FOs from France!

Leire's reading mitts, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

How's that for alliteration? I'm visiting my uncle and cousin in the south of France for a few days and took the train up yesterday from Madrid. Train time makes for great knitting time and I finished up the second mitten for my roommate's birthday. The only problem is that I think that the bumpy movement on the train made for a looser gauge and the top part of the second mitt is a bit larger than the first. I may decide to fix it up later on, but for now we're counting these as DONE.

Pattern: Susie's Reading Mitts Direct Link or Rav link.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted
Needes: US 7
Mods: Bigger needles + size M instructions = size XL; no picot edges - instead used the open aka provisional cast on and a purl turn row on the cuff, later going back and sewing the provisional stitches to the inside. I personally feel like this makes for a nicer inside, less of a seam against your wrist. Finally, I used a stretchy bind-off of K2, *slip 2 sts back to left needle, k2tog, k1* (repeat * to *).

And since it is FOs (plural) in the title, I suppose I should also show off these:


(Original photos by Sionaland)

I finally and REALLY finished up the twisted socks.The right one now has a purple toe (as seen by the middle photo) because I had to go back and add more length (again). I'm not even going to talk about all the complications / modifications I had with these socks, because I already have. But they're done, so thank goodness for that!

By the way: Whoever said you couldn't make two identical noro socks clearly does not have the same size feet as me! Aside from a tiny bit at the top of the cuff, and the re-done toe, these are identical stripe by stripe!

If the weather clears up (it's a little cloudy this morning) I'll be sure to take pictures of France... and of cats, who are all over me (including crawling under my covers last night) and I'm loving it!