spring mittens

It is too warm for mittens. But I made some anyway.

I am determined to use up all the yarn I have by next fall, and this Jamieson and Smith's time was up. I made the Faroe Island Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandoski, and now I can see why this yarn is so highly recommended for colorwork, and particularly fair isle. Knitted images come out very crisp and clean, and for some reason the fabric was incredibly smooth - I hardly had to block them at all.

These are now packed up with the rest of the cold weather accessories. I'm trying to have some substantial work to show each Sunday. Right now I've turned back to lace.

friday mittens

These have been done for weeks, but the weather here has made them impossible to photograph. Last night we finally got snow, which is a lot friendlier to mittens than laying them in puddles of rain.

First, the Aran Islands mittens from Folk Mittens. Would you believe me if I told you they're made out of even more wool frogged from Crichton? Or that the snow was really that white? (It wasn't - I had to brighten up this whole picture for you to somewhat see the cables.) This was my first time doing cables, and the pattern was easy. They do take forever, though. I've been wanting to knit Demi from Rowan's Vintage Knits since last Christmas, and this was a good opportunity to learn that it's going to take quite a bit longer than I had first imagined.

The famous pirate mittens from Hello Yarn were next. If I had been thinking straight, I could have knitted two pairs of mittens in the time it took me to knit just this one pair. I can't really see myself knitting them again in the future, either. The skull chart was clear and handy, but I had to change a number of other things. I knitted the cuffs on US size 3s in order to make them a little more snug, and the rest of the mittens on US size 5s. I picked up way more stitches to close the gaps around the thumbs, and even then wasn't entirely satisfied with them. I also changed the mitten top decreasing to every other row, in order to make them a little bit longer. I just knit with the white for the stitches that weren't on the chart - I don't think it came out too badly. This was my first time working with Plymouth Encore, and I actually thought it was pretty nice. It's elastic enough that the stranding wasn't too much trouble.

I've also been working on a seed stitch scarf (38" done so far) and a sweater using one of Elizabeth Zimmermann's recipes. They're a bit too unwieldy to drag out into the snow, especially with the needles still in them, so I'll have to wait until we dry out a bit to take pictures. Oh, and I finished a sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, but because I'm being good I won't quite considered that a finished project yet.

little cat feet

It rains, and it fogs, and it mists, and it threatens to snow but hasn't quite yet.

So I knit.

Some of these are holiday presents, and some are just for me. I'm not saying which is which, just in case a recipient happens to read my blog.

These are the "English Dales Mittens" from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I'm still on a quest to get rid of my wool remnants in order to make more room, and these helped quite nicely. The pink is from Snow Sky, and the white and purple that peeks out at the bottom are actually from Crichton, if you can believe that. The cuffs have a double layer of knitting, which makes them stiff enough to stand up by themselves. When worn, they flare just enough for coat sleeves to fit underneath comfortably. I cannibalized the fair isle mitten from my last post because it turned out so small, and these were a nice solution.

I've been in love with the railway socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush for years now. I finally knitted a pair, using Scheepjes sock yarn and using up some scraps from my New England socks for the stripes. I'm already thinking of other color combinations for heels and toes, since I have so many tiny leftover balls of sock yarn, and I like those hidden stripes.

I also finally finished the Alpine Lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today. The Crystal Palace lace yarn washed and blocked beautifully. The minute it hit the water it opened up all by itself, and blocking only consisted of a few careful pins to keep the edges straight. I discovered that the way the pattern is written, the scarf will not be symmetrical on its ends, so I knitted one extra pattern repeat of the leaves before beginning the garter stitch. If you knit this you might want to do the same - I think it would look rather funny to only have 2.5 diamonds at one end, and 3 at the other.

Next week - more mittens, a sweater, socks...maybe sunshine, too?

finishing

After packing, moving, and then unpacking all my worldly possessions, only one question remains:

Where did I put the darning needle?

I did manage to finish the Railroad socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. One sock still needs its ends woven in, and until that happens they are both waiting for their turn in the wash. I also slogged through all 37 repeats on the Alpine lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today and then discovered that I had so much yarn left I might as well do a few more. That one is also waiting for a few ends to be woven in, and then a good blocking.The gray knitting and the gray weather started to get to me, so I found some scrap wool and started one of the mittens from Folk Mittens. I've just gotten past the thumb. Moving into an old farmhouse (read: there are only 2 closets) made me realize just how much space my yarn takes up. I'm going to try and knit up as much as possible and then tackle the quilting fabric I bought recently. The space situation is bad enough that I won't be buying any more supplies until everything I currently have is gone. Luckily, I have enough brightly colored mitten wool and skeins of lace to not make this too much of a chore.

And the bread is an Irish American soda bread from The Joy of Cooking. Most heartily recommended, particularly as toast.

ho hum

This old thing again?



And, just for good measure, a picture of the original:




Sorry for the rotten pictures - it's still way too cold to go outside without a coat. But here it is, all knitted, sewed, cleaned, and dried. And it fits!


