never been to California, and I am ignorant about the weather there.

Does it get cold enough in the winter for mittens?

I realize that I frequently carry mitts (fingerless mittens) and a shawl or poncho around in the summer for chilly restaurants, movie theaters, and other air conditioned hazards.

If you're interested in a mitts pattern, I have one and would be glad to send you a copy. Just email me with your address (also for sale).

The mitts are perfect to wear under mittens for extreme weather (so you probably don't need them). You wear the mitts with the mittens over them, and then when you need to count change/pull stuff out of your pocket, or otherwise use manual dexterity, you just pull off the mittens and your hand is still partially protected.

I give your mitten a big thumbs up!!

Cold fusion for the win!

Happy Birthday!

And, um, I'm sure Mr. Un-named Cat (Bob) would apologize if he could. He *really* didn't mean to chew the DPN's. They just smelled like !Mommie! And his teeth kinda got clamped on 'em. Yeah, that's what happened. Really! 8-)

Yay for you and your funky mitten!

Beautiful mitten! I am so in agreement to knit what you like for fun. That's the way I do it. If it doesn't work with the pattern, well make it work, that's the way I do it. I mean, its just yarn and sticks, not rocket science. If you do it and hate it, rip it out or throw it in a basket and forget it. No worries.

I love the look of that yarn shop, sounds and looks like a great place to hang out. However, I would so have to come away with a bag of beautiful yarn.

Sounds like you had at least, oh, say 3 minutes of fun somewhere in there!

By a truly amazing coincidence, I was *looking* for a mitten pattern today! I haven't knit a mitten in about 15 years, and then I made one pair for a good friend and called it a day on mitten production.
But just yesterday I heard about a project knitting mittens for donation to a bunch of kids in South Dakota, so it looks like 2008 will be the Summer of the Mittens for me. I couldn't believe it when I checked your blog today and saw that Perfect Mitten waving at me and your gazillion other readers! :)

By the way, Bob? So glad you found work you enjoy, sweetie!

Awesome mitten! You go girl.

Wow, you are so disciplined to do chores and THEN have an A/C, mitten knitting, cat, movie day. I might be hard pressed to do chores first...or at all in 113 degrees. Those yarn store ladies seem very nice, I love it when they unlock the secrets and open the way!!

Happy Birthday!

To Johann-- it probably only gets cold enough out here for mittens two or three days a year. But I might go visit someplace cold and need them! I think part of the reason I love knitting is it feeds into my fantasies of traveling somewhere cold :)

Hey I didn't know there were so many Pretender fans!!! I am IN LOVE with this show, it's so much fun and I also can't watch TV and knit (much) but I paused it when I got to the hard bits and then resumed just knitting on the easy parts.

Hey-- to those who wrote about having a hard time on DPNS, is it the awkwardness or just the needles? I will try to write out how I manage it but sometimes I think just doing it is the only way to get past the ick-factor. I was also terrified at first (they look scary!) but after my first few hats I was ... an old hat at it ;) They're pretty easy after the first two rounds. IF you can keep them away from sharp teeth....

I love lazy days! They are the best. Except for when I'm feeling guilty about not doing laundry or cleaning or whatever. I'm working hard on getting over that!

Hey, there is nothing wrong with knitting or crocheting or macrame or anything you want to do to keep yourself calm and centered and having fun. It's just that some knitters need the competitive feel, the drive to finish to help them find their enjoyment (or they just want to be able to wear the thing already... that one is me).

I'm glad you were able to have fun with your knitting even if it sounds a wee crazy to make a mitten in an LA summer. ^_^;

Hello, my name is Lucia, and I am a schizophrenic knitter. (imagines chorus: "Hi, Lucia! Hi, Lucia!") Sometimes I just knit round and round in a mindless sort of way. Other times I go mano a mano with my knitting (and let me just mention here that if you're going to go mano a mano with any knitted object, a mitten is a good choice), and I curse and scream and mutter things like "it's just knitting, it can't be THAT hard," and I rip and reknit several zillion times (yay, acrylic!) and take breaks during which I go back to the mindless bit and sometimes I even get it, eventually.

Sometimes I'm a Pillsbury-cookies knitter, letting the yarn do all the work, and sometimes I'm a Sudoku knitter: figuring out what seemed impenetrable is half the fun. (Cat Bordhi or Kate Gilbert or Annie Modesitt I am not, however: I stick with the easy puzzles.)

Since I have written a mitten pattern myself, I have to ask: what was hard about the directions? I find I have to fudge the part where the top of the thumb joins the hand: I just pick up as many stitches as it seems to want. I try to write it so it sounds like I know what I'm doing. Maybe I shouldn't.

My youngest is named Jared Michael - my older kids love to tell people that he is named after a character that I was obsessed with when I was pregnant! Jared for the character and Michael for the actors name!

Okay, so maybe there was a little influence!!

You like holding pretty yarn, and that is some mighty happy pretty yarn. Congrats on the mit. Don't feel like you need to make its mate, unless, you know, you want.

And no, it never gets cold enough in Southern California for mittens. But your feet/foot might get cold, and that mitten might do in a pinch.

Glad you were able to turn up the a/c and knit. Here I have been having to kick on the heat to take the chill off in the morning! (I'm in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, perfect for wearing wool and knitting!)

Woo! A mitten! I'm very impressed.

I'm with you on the knitting philosophy. I am also not fast or particularly good at it, but I enjoy it and I'm determined to keep it fun and Zen. :)

Awesome that you are all young and cute and know how
to freakin knit. LOL

I know you like to travel.....I'm about to go to England soon, with my 3 cats.

