Toast for Granny

So I made another pair of Toast.  This is the style without the thumbs – they’re just plain, straight tubes of knit stitch, and about as simple as it gets.  In theory anyway.

Ever get the idea that some projects are just doomed from the start?

First I cast on too few stitches.  Then too many.  Then I tried the loom, but the results looked chunkier than I wanted.

Back to the needles, I managed to knit one lovely one all the way to the end, only to bind off too tightly.  I unraveled a few rows and re-did the bind-off, but it looked messy.

The second of the pair had a few mistakes along the way, but I was able to back up and fix them with little trouble, and the bind-off went relatively well.

Meanwhile the messy bind-off of the first glove started to unravel, so I had to go back to that and fix it.

I’d given myself ten days, and I was still knitting in my pajamas the morning of the party.

Doomed, I tell you.

These wrist warmers are of the softest undyed alpaca, and they’re a nice charcoal gray, which I find so versatile.  But best of all, they are finished, wrapped up, and given to my grandmother for her birthday.

Isn’t this pretty giftwrap?  It’s actually part of a free download from Domestifluff.  I printed one sheet and used it to cover the lid of a gift box I had.  I also used one of the gift tags from the set, and played around with the design in order to print up a little description of the wrist warmers to go into the box.

I love how the packaging came out.  And despite the grief they caused me, I think the wrist warmers, too, are really nice.

My next knitting adventure is going to be to learn the 2-at-a-time method in this book.  Why do I always get the bug to try new techniques at this time of year, when I already have more than enough to keep me busy?  One of the great mysteries of life…