This is, of course, Snow Sky by Amy Swanson from the book Sweaters from Camp, for Rebekkah's knitalong. I modified the colors to Morehouse merino's two ply in chocolate and raspberry (yum). I worked out my own waist shaping, and changed the drop shoulders to set-in. I also added a v-neck. In the original pattern, the sleeves are done with crosses, but I liked them better in the same chart as the body, so I worked that out, too. There were a few blips - the body you see is the third attempt, as are the sleeves, and I had a steek unravel on me - but overall, an excellent learning experience.

While this was drying, I went on a mitten spree and made these. The gray ones are done in a simple baby cable pattern and are of my own design, and the orange ones are the Lopi mittens from Folk Mittens. The lone mitten at the bottom is the Turkey mitten, also from Folk Mittens. Its mate is about halfway done.These are made with the remnants of the Crichton cardigan - all Morehouse merino. The gray is charcoal, the white is the natural, the orange is persimmon, and the blue is periwinkle.

And, because it's been almost a year since I've done any lace, I picked up the book Victorian Lace Today. I really like the patterns, but I'm disappointed with the pictures. They're lovely, but they don't show as much detail of the lace that I would like. For a couple, it's difficult for me to understand which pattern goes with which shawl, too, which is unfortunate. It's still worth the money, though, in my opinion. I've begun the Stripes and Torchon lace in Rowan's Kidsilk Haze, using US 0 needles. I've learned that this is not a project I can work on without my glasses, and for me, it requires more attention than the colorwork I've been doing.

Isn't unblocked lace sad? I'm only doing three diamonds across, not five like the pattern says. I've got four repeats done so far, out of something like twenty. Luckily, it's getting easier the more I work on it.

around and around

This sleeve didn't work for a variety of reasons. My plan was to incorporate a steek at the top, so that I wouldn't have to work back and forth to shape the sleeve cap. Unfortunately, even my small 3 stitch steek added enough bulk at the arm hole (where there was another steek for the body) that it was uncomfortable and looked strange. I had planned to sew it in place, but literally over night about two inches of an arm hole steek mysteriously unraveled. I've been questioning the cat, but she pleads the fifth and reminds me that she's innocent until proven guilty.

So, I try again. This time I used a technique I learned from knitting the Crichton cardigan, also in Sweaters From Camp. After I grafted the shoulder, I picked up stitches from around the arm hole, added on the stitches at the underarm that I had put on a string, and started knitting down. I had thought that it would bother me that the body was knitted up, and the sleeves down, but I think it looks fine. I also had to pick up stitches from the actual pattern, not the line of brown that I had made because it unraveled, but I think after a blocking it should look okay. I've tried it on and there's none of the lumpiness that the previous sleeve had, so it looks like I'm on the right track. Sorry these photos are so dark - the ones in the last post are actually true to color. However, it's in the single digits (Farenheit) outside, and I'd rather deal with the poor lighting indoors than go anywhere near the door.

In the meantime, I've started Salina from Rowan's Vintage Knits and the Lopi Mittens from Folk Mittens. Salina is made from Cascade 220 in a heathered merlot color, and the Lopi Mittens are made from even more leftover Crichton.

I know some people hate thumbs that stick straight up on the mitten, but I love them. It makes the mitten look so tidy. I've also discovered that not having a tight cuff isn't a bad thing, as long as the mitten is long enough in the wrist to tuck into your jacket sleeve. This is good, because I find it more fun to start right in on the pattern than have to do a few inches of mindless ribbing first. The second one will be knitted as soon as the first sleeve of Snow Sky is done - they both use my US 3 needles and I don't want to buy another pair.

goals #1 and 4

Is this my blue period?

Patterned mittens are the Selbu Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I cast on fewer stitches so that it would work with my gauge, and subsequently took out the two vertical patterns that were meant to run up the sides of the mittens. I also forgot to put a thumb on the first one (sigh), so I ended up doing a little snipping and picking up of stitches.

The turquoise mitten is a Mystery Sidways Mitten from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around. I had absolutely no idea what was going on until the very end, when I folded my hunk of garter stitch in half and suddenly had a mitten. I think I'm actually going to make a pair for myself after I finish this pair. The shape is so comfortable, and the garter stitch makes the wool feel very lofty.

And that hunk of yarn underneath the mittens is the Hourglass Sweater, now with one full sleeve attached. It only took me a day to make the sleeve, so now I guess I really have no excuse to make the second. Now all I have left from my goals is to re-work the two black sweaters.

when mittens attack

So, what happens when you figure that getting stitch gauge means you can knit your mitten in the dark without trying it on?

MONSTER MITTEN!!!

That's almost a full 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) of mitten there, folks. And it's not even blocked yet. These were meant for someone who has larger hands than me, but this is ridiculous. The cuffs are bad, too - way too wide.

Normal sized mittens just can not compare. Now, to figure out how to make a mitten chart work for a shorter size...