Mitts and hats - must still be winter

I’ve been knitting all kinds of stuff this winter, but the only things I seem to be able to finish and make fit properly are small items like socks and mittens. There are two that have gotten the most wear by far. One is a pair of fingerless gloves which were made of recycled yarn I got from a thrift store sweater. I’ve never used recycled yarn before, but I really liked the colour – and the price, obviously. So the thing went from this…

Cute enough sweater, but way too small.

…to a few of these…

Not sure about weight, it’s slightly thinner than sock yarn but knits up nicely on 2.0 needles.

… and finally these:

The 100% cotton makes them wear out a bit, but they are smooth and comfortable.

I love these. They are comfortable and extra long, so my fingers stay nice and toasty while bicycling. As you can see, they are a bit crinkly. But it is cotton and they spent most of their time like this:

Considering, they hold their shape pretty nicely.

Yep, definitely my favourite winter project. Eventually, I’ll have to knit a woolly one for really cold days. But for most days, they are warm enough without making me sweat.

Anyway, I was planning on making a matching hat, but I never really got around to it. Instead, in an act that the fashion police would probably not approve of, I’ve been wearing the mittens with this hat:

Photographing your head is even harder than your feet. Who would have thought.

It’s a slightly modified Lue à la Oleana made from Schoppel Turandot. Ahhh, Turandot… it’s an interesting ribbon yarn and comes in a lot of vibrant colours, but the two of us just didn’t get along. After this hat, I gave the rest of my stash away. I think it would be a great yarn for bags or decorative items. Or those really lacy, lofty summer pullovers. So those are my favourite knits, mittens from a sweater that no one wanted and a hat from a yarn I didn’t want.

Oh, before I forget, I did make one more thing from Turandot:

Reptiles need warm places.

It’s an adorable free pattern by Mochimochi Land, which I’m a big fan of. Amigurumi is one of the most fascinating facets of knitting to me, but I just do not have the patient for all the fiddly bits. So while my baby gator doesn’t have any knitted companions, there’s lots of prey on the shelfes in the jungle:

“I am gator, hear me roar!“

Although he is not very good at choosing his opponents wisely…

“You did what to littly Jimmy?”

I think what we can learn from this knit is that a) reptiles are awesome and cuddly, and b) I apparently have a mental age of nine. Which is also often awesome.