Last post from this location

For a while, at least. Goodbye California; I shall miss you. But I'm off to bigger and better things, over in Wisconsin for college for my first year! Of course, I'm super excited, but I've been knitting up the proverbial storm while awaiting for Friday morning, when I get on a plane by myself for the first time. I've been quite independent all my life, being an only child with insanely busy parents, but I still haven't been 100% on my own. I mean, I went to band camp every year, but that was only a week, and we lived out of our suitcases. Anyway, some knitting content, shall we?

I finished these mittens what seems like ages ago, but was really only earlier this week. This is the pair unblocked...

and blocked!

Blocking is a miracle. I know it's not very obvious from the pictures, but all my stitches are even and the mittens aren't puckery now! They weren't very puckery to begin with, but still. Of course, I showed them to my mom, saying "Mom, look what I just made!" She said if she saw them in a store, she'd definitely buy them. I think I know what I'm making my mom for Christmas or her birthday (in November) this year, but maybe not the Pimento. I'm kind of tired of it, and you'll understand why later on in the post. Maybe pink, or purple with cream? The reason I chose Pimento was because what looked like clovers to everyone else looked like berries to me, so I figured red berries would be festive.

This was my second colorwork project ever (my first one was a hideous Fake Isle hat I made while band - and therefore all my friends - were in Hawaii on a band trip; I know, soooo unfair). It's not the pattern's fault, though I must admit that I'm not too fond of the pattern itself. Being my first colorwork project, it was insanely puckery and ugly and the Noro Kureon I used was really itchy. I ended up selling the other three or so balls I had remaining in my stash. Anyway, I'm really really proud of these mittens, and I can see myself wearing them as soon as the temperature drops below 60 (which I assume it does in Wisconsin as early as the beginning of September - and I'm the little Californian used to 40 deg being SUPER FREEZING).

I guess I should probably mention this: I made these mittens inside-out, but I didn't purl at all throughout the colorwork portion. I did the ribbing as normal, then pulled the ribbing to the inside. Normally when we knit using dpns, we knit on the outside. But this time, I just knit from the other side. It's hard to explain, but if you pull a sock cuff inside out while it's in progress, you can still knit all the way around - the purl side is just facing you. You work on the needles that are further away from you than normal.

Then, I started some Dublin Bay socks on Saturday, and finished them on Monday. I got the yarn from Stitches West this year, when I went with my awesome French teacher. It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in February's limited colorway, Peppermint Mocha. I am such a sucker for limited colorways and discontinued yarns.

And THEN, I wasn't done. I decided I needed to use up the rest of the Palette I had left over from the mittens. I didn't end up using all of it, but it was very close and caused much nerve-wracking.

It's blocking on that plate right now, and I'm super proud of it! I was actually super scared when I pulled it out of the water after washing. It looked purple and beige - I almost freaked out. But after it started drying just a bit, I got relieved as it started transitioning back to a deep red and cream.

I think I'm rambling a bit more than normal simply because the next time I post, it will be from my DORM in Wisconsin. Such a weird thought.