Admiring my handiwork : )

After I posted about my first pair of Endpaper Mitts, I decided to grant my second pair a temporary leave of absence from my office drawer for its oh-so-deserving glamour shots.  Don’t they just say, “Hey baby, you know you want me…” in that coy, seductive kind of way?  Wait… is it just me who hears their knitting talking in sexy voices?  Oh, ok then.  Nevermind.  : )

Project Specs:

• Pattern, pattern source, and needles: same as my first pair of mitts
• Yarn: Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM) in light blue and brown semi-solids
• Current Level of Crafty Excitement: Done (a long, long time ago, minus about a month or two)

Let me just state for the official record that my undying love for Koigu will passionately burn until the end of time, when all the world’s supply of this luscious yarn has been exhausted, at which point life will have lost all its meaning, and we knitters will have no choice but to release that last, hopeless breath in acknowledgment that without Koigu, we just can’t possibly go on.  Also, I hope that as I make that final gasp for air, I am covered from head to toe in handknit Koigu nirvana.  I’m sure you all feel the same way.  I mean, it’s Koigu, people!  *swoon*

My infamous left hand takes a few minutes out of its busy day

Like the first pair, I think these blue/brown Endpaper Mitts came out really well.  I love the color combination, and the mitts keep my hands nice and toasty in my igloo (er, cube) while keeping my fingers free to perform slave labor (er, type endless engineering reports).  I think I knit one less repeat of the pattern in the cuff of these mitts, or rather, I think I knit one too many repeats on the first pair.  But who cares, right?  Knitting is supposed to be relaxing and therapeutic, so I don’t worry when I accidentally make a non-project-threatening knitting faux pas.  Yeah, that’s how I roll.  : )

I tried to get an action shot of the beloved Endpaper Mitts in their natural habitat…

More report revisions? Bring it!

… but apparently I take very blurry/crooked photos when I’m only using one hand and have the camera at a weird angle.  Oh well!  I give myself an A for effort.  After all, it’s the thought that counts.

Although these blue/brown mitts are often stuck in the office, sometimes, when they think I’m not looking, I catch them practicing for their debut at the MOMA:

So worth the $20 admission

I swear, all they need is a big fancy frame and a spot next to an Alexander Calder mobile.  All kidding aside, I am a fairly regular visitor to the big NYC museums, and the MOMA in particular, and it’s not unheard of to see fiber-related art proudly displayed among the Warhols and Pollocks, not to mention things like the traveling Gee’s Bend quilt exhibits and the various costume exhibitions at the Met.  Fiber-enthusiasts of the world, unite!  It always makes my woolly heart skip a beat when I witness major art institutions whose love of fiber-related goodness matches my own.  I guess these people know something good when they see it.  : )

One last note about these mitts – the first time I wore them in the office, I was stopped by a male coworker who requested that I make him a pair.  Although I was flattered, I took one look at his monstrous man-hands and was like “yeah right!”  and politely excused myself from the conversation.  I love my coworkers, but not enough to spend months knitting an intricate pair of fingerless mitts for hands that are easily twice the size of my own.  But thanks for the knitterly love, my fellow cubicle monkey. 

All in all, these mitts are a great project.  They were fun and interesting to knit, they actually provide the intended warmth and utility, and they’re a fine example of fiber art.  Too bad I’m going to stuff them back into my office drawer on Monday morning, ha.