A tale of one Little Gem, red berries, and a wasp

The left-hand Little Gem mitt is complete! This worked up very fast, considering I'm using US1 DPNs and doing two-color work, which I've only done once before. I am in L.O.V.E. with this mitt. Very warm, very soft, very pretty. What's not to love? When the mate is done, these will be going to my BFF (we've been friends since we were four) who works in a warehouse and often needs to spend part of her day in a big refrigerated room. I hope they'll keep her as comfortable as possible while still allowing her to pull product as needed. :)

Now, about the berries. The picture is taken in my back yard, from my deck. There are two of these berry-producing trees in my yard and I absolutely love them, though I have no idea what they are (a gardening genius I am not). In the spring, they get covered with fresh leaves and tiny white flowers. During the summer, the berries develop. And then, when the fall air turns crisp. the leaves go yellow and fall while the berries turn into this bright red color. They will remain on the trees, ripening, until sometime in January when a flock of robins arrives and strips them from both trees in a single day. The cat really hates that day because she can't get outside to chase the robins! Anyway, if you know what these trees are, please leave me a comment. I've always been curious!

Oh, yeah, there's one more part to the story. First, let me explain that I live alone (well, not counting the cat) and I work at home. This essentially means that I can stay in my bathrobe all day if I want to, and I frequently do. Today is no exception, especially since it's laundry day, so most of the stuff I could be wearing is either in the washer, the dryer, or hanging damp on a drying rack.

Okay, so with that setup, here's the wasp portion of the story. I went out on the deck in my bathrobe to take the picture. Somewhere in the few short steps from the french doors to the tree, a sleepy, not-quite-dormant wasp found its way under my robe and stung my thigh. I didn't realize this, since I was focused on getting a decent picture of the lovely mitt, until I got back inside and noticed my thigh was hurting in a very pinpointed kind of localized way.

I've never been stung by a bee or a wasp before, but I figured this must be what it felt like, so I quickly looked inside my robe to see if there was an offending creature still there. Then I looked on the floor and saw the blasted thing writhing on the rug. It wasn't in the best shape -- as I said, they're not quite dormant yet, but on their way, so I guess it was probably confused, sleepy, disoriented, and so forth. Whatever. It's dead now. Crushed under a shoe and summarily tossed in the trash before the cat could get ideas of playing with it. Ugh. Fortunately, I don't appear to be allergic and no stinger was left behind. Just a large-pore-sized hole where he got me that's a tad bit red and stinging. Neosporin has been applied and I'll live -- which is more than I can say for the wasp!

Thus are the adventures of a single, work-at-home knitter! Scintillating, ain't it??? :)

Little Gems and a clutch

I started a pair of mitts using the Little Gems pattern from the Holiday Interweave Knits magazine and I'm so jazzed about how they're coming along that I just had to show you an early in-progress picture.

Rather than the multi-colored version shown in the magazine, I opted for two colors of Fearless Fibers sock yarn. The darker one is Midnight Blue and the lighter is from the FF Seven Deadly Sins sock club and is called Sloth. Both skeins have a generous 550 yards (as all the FF sock yarns do) and I doubt these little mitts will make much of a dent in the two skeins I'm using.

Did I mention that I love how they're coming out? With the subtle variations of color in the yarns, and the complementary shades of blue, I think they look amazing. And I love how the middle stitch in the ligh-colored squares looks like a little heart. Now if I can just get them done in time for Christmas giving!

In other news, another of my test knit projects has appeared at Knit Picks. It's a pattern for a Floral Felted Clutch. This was an interesting project to knit and my first adventure in double-knitting. I loved working with the yarn, Andean Silk. It's got a lovely feel to it. I was sort of bummed to throw it in the washer, but I did and it felted into a wonderfully thick, fabric. It's a relatively quick project, so if you're looking for something for the holidays -- either as a gift or to use with your new party dress -- I highly recommend it.

When I sent it in, I used a bead from my bead stash for the middle of the flower. The folks at Knit Picks replaced that with a rose-shaped button. Of course, you can use whatever you like. Here's the comparison so you can get an idea of options when you purchase your own supplies. (Wish my picture was as good as theirs, but it is what it is.)