Knitting and Purling in P.R.

So before I get to my mitten progress, a few gratuitous shots from our vacation in Puerto Rico. I got most of my knitting done on the front end of the vacation, when we stayed for three days at a little eco-resort in the middle of the rain forest, "El Junque." No tv. No radio. Heavenly. Here, a couple of snaps taken from our balcony:


We hiked a lot in the forest, traversing boulders, a raging river, and jungly pathways. Here's some giant bamboo, maybe where size 15 needles come from?

And lots of really, really good coffee fueled our trip. Interestingly, the coffee was very different in each area. I preferred the stuff up north, a bit mellower than the dark acidic blend in the south. They take their coffee very seriously. Below is a set-up in a diner in San Juan where they frown on you having more than one cup. (And there are no free refills.) I had three that morning, it was so good. I didn't care about the waiter's scowls or the extra couple of bucks on our tab.


So on to the knitting. After futzing around for about a week with various (way too complicated) designs, I settled on a checkerboard-tiled pattern along the lines of what I'd originally wanted. It's pretty simple. Just four colors with brown being the main repeat. The checks are 4 x 4 on the outside, 2 x 2 on the palm, and will be 1 x 1 on the thumb.

(Back)

(Palm)

I'm not too thrilled with the cuff and am thinking when I'm finished with the bodies of both mittens I may cut them off and rework them from the wrist down. We'll see. I had to MacGyver my thumb hole with a little piece of floss, since I didn't have the right kind of yarn to thread through there to hold the stitches.