Winter's coming...

W/ the cost of natural gas predicted to skyrocket this winter, I thought I'd better get started on some wrist warmers for self. (And especially after our discussion at SnB).

I figure that when z and z's dad see's these cool things, they're going to want them too.
Again, no red, only blue. Altho' I'm a product of the UC system also (UCSD), I just don't have that weird thing w/ red like the Cal alums have--must have been due to the fact that we didn't have ANY rivals since we didn't/don't believe in lowering the academic caliber of the school by actually having a football team. This little ditty from UCSD newspaper explains why UCSD is the superior school and is pretty funny. (I even forwarded to z's dad).

Oh, right. I was talking about wrist warmers. I looked through my books and various websites for ideas and found that easy wristwarmers only have a hole for the thumb. I wanted a little more coverage (no thumb cleavage for me, thanks). I went w/Last Minute Knitted Gift's wrist warmers (neat pattern) and morphed it w/ DIYnet Knitty Gritty's mitten pattern. I could have chosen any mitten pattern, I suppose. Except that I actually saw that episode and thought gee, if I were to make mittens, I'd make those. But not in canary yellow, 'cause I'm a practical lass and a mom of a toddler...no way in yellow. And of course realizing that in the beautiful Bay Area, chances are that well, heavy mittens aren't necessary.

Since I was paranoid that I would run out of yarn (as a newish knitter, don't have a very good gauge on amt of yarn required), I had gotten 2 balls of cranberry for the DNA scarf that became the DNA hat. Well, I figured I'd make the wrist warmers to match the hat.

Specs:
-maybe a little more than 1/2 skein of Woolease cranberry
-cast-on date 9/15/2005
-end date 9/15/2005
-cast on 32 stitches and when starting, can't believe that little tube will fit your arm.
-pattern: 2X2rib, shifted every 4th row (don't know the name of the pattern, but I like it)
-From: Last Minute Gifts (and Knitty Gritty TV show) but longer than they suggest
-5 stitches with waste yarn for thumb. Picked up 2 stitches (one on each side) and knit in pattern for thumb.
-for thumb, I actually knitted a tester tube to see if my circulation would be cut off. But it felt okay.

So, they turned out fine. The biggest pain, as usual was weaving in the ends.