they are fetching, aren't they?

I started a new project today. I was reading Knitty's newest issue, and the contest for pictures in next year's calender gave me an idea. I got one of those pictures in my head that involved a pair of fingerless gloves that I knit back in February. So, I set the photo up, looked at my gloves, and realized it would not work.

These gloves are serviceable, and I love them because they were the first thing I made that really seemed worth the time I spent on them (unlike the red acrylic horror of a sleeveless top that I haven't frogged because I don't know what I'd do with all the yarn). They don't look so good after I wore them while biking to the class I was teaching on freezing mornings and after being shoved in the bottom of my backpack while I was busy trying to knit a hat during a boring worldview class. I used a soft wool knit at a tighter gauge than recommended. The result has been a pair of gloves covered in pills. I tried lightly felting them to see if that would help (and if it would make up for the gloves, despite being knit in a small size, still being too big for me). They felted a little, enough to make them even warmer and for the colours to meld a bit, but not enough to stop pilling. They look...rustic.

Since I still wanted to take a picture for this contest, I figured that there must be a different pattern out there that I could knit well before the deadline. That's when I found Fetching. Fetching is a lovely pattern that is knitting up very quickly. I have had the yarn since somewhere around 4 pm today (well, yesterday, technically). I did some reading, played a couple rounds of Race for the Galaxy with my husband, went out to dinner, read my husband a couple chapters from New Moon, chatted on the phone with my sister-in-law about what she should bring to university (a stapler is an excellent tool), wasted some time on Ravelry, and still managed to make it about half-way through the first glove, while watching clips from Oklahoma in order to get a song out of my head. It is my "learn to cable" project. The cables are easy for a beginner like me and the result is delightful. I did have to frog the first couple of rows and cast on again because the original design is too big for my small hands. My version has been reduced in circumference by a third.

I love the design so far, and I think more cables will follow in other projects. I might need to take a short break from the pattern because it's been over a month since I've used metal dpns on a project with such a small circumference, and I held on too tightly at first. My thumb is feeling the strain.

I plan to take a couple of projects with me tomorrow to the park, where everyone from knitting group is meeting for world-wide knit in public day. I've knit in public before (on the bus, in the doctor's office, during lectures, at the library), but it should be fun. Fetching will probably come with me, as will Shipwreck. Shipwreck is close to being finished, but it will probably be a couple more weeks before it's done. I have one small project I have to start and finish within a week so Shipwreck will likely be on hold for a day or two.