And One and Two-O, My Trio Becomes a Duo

This post’s title is a nod to the wonderful children’s book “Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin” by Lloyd Moss in which ten instruments come together to form a chamber orchestra.  The writing is very rhythmic, with rhyming verses that young kids will especially love, and the illustrations by Marjorie Priceman are very colorful and full of life and movement.  You don’t have to be musically-inclined to enjoy this book,1 and I think a child of any age would like it2.  Quite simply, this book is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it.

Now onto knitting….

When I started back on my Mother’s Day gift track, I decided that, for this year, it was going to have to be a Mother’s Day Duo3 of bath mitt and votive candle sleeve.  The bookmark was just not working out and I didn’t have the time,4 or inclination, to continue working on it.

Add one bubble bath, some soothing music, a glass of wine, and enjoy!

While the bookmark didn’t work out for Mother’s Day, I was really pleased with my finished bath mitt and votive sleeve.  I used a super-soft and lofty organic cotton for the mitt,5 multi-hued in lovely shades of blue and reminiscent of the ocean, and mercerized cotton6 for the sleeve.  I bought some beautiful soap7 and included it and a couple votive candles as part of the present.

I think this knitted duo makes a really nice gift.  It also packs a lot of “bang for your buck” in terms of both time and expense–the project can be completed easily in a weekend, and it’s quite affordable.8

I will upload my patterns for the bath mitt and votive sleeve in the coming days, so please check back!

1. Although it would be great if it inspired a muscial interest! This is my shameless plug. [↩]
2. The book is recommended for ages 4 to 8. [↩]
3. Instead of a trio as I had originally planned. [↩]
4. Easter being so late this year and Mother’s Day being just 2 weeks later really threw me for a loop. [↩]
5. I chose Blue Sky Alpacas Multi Cotton, a worsted weight 100% organic cotton, in color 6803 “slushie.” [↩]
6. I used Rowan Siena, a fingering weight 100% mercerized cotton, in color 660 “pacific,” which unfortunately has been discontinued, but they offer many other gorgeous colors. [↩]
7. It was beautiful both in packaging and scent. My daughter and I had lots of fun smelling all the different soaps at Cost Plus World Market–they have a good selection of imported soaps at reasonable prices, like the Castelbel soap from Portugal that I chose. [↩]
8. The yarn totaled around $20 and the soap and votives were about $6, for a total project cost of $26. You will have some yarn leftover from the mitt, but not enough to make another; however you will have lots and lots of mercerized cotton leftover and could make many more votive sleeves. [↩]