I’m in the part of my new sweater (another Weekender Crew) that is just stockinette all the way with a slipped stitch every now and then. I’m alternating skeins so I don’t get too much pooling, but the work is still… kind of mindless. Not mentally challenging. Okay, I am bored. No creativity in sight here, even though I want to get the sweater done… eventually. To make things worse we are experiencing unusually warm weather here in the Denver area and I’m not wearing any of my sweaters. I stuffed the sweater into its bin, parked it on a shelf, and started on some small products.
I decided to start on the mitts to match the grey/dusty purple sweater that I just upcycled. Yay. Let’s do mitts, kitties!!!
I decided to make a mitt that offered some options. It has a ribbed top that should go under the lace on the sleeve okay, and then a little panel of lace to match the ones on the body of the sweater. At the edge by my hand is a picot edge that matches those of the lace on the sweater. Cute, right? Sometimes I want a mitt that comes way down over my hand, almost to my knuckles, so I didn’t sew down the picot edge and knitted a long inner lining that can be pulled out. The final bind off is I-cord, giving a smooth finish to the bottom of the mitt. Yay! I like this mitt a lot. Did I cast on to start the second one right away? Well… no… that would be boring, right?
I pulled out the cat arm warmers because they are kind of the poster child mitt for NOT BORING, right? Over the last three days I got those little mice knitted in, and then I did the paws. Yikes. The paws required 4 colors of yarn for several rows. NOT BORING!!!! I learned a few things about yarn management while working on these, and in a nutshell, the most important one is to cut the yarn off the ball so you have a length of color that you can easily pull through tangles with the other colors. It is a lot easier to catch floats when you have a manageable length of yarn with no ball of yarn in sight, too. The knitting was really slow and kind of a nightmare until I figured that all out, but the last half of the paws went pretty quickly. Do you like the paws?
They look that way because that is what Hannah’s paws look like! Cutest toe beans ever!!!
Like everyone else on the planet I have been reflecting on the last year (thank heavens it is finally over) and thinking about plans for the next one (goals are good, right?) It’s a lot, and it definitely involves lots of yarn and books. As I planned this post I thought about what has been going on lately in my life and the world around me, and I finally thought about a plant that I brought in from outdoors this fall. It was a beautiful bougainvillea when I brought it in, bushy with lush green foliage and not a bloom in sight. I thought about leaving it outside but I finally dragged it into the dining room in front of a large window. Over the next few weeks every single leaf on the plant fell off. “Are you kidding me,” I asked the plant. “One little shock to your system and you give up the ghost?” Yes, I do talk to my plants.
The plant has replied by putting out new growth and blooms on every single little branch. It is literally covered with the tiny green buds of new growth, and the blooms, just now starting to grow out, are going to be something else. This plant is going to look amazing in just a couple of weeks.
There is a lesson here, somewhere.
May you all have an amazing New Year.
PS: I bought a new loom!!! Also, dysautonomia continues. May I present to you Crazy Heart 2026.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
I’m reminded how much I like the renovated sweater, Marilyn – it’s bloody INSPIRED ! And the mitts, with variations and pull-downs, etc., are equally so. That’s real creativity, that is: imnsho, more so than designing and knitting a sweater ! Because when renovating you have to fit in with the mood, so to speak – you can’t just wing it.
And yes, Hannah’s toebeans are very cute – but your claim is somewhat outrageous. Boodie is sulking already. Still, I s’pose I’ll let you get away with it because the dysautonmia …
Lovely about the boug, me old china ! – they’re wonderful plants, and really hardy. And that’s apart from how beautifully they cover fences and dead scrubby things and make one happy.
Like you do me when writing of such nice things.
Lots of hugs, dear Marilyn …
You know, I kind of did wing those mitts that are to go with the sweater. My first idea was to make a knitted tube that would be half grey, half purple but as I knitted along I decided to put in some lace. Then, when I tried the mitt on my arm, I realized that it would be too tight as a tube. Then, after the picot edge was started, I decided that I liked the balanced grey at each ends and the flexibility of having two looks. I am lucky that it all worked out in the end!
Boodie! I’m sure that your toe beans are just fabulous!! You have to admit that the two colors are kind of catching on Hannah’s paws.
When I was a teenager in Southern California we had a boug that grew up over the roof and I had to go up there to hack it down for my mother. Here in Denver, where it snows, it is just a summer annual plant. I, however, refuse to let it just die and my plant is now 4 years old. I keep wondering if I can take cuttings off of this one. They never get big enough to cover fences here and usually are just hanging plants.
