Got to Get Back to the Sugar Shack

Pattern: "Fingerless Garter Mitts," by Leigh Radford, available in One Skein
Yarn: Queensland Collection Sugar Rush (2)
Needles: US2 dpns (worked flat)
Materials: Beader's Paradise size 6 Czech glass beads (Sea Green Luster Mix)

Plus: The yarn feels like silk and is 100% SUGAR CANE!!!! How awesome to hand someone a beautiful gift, and after they try it on, you say, "It's made of pure sugar!" Overall, this is a very simple pattern with a truly elegant result. I had never worked beads into my knitting before, but it was not difficult at all. The book doesn't give much advice for stringing the beads on the yarn, but I found a great tutorial at Knitty. After that, easy peasy.
Delta: Like most cellulose yarns, it splits like mad, making for very careful knitting. I'm also concerned that it won't provide much warmth, but I totally knew that was a risk going in--probably a better choice for summer weight garments and accessories. I guess I was going for cool-to-the-touch summer knitting, stubbornly ignoring the gloves' eventual purpose. As for the pattern, the gloves turned out way bigger than expected, even after achieving gauge. In my case, it was no big deal; I'm just gifting them to someone with bigger hands. However, if you have hands that are small to average, just knock off some of the final garter rows at the end. Finally, I was slightly baffled by the fact that the pattern says to use sport weight yarn, but the suggested yarn was a fingering weight, Koigu PPM. It made me wonder which weight was truly intended or ideal. I eventually settled on sport and got gauge by moving up one needle size. Go figure.

More importantly, I love my new knitting group! We're meeting tomorrow night, and I think it's one of the best parts of my week. Knitting can be such a solitary, almost lonely, activity. Most of my friends kind of roll their eyes or wink at me condescendingly when I talk about my knitting. With these women, nobody looks shocked when one of us nearly falls out of our seat, dramatically espousing the merits of alpaca. Everybody cheers on each other's projects with genuine admiration and pride. We grin encouragingly at one another's natural mistakes when learning a new technique. Few social events leave me more refreshed and relaxed. The only thing we've lacked so far....is brownies. Tomorrow night, that oversight shall be rectified.