If you're ever in Arkansas ...feel free to come visit...teach me to knit and I'll teach you how to drive a boat.

(I'm serious.LOL , I'm not a psycho .)

read my blog ..crazy cat lady ..but not crazy:)

I'm also a former Californian.Still miss some of it:)

Awesome that you are all young and cute and know how
to freakin knit. LOL

I know you like to travel.....I'm about to go to England soon, with my 3 cats.

If you're ever in Arkansas ...feel free to come visit...teach me to knit and I'll teach you how to drive a boat.

(I'm serious.LOL , I'm not a psycho .)

read my blog ..crazy cat lady ..but not crazy:)

I'm also a former Californian.Still miss some of it:)

I am so jealous that you have the Pretender DVD box set! I put that on my Christmas list, but Santa must have forgot.

I love that you want to knit just to enjoy knitting. I wholeheartedly agree! That's how I do it. I'm not too bad, but by no means an expert. Since moving to Sweden I have started a couple of knitting blogs. Most recently, I co-write a blog with a friend (the one who taught me how to knit.) If you want some (humorous) examples of knitting for fun & pleasure (aka - When Good Knitting Goes Bad), you can check out these posts.

http://thehatthatatemalmo.blogspot.com/2007/01/roll-brim-hat.html

http://stringusalong.blogspot.com/2008/02/finally-finished-objects.html

Very nice looking mitten. When the snow arrives in the valley you are 1/2 ready.

I nominate the phrase

"...great, famous, rockin' KNITTERS..."

as a candidate for the Hello-ooo Ironic Oxymoron Hall of Fame.

I mean really. Maybe it's just me, but the idea of Rock-Star Knitter seems right up there with every generation thinking they invented sex. Knitting evangelists, I don't need. Knitting simply...is.

GREAT first mitten, Laurie! ::sigh:: You never forget your first.

LOVE the thumb! Well-done!

Your mitten is wonderful!!! Are you going to make the mate or just call it a day? Whatever you decide, it won't detract from the wonderfulness of this beautiful mitten. And if I ever get down to LA, I'll definitely have to visit your local yarn store. I really like friendly people.

hey what do you know? Same heat - different state.
And huzzah for no pressure, non-competitive hobbies! Pleasure = no pressure.

"I just want to hold some pretty yarn."

That's so true for me too.

Hi All-- I googled my favorite knitting store in Jackson Miss. to see if they have a website-- they don't, can you believe it?! But I came across this and this is one cute crafty site!
http://www.deepfriedkudzu.com/2005/05/knitting-knit-wits-in-jackson.html

I am so glad I am not the only one who hates competitive knitting! I always slack on my knitting in the summer. I joined a knitting group to keep going during the summer but it is really making me more discouraged. They are all what I call "snobby knitters". They knit difficult patterns with fancy, expensive yarn. I can't keep up! You have inspired me to just keep on keepin' on with my basic knitting and not-so-fancy yarns. Thanks CAP!

In case you didn't know I only knit stuff whose patterns you write up, I initially found you because of the roll brim hat. So I was wondering...I know you're really busy and I'm not in a rush...but would you mind writing up the pattern you used? I'm sorry if I'm repeating something someone else asked already, I decided to just go ahead and ask you. Feel free to tell me to figure out my own mitten pattern.

PS I made the roll brim hat, the little nightclub bag and the mistake rib scarf. I'm not adventurous enough for some of the other stuff but am almost ready to try to beret. Thanks for publishing all those patterns.

I wish we had half of your hot here. We're still waiting for something that resembles a little bit of summer. 55 degrees and overcast doesn't cut it. I know I am really living in the wrong place, even though it's beautiful here. i just wish it were warmer. Just the other day I thought I should be knitting a big ol' sweater instead of the little sock just to keep my lap warm.

I'm glad you didn't give up on them. I love that mitten pattern because it lacks ribbing. I've made several of these mittens, playing with the yarn to change the size. I've also done one pair where I did some purl rows on the wrist to create some ridges. Have fun with it!

I have that book. I have not tried to knit any patterns yet but I plan to soon. I love the pictures of the yarn shop and your cat. I have not tried double pointed needles yet I am still afraid.

Homegirl, I totally have little worsted cotton driving mittens that live in the car for touching the steering wheel here in the summer. They also do double fashion duty for mopping the sweat off my face.

groovy mitten!

i'm with you on the 'people getting weird and judging you'-thing. knitting is highly individual. that's the coolest, funnest thing about it! besides the fact that it's cheaper than both heroin and therapy..

Well, I put pressure on myself in order to justify buying the yarn in the first place. I can't afford the $ or storage space if I don't use it for something - still have a big stash with lots of old stuff, tho!

I, too, was terrified of DPN's and circulars, since I'm self-taught and left-handed, so I knit on straight needles with the right one jammed into my armpit. I was afraid I'd never be able to keep hold of them and work the yarn strand. To my surprise and delight, circulars are actually EASIER to use! And you can use them on most projects that require DPN's, using either the 2 circular needle method (which I prefer), or the Magic Loop (instructions available online. You can also use them for any straight needle project - it's lots easier to transport than straight needles, with stitches in danger of sliding off.

And DPN's aren't all that bad, either. I'm having some issues with my sock project, because the needles are a little short - 5" - and I'm losing stitches. I also have some 8" ones that are a bit long, and make it a bit awkward - points everywhere! But once you've done the first 1 or 2 rows, they're really pretty easy to use. And they make you look SO accomplished! ;->