Hey there, dear readers, I’ve had a real surge of crafty creativity lately and I thought it would be fun to post about what I’ve been up to, what I’m thinking about, and what’s up next.

After unveiling the hat from my last post I somehow got myself involved in a whole ton of swaps for more of those. I’ve just about got the pattern completely memorized at this point, not to mention perfected. I’ve since finished two more of those and am almost done with the third. Exhibits A:

and B:

The gray one is cascade eco wool held double (sounds crazy, but it’s a very lofty yarn, trust me!) and the maroon one is lamb’s pride worsted. The third hat, also in lamb’s pride worsted, is waiting until I can get together with the recipient and make it fit her. She’s getting a custom fitting because when she tried on the original lumberjack hat the fit was, um, interesting. And by interesting I mean that a hat that normally hits the middle of my forehead was halfway down her face. I didn’t think my head was that big, but, well, apparently it is.

As for what else I’m working on, I really need to get off my ass and finish this vest. I mean, really. The last time I took a picture of it was right before I started the neck and armhole decreases:

I swear there’s more of it now. There is no good reason why I haven’t just finished this up. Remember vestvember? As in – NOVEMBER? I started my vest about the same time Minty started hers, and I had big plans of finishing it during the month, which I completely could have done. To be fair, there was a design project that came up with a deadline, and that was initially why I set the vest aside. Listen to me and the BS excuses. I’m a huge fan of knitting colorwork, and I really, really want the finished vest. And I’m chomping at the bit to try steeking for the first time – sick, I know? I really want to knit this huge complicated thing and then cut it with scissors. What is wrong with me.

The real reason I haven’t finished it is that I have total craft ADD. I just want to do everything all at once. I have big plans to make a Stripes (seriously, check it out – it’s basically the perfect sweater), which, initially I thought I’d at least start for the knitting olympics, but it may be more reasonable to finish this vest first. But then there’s the omnipresent temptation of colorwork mittens. I’ve had a kit for the Chevron Love Mittens hanging around for God only knows how long, and I really desperately need another pair of good cold weather mittens. Imagine those with a lining in laceweight – oh my.

Oh and just when I thought this post about my imminent cast-on frenzy was done, I remembered two other things I’m frothing at the mouth to try. The first is colorwork in crochet. The minute I saw these mittens I had to run out and buy the latest Interweave Crochet – which, I might has a ton of really cute, eminently wearable patterns in it. Then I saw their feature and patterns on Tunisian crochet, and oh mah gah. I tried this technique years and years and years ago when I first learned crochet, so it seems I need to re-learn. I’m planning on making a couple swatches and hopefully a quick scarf, and then moving up to this jacket. I’m pretty wary of bulky yarns for sweaters, because frankly I don’t really need the extra bulk, but in a jacket it works. I love the feminine cut, and I imagine that jacket would stitch up pretty quickly and then provide me with endless hours of wooly warmth. That texturey stitch pattern would be great in a semi-solid yarn.

Now when am I going to find the time to do this? Well I was thinking those 10 or so hours I spend every day doing useless things like eating, sleeping, and bathing – those would be good.

Having lived in the frigid midwest for many years now, I’m a big fan of the convertible mitten (you know – those ones with the tops that flip open so you can use your fingers – there must be a million different names for them). I used to have a pair that my mom picked up for my at an import store years and years ago. They met their demise last winter after a few years of faithful service. These mittens were hand knit out of nice wool yarn, and not only were they convertible, but they had these holes (like button holes) on each thumb so I could pop my thumbs out for extra dexterity. This was especially great whenever I was caught outside in minus a billion degrees windchill, fumbling with my keys and cursing up a storm.

Eventually those import store mittens met their demise through heavy use, and I’ve been making due with other, inferior mittens ever since then. This wasn’t a big deal until I got a smart phone. And let me tell you, yes, it is absolutely essential that I be able to text/tweet/facebook/email/gchat while I am outside – oftentimes even while I’m walking. So far this winter I’ve found myself choosing to put my bare hands out in the 5 degree air so I can do this. Rather than reflect on what this says about me as a human being, or about my priorities, I set out to remedy the problem with knitting.

Enter: the Ribbon Mittens from Spillyjane Knits.

I needed a pretty, simple mitten pattern on which I could try out my new thumb buttonhole idea. As much as I love fair isle mitten patterns, and have about a bajillion of them in my queue, I really didn’t want to deal with putting a buttonhole in a thumb featuring stranded colorwork on my first attempt. I also didn’t want to die of boredom, and, quite frankly, I want the mittens to be warm enough to be useful in a midwestern winter. The Ribbon Mittens use a colorwork technique called Estonian Roositud Inlay, which basically involves wrapping stitches, one stitch or multiple stitches at a time, in contrasting colors. Jane has a fantastic tutorial (omg fyi pdf link!) on the technique available for free on her blog. As far as colorwork goes, it’s extremely intuitive and very forgiving as far as tension is concerned, since you can just give little tugs on each wrap section to straighten things out. (Dirty dirty secret: I didn’t even swatch for the project, or practice the inlay technique beforehand. That’s how forgiving it is.) Added bonus: the color inlay on these mittens is a great way to use up scraps of yarn. Each color requires about 15 yards each. Lord knows I have a ton of wool of the andes scraps hanging around the house.

