I’m feeling just a little bit smug right now. You see, I’ve finished not just one, but two big projects this weekend!

First, here are my Chevalier mittens:

The second one went so much faster than the first. I’m sure that happened because I no longer had any need to agonize over fit or pattern quirks. I love the mittens and have worn them out several times. They keep my hands toasty warm.

The second project I wanted to share with you is my polar bear quilt. It’s a pattern my mother had used several years ago to make a gift for a friend. I admired it at the time, but my son’s developing appreciation for polar bears inspired me to make my own version of the wall hanging.

You might be wondering why Sam is interested in polar bears. He learned about the fascinating creatures from an Earth Day presentation describing their struggle to survive on the melting ice caps. This really upset him, and since then, he’s drawn many pictures, created “Save the Polar Bear” signs and written a report for school on the subject.

You can read more about this issue on the NRDC website.

National Geographic has some fascinating footage of polar bears in the wild.

Just when I thought I was going to spend all month swatching for mittens instead of knitting them, I happened upon this yarn and pattern combo:

Louet Riverstone Chunky in Eggplant and Chevalier Mittens.

One down; one to go…

The recent snowfall inspired me to knit something to keep my fingers warm. I tried my hand at making mittens and what a fun project it turned out to be! These are the Very Cabley Mittens from kelpknits.com. To make them, I used one skein of Lamb’s Pride worsted. Not only are they very cabley, they are very quick (I knit mine in 3 days) and they are very pretty.

I enjoyed this project so much that I joined the knit-along for the National Knit Mittens Month (there’s a Ravelry Group for this) and will attempt to knit another pair by February first. My track record for finishing knit-along projects has been poor, so keep your fingers crossed for me (I’d do the same, but that would make knitting more challenging than it should be…).

True to form, I’ve already encountered a hurdle in knitting another pair of mittens. I can’t decide what knittens I want to knit first. There are 3,537 mitten patterns listed on Ravelry. Right now, I have several pairs on my personal list that I’m considering (and I’m going to stop looking at Ravelry’s pattern catalog so my list doesn’t grow even longer!). Here’s what I’ve got so far:

• Bird In Hand Mittens
• Bella’s Mittens
• Tyrolean Mittens
• Any Selbuvotter Mitten (How’s that for narrowing down my selection?)
• Thrummed Mittens
• Newfoundland Mittens
• Give a Hoot
• Ladybug Mittens
• Mittens to Order–using my own charted design

Yeah, that list is crazy…and it’s only the tip of the iceberg. I’ve decided that I will only make mittens for which I already have the yarn. I’ve also decided that I’m going to write the name of each design down on a slip of paper, put it into a hat and will get started swatching whichever one I pull from the hat. Clever huh? I should run more of my life this way, since I’m notoriously bad at making up my mind when faced with a lot of choices.

P.S. My apologies for the awful title. If you want good taste from me, you’ll have to wait until I’ve consumed another cup of coffee or three.

P.P.S. Please forgive the overabundance of parentheses above. Again, the need for coffee…

P.P.P.S. Best wishes for the new year!!!