LunaKnit

This is so long overdue, but I have now finally managed to write down the pattern for the Cloud mittens. Here it is, my Christmas present to all you guys! Enjoy!
CLOUD MITTENS
(Here is the link to the pattern on Ravelry)

You need: 125 m or 135 yards of DK weight yarn (blue sample knit with Novita Wool, 100% wool, 135 m/ 50g) 125 m or 135 yards of sport weight yarn for the lining (blue sample: Garnstudio Drops Baby Alpaca Silk, 70% alpaca, 30% silk, 167 m/ 50 g) 
Needles: a set of 2.5 mm (US 1 1/2) DPNs or circular needles if you prefer Magic Loop method like me
Gauge: 16 stitches and 22 rows = 5 cm (2 inches)


To fit an average woman hand
Intermediate knitting skills required

Snow Cloud Mittens Yarns: Novita Wool #10 off-white and for the lining Garnstudio Drops  Needles: 2.5mm
I knitted the first pair of my Cloud Mittens last summer. I wanted to capture the fluffy clouds that sail idly through the blue summer sky so that I would have something to reminisce during the long and dark winter months. The mittens make me smile every time I wear them; it's as if I carry a piece of summer with me whenever I use them. For this second pair I also wanted to draw inspiration of the current season and chose white and gray to represent the clouds right before snowfall (even though we have no snow at the moment. I wish we would get some in time for Christmas...).
I've been promising to write down the pattern ever since I published the first photos of the mittens. And the pattern has been in making ever since. (I just checked and I've drawn the charts already in the beginning of August.) But for some reason I just haven't found a way to easily explain t…

I have published earlier a post on an easy way to k4tog - knit 4 stitches together - which is an essential stitch in my Cloud mitten pattern. As you might already know it is a bit challenging especially with 2.5 mm bamboo needles that not only have sharp tips but are bendy and especially prone to snapping. Stubborn as I am, I wasn't going to give up and change the design just to make it easier to knit. So I came up with the idea of using a tiny crochet hook to pull the working stitch through other three. 
I was planning to use this same method when knitting the second pair of Cloud mittens, but alas, I couldn't find the hook anywhere. I seem to have misplaced it and I just can't remember where I put it... And as you know I don't crochet often so the second smallest hook I had was size 3.5 mm which didn't work for this purpose for obvious reasons. 
So I was back to square one trying to figure out how to do the k4tog in an easy way when I got the idea of reversing t…

My Hawser sweater.


My Wheaten scarf.

And lastly. I'm knitting a second pair of my Cloud mittens. Here they are in their unblocked form looking less than glorious.... I've been trying to write down the patter for these mittens for months now, but I came to the conclusion that I'm that much of a visual person that I need to actually see what I'm doing to be able to write it down (I just can't picture it in my mind). I will publish the pattern as soon as I finish these mittens.

Aurora Scarf Yarns: Drops Cotton Merino  shades #8 marine and #7 bordeaux Needles: 4.0 mm and 5.0mm

Inspired by Luna is now one year old. At the same time, I'm also a year older and hopefully a little bit wiser as well - it was my birthday yesterday. This past year has been full of change - big things and smaller ones, happy times and sad moments - buying our apartment and moving in, publishing my first knitting patterns, loneliness when my only good friend moved away and making new acquaintances, climbing the Great Wall in China and traveling to Greece, Turkey and Netherlands, having a hard past month or so with overwhelming fatigue... But at the end I feel like I'm much stronger and probably the most content with my life I've ever been. This is going to be a long post so please bear with me.

I've always suffered from a low self-esteem, comparing myself to others and always feeling I'm not enough. I come from a family where everyone is highly educated with university degrees and after graduating from high school I too went on to study physics. I guess I never r…