Learn mattress stitch. Really.

So I got a new acrylic cheapo yarn in the pound shop, this time at £2.50 a ball. (I know, a bit of an investment.) 

And as the weather has turned autumnal I decided to use it for long wristwarmers. Didn't take long - a couple of evenings each hand. This is the result, and I like them. I shaped them into the wrist slightly with k2tog, and then out again for the hand a bit with m1, so they fit quite snugly. 

In fact today I finished them,  and in order to wear them for the first time - to the supermarket - I went and changed three times to find an outfit that worked around the slightly garish pink shade. (Usually it only takes me two changes of clothes to decide what to wear to Sainsbury's (one in the case of Tesco's))

I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, because first I spent a an hour finishing them this morning (whilst watching Antiques Roadshow). There's a reason it took so long. Unfortunately I decided to put into practice this fabled 'mattress stitch' for the seam. The reason this was unfortunate was that I only decided to use it when I got to the second one, not the first. 

Once I had done this mattress stitch seam I realised what everyone had been going on about. Turns out that it's makes a really neat almost-invisible seam. As you can see at the top of this picture. Compare with the bottom, which is the hand I finished first, with just an any-old-sewn-up-seam. Oops. 

Obviously I then had to unpick the first crappy seam and re-do it properly with mattress stitch. Eventually I had a pair, both neatly seamed with mattress stitch. Nice. 

Moral of the story: believe what all the books and websites say about mattress stitch. It really is easy, and it really is worth learning. And a good finish really does make all the difference to a project. 

Now I just need to decide whether to go for a matching hat or a matching scarf. 

End of a WIP

For the sake of closure, here's a photo of the WIP I posted about in September here. You can just about see that it's now scalloped down both sides. 

I'm pleased with it, but haven't worn it yet. I also made a blue one while I was away, in a sweet merino/cashmere mix. It's a colour I'll never ever wear so if anyone wants it, they can have it. I've now made this scarf twice, and while it's super-easy and ideal for a single ball of yarn from the remnant bin, I'm bored of it and in need of a new single-ball-project.  

Incidentally, starting a new yarn was easier than falling off a bike.  

Red fishing nets

So, back from holiday, where I learnt to crochet properly on the plane on the way out. I actually completed a few little things while I was away, which I'll probably post at some point when I've got my holiday photos sorted out. 

For the moment just a quick photo of my most recently finished project - red fishing nets. 

Started messing around with a v-stitch on the plane back from Hong Kong and have completed these three little pieces, all the same width but of different lengths.

    

I'm thinking that I'll use them to make a scarf, spaced out with some blocks of knitting of the same width in a different colour. Whether that's likely ever to happen, I'll leave you to judge.