A Tale of Two Squirrels

So here is the last of knitted animals... for a while.  Nothing new is in the works currently, but you know how it is with good things like that, you can never stay away for long!  So, mittens.  Squirrel mittens.  Cozy, squishy, mooshy, warm, soft, LINED, squirrel mittens.  This is yet another project too good to take off.  But I did, because I've yet to master the art of typing in mittens.  Which brings all sorts of funny images to mind, due to my belief that it would be impossible.  I mean, even Mrs. Popper had to wear gloves while she played the piano, I don't remember anything being said about her attempting it in mittens.  ANYWAY, the mittens.  Cute, cute, cute, and warm, warm warm!

My old mittens, the ones at the bottom of this post, wore through the thumb about a month ago, I'm still planning to mend them, but it seemed like a good sign that it was time to make a new pair.  One of the local fiber shops has a super fun Boxing Day sale every year where you can pick a box (large or small) and get a percent off of everything you can stuff inside it.  And this year I went a little crazy.  I mostly got roving, because I was completely out, but I also grabbed the yarn for these mittens.  It was some random wool, that you bought by the ounce, and now, after using it, I think it was meant for crewel work.  The colors are lovely, but it was a pain to knit with because the yarn was so springy keeping gauge was next to impossible.  So all I can say there is thank the Lord for blocking!

It also really helped that the mittens are lined, which is why the they are so deliciously soft and smooshy, squishy, cozy.  I used Shibui Knits Cima, which is an alpaca/merino lace weight, and may I just say that that yarn is as amazing as the outer yarn was frustrating.  More so, actually.  I wish I hadn't forgotten to get a picture of the lining, because the colors matched beautifully.

I also wanted to take this time to mention the skirt I'm wearing... because I made it.  Ages ago, three winters, I think.  I didn't use a pattern, just sort of made it up as I went.

It's from this extremely soft and heavy flannel that I fell in love with when I was working at Joann's.  It's really full and very warm, and, I think, rather pretty.

Can you believe it's March already?!  My goodness time is going by so fast, it's been really nice out, as you can kind of see from the pictures.  Sunny and warm, (for interior Alaska) the roads are slowly clearing off a bit, and the people and birds and squirrels are coming out of hiding.

Love, Clara