knitting is finally contagious in my house

I finished up another pair of Squall Mittens yesterday. They took all of two or three days to finish, the great motivators being 1) chunky yarn, 2) fun pattern, 3) cold weather and 4) the fact that I recently lost my favorite pair of very warm mittens!

It wasn't until I set out with the kids for an afternoon sledding expedition that I noticed the 

DYE LOT PROBLEM

Uh, oops. Well, at least these weren't meant as a gift.

Even if they're not perfect, I love them. 

They kept my hands warm the whole 2 hours we were sledding.

Pattern: Squall Mittens 

Yarn: Mirasol Sulka (alpaca/merino/silk blend in chunky weight)

Sticks: DPNs in size 8 for ribbing and 9 for the rest

Now, check out the most recent FO from my household:

The incredible thing is that Daniel knit this hat himself. He finished up that neckwarmer before Christmas and begged to start a hat right away. I even gave him some really good yarn; I think this is some Shibui hand-dyed I bought for no particular reason several years ago.

It helps that he's so cute in orange.

I believe Daniel's favorite part of this hat was the pompon. He really wanted a white one, even if it doesn't really show up against the snow.

So what if he wears it with the seam in front?

And I'm not kidding when I say he knit the whole thing himself. You can see he threw in a few purl rows as well, and he also learned to decrease with k2tog for this project. I fixed a few mistakes, sewed it up, and made the pompon, but that's it.

This afternoon he started a blanket and asked me to teach him to knit in the round so he can make a pair of mittens. Unstoppable.