Thanks so much for all your nice comments on my recent knitted stuff. I’m glad you all enjoyed seeing my family modeling stuff but there have been repercussions. You see, Dale’s head has swelled beyond belief after reading all your comments, Hannah is still annoyed that I posted ugly (i.e. cold) photos of her last week, and I’m wishing I had invited photographer extraordinaire Cheryl down to take those photos of me. Ahem. It does feel good to finally be caught up on posting all my recently finished knitted things, though. And that means now I can go on to show you the stuff that’s currently coming off the needles.

January is officially Knit More Mittens month for me. I joined NaKniMitMo and it has really given me the incentive to get cracking on the various mittens I’ve been wanting to knit. First up are these Bird in Hand Mittens. I’ve had these in my queue since Kate released the pattern. I’ve seen my friends knit these and loved them and I’m so glad I finally knit a pair of my own.

The yarn is Botanical Shades 2 Ply Sportweight in the shades of spruce and khaki. I bought it at Rhinebeck last October and got the stamp of approval from Margene and Marcy so you know it’s got to be good. Despite what I said last week about mohair, I don’t mind mohair blends, and this yarn is a nice blend of wool and mohair. It’s got a bit of a fuzz but I actually think some fuzz is a good thing in a mitten.

I love the braided cuff although it did confuse me at first. It’s really not difficult but, like any new technique, I had to slow down and read the directions carefully. Once I’d done it correctly it was easy to repeat and I think it makes for some really special detailing.

Speaking of detailing, I decided to make my mittens truly unique – I knit the bird in red. I was hoping it would look like a cardinal but it looks more like a red chicken to me. Oh well. I guess when I want to see a cardinal I’ll just look at this photo I took the other day for my Project 365 set on Flickr.

Now that’s a cardinal.