Something Little

I needed a little project to work on in addition to my other projects.  Something small and portable that I can work on when I'm out and about with Caleb.  The Hexipuffs are little, but if they're the only portable project I have, I get bored with them.  I've found that I can work on them in spurts and bursts, but making a long term commitment (a Hexipuff a Day?) makes me resent them and I find other things to do (Angry Birds, Bookworm).

I had originally planned on starting a pair of socks and that was my plan when I went upstairs yesterday for yarn - go to the sock yarn stash and find yarn and a pattern.  When I got into my sewing room (I use it more for knitting activities than sewing, but in my head it's the sewing room - no clue why that is), I saw The Basket of Potential.  This is a basket I used when I straightened up the sewing room early in December.  I threw leftover balls of yarn in there that were big enough for actual projects.  Most of them are partial balls of sock yarn, so there's not really enough for socks, but they are big enough for mitts.  They're all too big to really go into one of my scrap bags, and when they are left to wander free range in the stash they get lost, forgotten and shuffled to the bottom of the bins.  I figured throwing all these little oddballs into a basket would keep them where I could see them, they'd have a better chance of being used, and I'd get some smallish projects out of them.  The Basket of Potential was born.

As soon as I saw The Basket of Potential, I knew what I'd make.  When I finished up my Cladonia I had a decent amount of both yarns left.  I don't think I weighed the leftovers, but I feel pretty confident that I have enough of both yarns to make Endpaper Mitts.  I think just about everyone who knits has already made these, but it's been ages since I've played with colorwork and I've always wanted to make these.  Using up two partial balls of stash should work out perfectly.  I've finished the lower ribbing and I've actually knit two rounds of the colorwork section, but you can't really see it yet.  These don't have a time limit, I can just knit them when I have a chance and not worry about finishing them by the end of the month.  When I'm done, I shouldn't have very much of the yarn leftover and I'll have mitts to match my shawl!