For your holiday themed enjoyment (and because I’ve been stacked with precious little knitting time of late), I present our very own whistling demon. This candid of Younger Daughter is courtesy of a kids’ Halloween trick or treat party hosted by my employer, and the clever camera of Ms. L. Smith:

Elder Daughter however has more elaborate costuming in mind. She loves the black lace doodle scarf, but wants to complement it with black lace fingerless mitts. Never one to back down from a challenge, I’ve been playing with the concept – flying without a pattern, but as you can see – not without a black lace net.

Left is the thing patted flat, right is the mitt stretched out a bit on a roll of paper. I began at the cuff with a provisional cast-on, then worked a fused picot hem (barely seen here). I continued in pattern, with a mega-eyelet band after I’d done a bit of cuff. I might end up threading a wide ribbon through those eyelets – or not, depending on the bespeaker’s preference. The thumb gusset is done entirely in stockinette, and both the thumb and the top are also finished off with a picot hem, although on the cast-off row, I’ll need to take a tapestry needle and stitch down the live stitches now stowed on the white cord, cast-off fusing being a bit too fussy for the inside of such small spaces. I don’t know if anyone is interested in a stitch by stitch pattern. If so, I’ll consider writing one up from my notes.

The white cord itself is a handy tip. It’s plastic lanyard string (aka gimp or boondoggle). I’ve found it to be quite handy for provisional cast-ons, and as a flexible stitch holder for exactly this purpose. It’s stiff enough to make threading the stitches onto it easy, can be cut to any length, and it’s very inexpensive, especially if you scoop up a spool in an unpopular color from the craft store’s discount bin.

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