fingerless mitts

Ta da!

No, I'm not finished with them, but I've found a pattern: http://www.eunnyjang.com/knit/2006/11/endpaper_mitts.html (home, btw, of the ineffable Bayerische Socks, which I actually cast on for some months ago).

You'll note she's done hers in stranded knitting with 2 different colors. I, of course, am going to use left-over sock-yarn-club yarn, but I wonder how it would look in a k/p version of that diamond pattern. What's it called? I think King Charles' Brocade is what I'm thinking of. http://knitting.about.com/od/stitchglossary/g/charles_brocade.htm

After thinking about it last night, I went back over to that garage sale and got the book-end dealy with the woodwork from that old house. I'm happy to have a little of it in this house. I hope the whole room wasn't painted that color, and yes, that's a big honkin' nail hole or bolt hole or something down there, although at least whoever did it put it in the center of one of the little circles; I suppose it could be filled with wood putty. But look at how delicate it is. The two 5-petaled flowers look like chip-carving to me--I bet someone did it all by hand.



Here it is from a slightly different angle. I wish I could have seen it intact around the door or window. I imagine this is a corner piece, and the molding under the zigzag part continued around the rest of the frame.



I also got a couple of large but inexpensive baskets. One has a label and the other a stamp that says "Redman Baskets." Here's a little bit about the company. The label in the top right hand corner is the same as the one in my basket. http://users.zoominternet.net/~basketc/redman.html. What I like about mine is they're handsome and utilitarian, and they have a history.

One is like a cake-carrier--it's tall and square, with a removable insert. It looks more recent than the other one since it has some kind of man-made liner inside the wicker exterior. You can see the Redman label in the picture with the lid up. I have a big cake of lace yarn beneath the insert, with the yarn running up the gap on the side and out the lid, and then I have various sock projects stored on top. :)






The other one is, I think, older, and made out of slats--ash? oak?--rather than wicker. I was going to store yarn it it, too, but wound up putting my hand-knit socks in it since my sock drawer is getting too crowded. Now I've got the K-Mart socks in the sock drawer and the hand-knit socks in the basket.






Just what I need, more junk in the house, right? But at least I don't have to feel guilty about spending the money; it was only about $25 total.