Perfect knitting weather today--as soon as I get my housework done. This afternoon we are expecting blizzard conditions with 40 mph winds. Living 4 miles in from Lake Huron, we are also getting some bonus lake effect snow. The best thing about it is that it's the weekend, I don't have to go anywhere!

Poor St. Francis...



I guess I should have knit him a sweater, too.

My mitten is now wound into two balls of yarn, it was just a bit too snug. That's okay though, Knitting in Estonia came in the mail today and I can try a different pattern.

Working at a seasonal job has a lot of advantages, but the biggest disadvantage is that I don't feel like knitting at night. So, instead I go internet shopping. Yesterday I ordered Nanette's Stranded Knitting book. Maybe I should read it before I start my next mitten. ;-)

The body of the Old Way Gansey is almost completed, I am shaping the neck and ready to start the first sleeve.

In the meantime, I was seduced by a Latvian mitten. Actually, I was curious as to how to make the braid. So I searched through pattern books and magazines until I found Latvian Refinement in Knitter's Winter 1997. My mitten is a conglomeration of a few patterns but I'm using the chart in Knitter's. The braid is from a sock pattern in Folk Socks



Initially, I didn't think there was enough contrast between the gray and the purple (Lavold's Silky Tweed) because of the tweed. Now that I see it in the daylight, I'm pleased with it. I was madly knitting these because it is downright frigid and I didn't think I had any mittens, but in cleaning out the coat closet today, I found a pair of felted wool mittens I made last winter and had forgotten about.

This is the Old Way Gansey from IK Winter 04. It's knit in the round and I'm about 4 inches from finishing the body. I had to run to Mary Maxim yesterday (yes, Mary Maxim does carry a limited amount of wool yarn) to buy another ball of Brown Sheep Nature Spun, because it looks like 5 skeins isn't enough. I'm hoping when it's finished it will fit me, it's knit a little large then run through the washer two times.

I am already thinking about knitting my next project--Latvian mittens. I almost ordered a pattern book, but I found a mitten pattern in an old issue of Knitter's Magazine. I bought Silky Wool in purple and gray and will do a swatch to see if it's suitable. The pattern calls for 00 needles, but the smallest I have is 0.