I don't know why but I've been on a bit of a knitting craze lately. Knitty.com has some great patterns in its summer issue for winter/fall items. Most recently I've made a pair of lobster claw mittens, or gloves with only two fingers. The idea is to combine the dexterity of the glove with the warmth of a mitten. To make it a bit more interesting, the pattern calls for a wave pattern running across the top of the hand. The knitty pattern can be found here. It's a neat effect that I might try to integrate into other projects, since it's actually pretty simple. It's just a single knit snitch being cabled left two stitches and then cabled back right two stitches over 12 rows. I'm still not quite up to designing my own patterns, but I'm steadily building a repertoire of interesting techniques to supplement my projects with, which I suppose is the first step.

My current project is my first foray into fair isle knitting. So far I love it. The strands carried along the back of the work really give the work a nice and cozy feel since it's essentially double layered. And it wasn't nearly as difficult as it looks in pictures I've seen. I really recommend this pattern for someone starting out in fair isle. I'm making Tam C of this pattern. The author recommends using a variegated or multicolored yarn to give it a more complicated look while only using two strands. I'm using mercerized cotton to make my tam, and it's fitting in quite nicely with the gauge (the nice thing about making a hat is that it's easy to try on the fit early on). I honestly almost always use a cotton blend in my knitting. I guess wool blends are supposed to be ... better? They appear in more patterns it seems. But in my case the softness and comfort of cotton always wins me over. I can't take the scratchiness of wool, even merino. I've heard that cotton can lose it's shape during the blocking stage, but the gauge is so tight I think it will be ok.

I found some reasonably priced and quality yarn at Inez's Stitchery in Kensington, MD. It's nestled between a bunch of old antique shops on a back road off of Connectiut Ave. It also looked like they have a pretty good selection of needles. Next time I think I'll visit a Tangled Skein in Hyattsville. It looks like they have some great sale prices and a big knitting community there. I'm still looking for some knitting circles in the D.C./Silver Spring area but until I do maybe I'll just drop in during the free knitting hours at Tangled Skein.