Chrimble gift knitting continues

Lootus - in progress
Originally uploaded by franneyk

I'm having a break from washcloths, just because i have bought some gorgeous shades of CountryStyle from Pictish as she was having one of her bargainous destashes and i knew i wanted to knit some mitts and try some colourwork...
So, much Ravelrying later i settled on the Lootus Flower pattern as my first try, purely because it only has two colours and the motif repeat looks about the right size for fingerless mitts, which is what i want to make. I really wanted to havea colourful cuff though so rather han just casting on and knitting in one colour for the ribbing i found some explanations on how to do two colour long tail cast on, how to do a braid and how to do two colour ribbing and off i went! Several hours and after working out how to stop the tangles when i'm braiding later i had this lovely cuff! I was feeling quite proud of myself up to this point as i have only done very basic two colour fairisle before in the shape of Max's hat, which reminds me, i never did get Ben's finished! I really need to find the right weight merino to go with that merin-ohhhh... anyway, i digress!
I really did struggle with this last night, i can't work out how to purl with my left hand, so i have to remember to put the purling colour in my right hand for the rib. I have to remember to "swirl" the wool clockwise for the "over part of the braid and anti-clockwise for the "under" part so that the two strands don't get tangled and i have to remember not to pull the contrasting colour when i do a whole row of main colour or it'll wind up too tight to fit over your hand...
I have really enjoyed it so far though, i might even crack right on and cast number two on as soon as number one is finished! I'm not sure how many pairs i can make but i have a few different pairs in my queue to try out. There aren't many patterns for DK though and that's what i want.