I’m glad that the post is a happy one. There is a new full moon on the way and I”m already thinking of what to write and collecting all the glimmers that I can.
Dysautonomia. Bugger me !!!
It has certainly been a pest!
I also talk to my plants.
I know, right? They don’t grow well if you ignore them; it must hurt their feelings.
What cute colorwork arm warmers. And the mitts are beautiful. What a fancy addition to your sweater. Plants remind us to never give up. A good message.
I am hoping that this year will be one of great resiliency; certainly, the plant is proving to be capable in that way.
I love the kitty/paw arm mitts!
Yes to 2025 being over and done with! May this year be a good one for you and all of those reading your blog.
I’m glad your bougainvillea is putting out buds. My white poinsettia from Christmas is turning slightly brown, is very crotchety about temperature fluctuations (loses leaves), and is generally acting like a diva. That’s surprising to me because I grew up on an island off the Gulf coast where, out back of our house, alongside the ancient wash house from another century, a long row of red poinsettia plants grew to the rafters and were bursting with blooms during certain times of the year. They were never fertilized or watered, yet they soldiered on for years until a killing frost knocked them down.
I saw someone’s knitted project with the knitted cat paws and I bought the pattern the next day. It is one of the doodle patterns from Pacific Coast Knits. When I lived in San Diego my mom worked at a hospital that had huge poinsettia hedges around it and they bloomed like crazy at one time of the year all together. I think that it is something to do with the length of the day/night cycle that triggers the blooming.
I should’ve said: I talk to everything.
It’s not just because I’m old and live alone, it’s a habit from when I was part of a family – a somewhat dysfunctional one of which the inter-relating part was up and down like (she said vulgarly) a whore’s drawers. One never knew if one was in a conversation or not. So one had conversations with anything and everything, from time to time, and I still do.
I talk out loud all the time. I was in a job where I had to explain things in a clear manner to diverse groups of people (I was going to say that the teachers were worse than the students, but then there were the principals… Anyway, it does help to do oral rehearsal as I sort out my thoughts and put things into a logical sequences, and now my cats know lots of biology!!
Oh Marilyn – you have the frequent ability to make me laugh out loud !! 🙂
Goodonyermate !!!!
XO
Both mitts/armwarmers are so pretty! The paws, both real and knitted, are adorable!! Glad the plant is adapting to its new environment. I’m so sorry that the disautonomia is continuing – hopefully you and your team can get that under control!
I finished the first cat mitt yesterday and it is way cute!! The second may languish on sleeve island for a little while…
Very cool! Those are so cute – looking forward to checking it out!
You have amazing skills, so I’m not surprised you grow bored with the familiar. Your mitts are pretty and whimsical.
I’m so happy to hear that your Bougainvillea recovered and appears to be thriving.
Sorry to hear about the unseasonal heat.
I save the boring knitting for binge watching shows where I have to pay attention, but otherwise it is really hard to keep at it. It is still really warm here, but I saw that there might be some snow later this week so I might take that sweater out of the corner again.
I gave that Bougainvillea some Miracle Gro today because the bloom count is going up at a remarkable rate, and eventually the plant will start producing new leaves.
Sometimes I cut paper while binge watching TV. It’s a tedious task, so it’s nice to do it while otherwise engaged.
We just started watching All Creatures Great and Small. I read the book many years ago. The series is a balm for the soul.
Doc Martin has been another favorite with a decade worth of episodes. I’m all about escaping into enjoyable media these days.
I love All Creatures Great and Small! Now I have to check out Doc Martin.
Yes!
I love the Hannah mitts! They are so adorable! (as is their namesake)
Those cat arm warmers are so fun. I love the little paws.
My current design project: Mitts. I’m trying to decide if the prototype is too tall, because I want my fingers to be free enough to use, but not freezing. We shall see.
Currently typing with Calvin (orange cat) on my lap. I’m about to scoop him up and give him meds, and so far he doesn’t suspect a thing…
Happy new year!
Mitts are a constant challenge for me. I want them to come way down on my hands, but they need to be easy to push up while working in the kitchen or when I wash my hands. I used to make ones that had thumbs on them, but lately I’ve quite as they get in my way (I wear the mitts indoors) Lately I want mitts that are also long enough to be arm warmers. Luckily I can knit for myself! A fellow scleroderma patient recently sent me a picture of mittens with fingerholes in them that she wants me to make her.
I hope that Calvin was a good boy with his meds!
Happy new year. I love the little toe beans on the kitty mitts!