Needlework Tuesday - Christmas Mittens

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We sort of did, but since all of southern Manitoba was under a winter storm watch/warning, we decided to stay at home Christmas day and not venture into the city for our family dinner. As it turns out, the storm didn't hit until much later in the day, late evening in fact, and we could have gone and probably made it home safely before it got really bad. The thing is when you live in a rural area, you just never know what the highway conditions are going to be like. We kept hearing that conditions would be deteriorating rapidly and since we were over an hour away from our destination, we decided not to take the chance. It's bad enough to be stranded in the city, but on Christmas with everything closed. Hmmm...no thanks.

Anyway, it gave me a chance to start a new book ("The Lake House" by the ever fabulous Kate Morton) and do some more knitting.

Last week, I showed you part of a mitten I was knitting for my husband. The Heritage Mitts (link to pattern) are based on the Hudson's Bay point blanket. I finished these and I absolutely adore them. I'm kind of sorry I didn't buy a second kit for myself. My husband and I aren't matchy-matchy types, though, so it's just as well. Here they are:

The pattern offered options for putting the famous "points" on the cuffs. However, I decided I liked the mittens without them.

These were so fun and quick to knit. One thing though....I'm not that pleased that I had about 1 inch (!!!!!) of the white roving left when I finished the thumb on the second mitten. Not even enough for weaving in. I managed to tuck it in under two stitches and tie it off. I'm hoping it'll hold. My husband says he can feel the knot, but isn't bothered by it. I'm not sure what happened...I didn't even leave tails as long as the pattern suggested. So not cool!!

After those were done, I started a pair of lightning fast mittens for myself. This was another kit I picked up at my local yarn store. I started them on Christmas Eve and by Christmas day evening, I had a brand new pair of gorgeous mittens. Here they are:

Unlike the Heritage Mitts I have quite a bit of yarn left. Not enough to make anything, though. It's a shame because the yarn was quite expensive.  I know, I know, there's no pleasing me.  First there's not enough yarn left, then there's too much.  ;)

I've been itching to start another project, but haven't done so yet. I have plenty of projects I want to do and plenty of yarn to do them, I just haven't matched them up yet. I do have a few matched up, but the yarn isn't wound into balls so they'll have to wait until I get to the yarn store. Of course, I have a few UFOs laying about, but there's nothing like the thrill of starting a new project. We'll have to see what this coming week brings.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.