It's a chilly spring so far

Spring's on the way, but it's still pretty cold (-5°C yesterday morning!!) so my current stash-buster projects are some warm fingerless mitts...

Stash Buster project 7:

I did most of the work for these during a car journey to and from a friend's birthday party 2 1/2 hours away.  They were a satisfyingly quick knit, although I've been slow in getting round to doing the final thumb... almost finished though.  

I could have done with making them slightly bigger but I do like the feeling of the soft yarn.

Stash Buster project 8:

And I've also made one of a pair of Fetching mitts.  I cast on during the knit & natter at the church weekend away - some passers-by were a bit baffled by the double-pointed needles ("you're knitting with 4 needles!") but I made good progress when I wasn't chatting too much.  I think I may have miscounted when to do the cable row once or twice, but I like the feel of knitting with proper wool.  I don't have a ladder where the needles changed, and I'm sure it's down to the yarn texture.

So that's two active stash-buster challenge projects.

And I'm also working on another BSJ... this one is intended for my cousin's baby which is due in June.  I won't see her until a couple of months later though, so I'm using a slightly thicker yarn and bigger needles.

I've found the perfect buttons already.  We were looking round a craft fair a couple of weekends ago and found a stall selling various handmade items from a local enterprise company for people with learning difficulties.  We bought a few cards and I managed to only buy 3 sets of buttons:

I was impressed with the range and quality though (did I mention the handmade bags?) so I'll be keeping an eye out for more craft events from them.