As far as the thumb button hole goes, what I did was very simple. I just knit about 3/4 of the way up my thumb, trying it on as I went, and then cast off 5 stitches on the inside of the thumb (I was working magic loop with 7 stitches on each side of the needle, so I cast off the inner 5 stitches of that half), worked around, then cast on 5 stitches using the backward loop method. Then I finished the thumb according to the pattern.

I’m pretty dang happy with the results. And I know after all my ranting and raving about my ideals for convertible mittens and phone usage what comes next may sound kind of, a little bit batshit crazy, but I gave these away. Don’t worry – the recipient is so, so worthy. They went to Carolyn, who may use her smartphone even more than I am on my own.

At long last, here are the specs on these mittens: the main color is patons classic wool, and the colorwork is done with knitpicks wool of the andes. They were knit magic loop style (as I do everything) on US3s, and they took me just over a week. This is longer than a pair of mittens would normally take me, but I was trying to take my time with the colorwork so it would look exactly right. I would never give Carolyn, as she herself is a totally stellar knitter, a pair of mittens that is less than perfect.

Next up – more gifts! end of the year recap! Happy New Year to you all, dear readers, and I’ll see you on the other side.

I have to admit, I’m kind of a selfish knitter. If I put a ton of time, money, and effort into something I want to wear it when it’s done. It’s rare that I knit something very complicated for a gift. But my friend Becki, she’s worth it. She knits herself (I taught her!), so she *gets* it. She really, really appreciates a hand knit gift. I mean, really. This winter I realized that it had been over a year since I knit her anything (this my so-called scarf!). She was overdue for a hand knit present, I tell you! So I made her these fiddlehead mittens:



I know most people may look at mittens involving colorwork AND have a separate knit liner and think it must have taken forever to knit them. Truthfully, it took me a little while from start to finish (distractions! school, life, whatever.) but the actual knitting time was surprisingly fast. A lot of this has to do with the pattern – it is incredibly well-written and really thorough without being wordy and confusing. At $5.95 for the pattern, it’s a freaking steal. I can only imagine how much work went into it, and I’m really grateful for it.



Some technical info about these mittens (or just head over to their rav page):
I knit the outside out of two colors of cascade 220. The darker color, even though it looks pretty dark in these photos, is more of a medium heathery green. (It was incredibly bright out when I went out for these pictures!) The liner is misti alpaca worsted, which worked perfectly. If anyone is looking to knit these mittens and is curious about a yarn combo, the cascade and misti worked great for me. I knit them up on US 4s, magic loop style. One really helpful tip in the pattern is that the best way to get gauge for a mitten is to just start knitting on the size needle you think will be appropriate for you (say, sizing up or down a little if you’re a tight/loose knitter) and measure your gauge when you’re a couple inches in. I cannot tell you how much frustration I went through with gauge when I was trying to write another, not as well-written mitten pattern this winter. (That pattern will remain nameless, because the internet is a small place.) This tip saved me SO much time and frustration. Gauge on a swatch is just not the same as gauge in the round with colorwork – not at ALL, at least for me.



As for the “presentation of the mittens,” I had one big issue to deal with. Becki is severely, as in deathly, allergic to cats. Now, the cats aren’t allowed to come into contact with my knitting because they really want to tear it to pieces, but we all know how it is with animals. Their hair gets eve-ry-where, and the allergens from the dander tend to float around in the air and stick to everything. I really would rather not kill Becki, so here’s what I did to de-allergen these mittens. First, I took them over to her house for blocking. I went over every inch of them with a lint roller (the masking tape kind) to get off all the hair and hopefully some allergens as well. I picked off more hair with my fingernails while holding my face about an inch away from the mittens. Then I washed them – GASP! – in really, really hot water, with actual laundry detergent. I was careful not to move them around a whole lot and they were fine. They went through several hot baths in the sink until I was sure all the soap was out. Now, in an ideal world I would have left some of that fancy allergen-reducing febreeze with Becki, but on the day I went looking for this product, which the internet says great things about, it was nowhere to be found. I left the mittens to block in her apartment, far far away from kitties. Of course, I’m a little resentful that it suddenly became 70 degrees in Chicago today, but I’m really hoping for another surprise cold snap so she can try these suckers out before next winter.

I’m just cruising on through here to sing the praises of my friend Minty’s new mitten pattern, the Merion Mitts! It’s currently available as a pdf through ravelry.



I test knit the pair you see here – the pattern is very thorough, clearly written, and bonus – fun to knit. Mine are knit in malabrigo worsted merino, which, if you can believe this, was the first time I had ever worked with malabrigo. Ridiculous, I know. Well now I know what everyone’s always raving about. And the best part about it is that these mittens took about 2/3-3/4 of one skein, and I bought two, so I have a little more than a skein left. I’m thinking snowball hat with a comically large pom (because what other way is there to rock a pom, really), and it’s going to get started very, very soon. As soon as I finish up a very overdue gift I’ve been working on.



Back to the Merion Mitts, though, if you’re interested in the details about my pair, here they are on rav. The palm is in seed stitch, which, especially in the malabrigo, makes for some serious squishiness. And honestly, I find seed stitch to be a complete pain in the ass, and this was just the right amount. I get the benefits of seed stitch (you know, squishiness, interesting texture to look at and touch) without the extreme tedium.



If you’re looking for helpful hints about knitting these mittens, I strongly suggest finding a good tutorial on cabling without a cable needle. I originally learned from the ones over at grumperina’s. It’ll make the rest of your life a whole hell of a lot easier.



Don’t forget to twist those knit stitches to make em pop!