The test-knit mittens are finished.

Aren’t they lovely? These were great fun for me, and the testers were happy, too. I let them choose their own colorways, so hopefully they’ll enjoy their mittens for a long time to come.

Bright rainbow-y mittens knit by Cheryl of yarnbee.
Blue and purple mittens knit by Nichole.

See Cheryl’s mittens on Ravelry.
See Nichole’s mittens on Ravelry.
Read about it all on in the Fiddlehead blog category and my Ravelry page.

Ravel it!

This pattern’s done. Supercute packaging is getting there. The yarn’s what’s left to do!

A kit to make these mittens will be available in the shop at the next update, on 2/12/08. From the reception these got over at Flickr today, I’m thinking I’d better spend the next two weeks doing not much more than dyeing yarn massive amounts of yarn. Would there be great objection to a mitten kit only update (with stuff from Sarah, too, of course)?

My plan is to dye different colorways for each shop update so that if you don’t see anything that grabs you on a given day, there might be something that sings to you on another.

Three sizes can be knit, with only the gauge changing. There will be enough yarn to knit any of the three sizes.

Just the Pattern, Please:

Yeah, I know. I want that, too. I need to find a suitable commercial substitute to test in and then we’ll see. Does anyone have experience with Dale of Norway Tuir? I want a very sturdy and readily available yarn for a sub. It seems that Tuir is discontinued. Testers and yarns have been found. Thanks, all!

Fiber Club:

This month’s fiber is ready to go. Shipping will begin tomorrow. I’m cutting it close to be calling it January’s fiber, huh? I’ll do better next month. Promise.

As long as there isn’t a big rush for renewals overnight, I should be putting up a goodly amount of fiber club slots for new members. They go up for sale at 10 am EST. (If you’re not a current member, do not buy before then or I’ll cancel the order. I’m sorry!) See you then!

I kept these under wraps on the blog because I didn’t want my mom to see them before she got them, but now I can show what is one of my most favorite projects to date.

The Facts:
Yarn: my hand-dyed 70/30 mohair/wool sport weight (14 wpi) 2 ply yarn for the outside and fingering weight cashmere for lining
Pattern: my own
Needles: size 3 40″ Addi Turbo for magic loop
Gauge: 6.5 sts. and 7 rows per inch
Size: women’s medium
Started: not including the dyeing, November, 29, 2007
Finished: December 16, 2007

The Yarn:

My interest in using yarn that had a halo for stranded colorwork was rekindled after knitting the Fantom Bohus, which has such lovely, feathered color transitions. The patterning in these is much more graphic, but the halo softens everything just enough to keep things from being stark. Also, mohair= strong, which is a great thing for mittens.

The Dyeing:

I dyed the yarn for these ages ago, with some kind of mitten in mind. The yarn was hot pour dyed* in nearly solid colors with acid dyes. Despite dyeing what I thought was far too much lining yarn, I ran out and had to have a mismatched thumb. The horror!

The Pattern:

The chart is my own, but no doubt influenced by various sources, including Turkish socks. Spirals are good. We can never have enough spirals, is my motto.

The Knitting:

These are knit from the bottom up with the circumference about an inch bigger than the recipient’s palm measurement. I usually like mittens to be about 1/2″ larger in circumference than the palm, so the extra 1/2″ of space is needed for a lining.

Stitches for lining were picked up in the cashmere at the inside edge, decreased a bit, and a second mitten was knit. This second mitten can be popped right inside the first. They are unbelievably cozy.

The thumb has a side seam gusset (sore thumb), which is great for not disrupting the patterning, and also allows the back and palm of the mitten to be identical. There’s no right or left mitten, which helps to ensure even wear.

I used an i-cord cast on for the mitten edge. It’s a lovely edge, but be warned- it wasn’t enough to prevent curling (as seen in the progress photos above) without the lining added.

The Kit:

I love these so much that I’m planning to sell them as a kit, with pattern and dyed yarn. These will be test knit in various simple and complex color combinations and sizes. I’ll keep you updated. The lining won’t be cashmere for the kits, due to the problems associated with producing it. The cashmere I used for these was bought ages ago, before I knew of these problems, and I’ll work my way through it and that’ll be it for cashmere for me, unless I come across American cashmere yarn. My yarn is from ColourMart, which sells mill ends, so it’s a less destructive way to get cashmere, but I’m cool with not using the fiber at all, myself, and don’t want to sell it. I’m testing alpaca for the lining right now. I think it will be plenty scrumptious.

The Boasting:

Mom liked them!

I hope everyone got awesome presents. (Of course, we all gave awesome presents, right?) I know I was treated like royalty this year, receiving all three seasons of Deadwood and the first two of Buffy- excellent knitting entertainment- as well as all kinds of other treats. There are two containers of hot chocolate mix left over. Who’s thirsty and cold?

*There are excellent instructions in The Twisted Sister Sock Workbook, by Lynne Vogel.

On Thursday, I got a great treat in the mail. It was The Knitter’s Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes, and marks the first release of a book that I wrote patterns for. There may have been childlike squealing. It was so difficult not to show these mittens as I was knitting them, because I was pretty darn excited. Thankfully, they’re free to be shown now.

Double-Thick Mittens, knit in Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply. The whole mitten is stranded, even the solid sections. You betcha they’re warm. They’ve got a picot hem, Latvian-style braid, and twisted, tassled strings to tie them together when not worn. The yarn is a woolen-spun heather, which contrasts the graphic design nicely, I think.

Norwegian Snail Mittens, knit in super soft Dalegarn Baby Ull. I can’t praise Clara enough for allowing me to make such an amusing mitten for her book. These have circus-tent striped palms, fanciful motifs, floops galore, duplicate-stitched kiwi green accents, knit/purl patterning, and SNAILS. This yarn is a smooth worsted-spun solid that shows the pattern to great effect.

Mittens aside, this is such a wonderful book and I’m so proud to be involved. If you’d like to learn about fibers, yarn construction, properties, and selection for projects, this book is for you. The patterns aren’t half bad, either. ;) Right Amy? Amy has 8 patterns in the book!

Rhinebeck:

Rhinebeck was a total madhouse, mainly because I went with Jess and Casey from Ravelry and a bit of a hubbub follows them whenever they go near yarn-type people, but also because 12,000 people were there on Saturday alone. Being around Amy Boogie might have had something to do with the craziness, as well. Amy is like a force of nature, complete with a desire to party and a checkbook, all wrapped up in wool. She’s my kind of woman. I had a great time seeing old friends and meeting what seemed like 9,000 of the 12,000 people who showed up. The Ravelry party on Saturday was a ton of fun: I (well, the Fantom Bohus sweater) was felt up by many a knitter, and neither of us minded, the company was fantastic, and we closed that place down.

I took literally one (bad) photo, but other people were much more prolific. Want to see some Rhinebeck photos?

Ravelry events, including the festival
Rhinebeck 2007

Finished Objects:

I’ve got lots of knitting to show. Cobblestone is done, and I knit a pair of legwarmers (!) in the van over the weekend. I knitting like a maniac on the Jackyll and Hide from the Fall 2007 Knitty. The plan is to frighten the life out of every trick-or-treater we get.