iced in

The first week of our stay in Chicago was warm and green, with the grass and trees confused as to what they were supposed to be doing. Is it Spring already?? Now that Christmas is past it's a different story! Yesterday we had a whole day of tiny pellets of ice falling from the sky. Welcome back, Jack Frost. Everyone decided that skating down the roads in a car didn't seem like a very good winter sport, so we stayed in all day. It was awesome. I literally spent all day in my pajamas, knitting. Just what a vacation should be! Well, one day at least. Dave got me a set of Knit Picks rosewood interchangeable circular needles for Christmas - I was happy to get to test them out.

 



The Sunday after Christmas, my sister-in-law wanted to make a trip to Joann's to get some yarn for the girls to use with their new knitting looms, so I tagged along. Along with picking up some holiday fabrics for a new tree skirt (holiday prints half off!) and fun novelty prints to make a couple of travel laundry bags (couldn't resist the foxes) I also grabbed myself a skein of yarn to make myself some mittens. This neon purple is a Deborah Norville acrylic that is SO soft. I've mentioned before the improvement in the acrylic yarns I've been seeing recently, and I'll add this one to the list.

 

Give a Hoot is a free mitten pattern on Ravelry that I found in my favorites. The yarn is worsted/aran weight and suits the pattern perfectly. The only two changes I made were using needles one size smaller than the pattern called for and making the thumbs just a row longer before decreasing. They fit great (like a glove?!) and I really like the construction for the thumb gusset.

 



 

I've decided to name them 'Bubo' which is the genus of the great horned owl. Kind of a funny name for an animal with such gravitas, isn't it?

 

Pattern: Give a Hoot (my Ravelry project page)

Yarn: Deborah Norville Everyday Soft, Bright Violet

Needles: US 5 and US 7