Itty Bitty Knitting Escape

Yesterday I needed a break from car shopping, so I went to one of my favorite quiet corners in town, the clearance shelf at the LYS. Although hanging out in the LYS clearance corner can be hazardous for the pocket book, I thought it would be relatively safe considering it is humid and hot as blazes outside. Who wants to buy wool in this weather?

Note to self: this was not good logic.

I got some Nashua Handknits’s Julia yarn (wool, alpaca, and mohair) for making some mittens. Do you know that little mitten pattern that comes in your junk mail? It’s printed on a little, folded paper about the size of a postcard and there’s a lady on the front photo who models some striped red and yellow mittens. I saved the pattern and it’s been sitting on an end table, so everytime I see it I start to think about knitting mittens. I got two colors of the Julia yarn, teal and sour apple green, to make mittens. I love the teal, but I’m not sure which pattern I’ll finally decide on.

I also got some cute itty bitty tools. First I got some itty bitty scissors for air travel. They are 1⅜” (3.5 cm) long! I have been using that Clover throwing star cutter, but it has given me problems with airport security (in Munich in particular), so I’ve been on the look-out for a better solution. Surely these itty bitty scissors will pass TSA inspection, right?

I also got an itty bitty circular needle. When I first spied it, I thought it was a dollhouse knitting needle toy, but it turns out to be a needle for knitting one sock in the round, a Clove 9″ circular bamboo needle (size 0 / 2mm). I have a crosswalker sock-in-progress that’s been sitting untouched for over a year because I can’t stand working it on DPNs as the pattern called for. This itty bitty circular needle would be perfect for getting my sock moving again. I brought home the dollhouse needle, then knit the sock onto it. It is quite fiddly to work with; the inflexible, wooden needle parts are so small that you almost have to pinch them with your forefingers and thumbs. After knitting a few rows, I got more comfortable with it. For me it will be fast than knitting with DPNs, plus it makes me laugh.