Knitting Season

I live in Manitoba Canada. If you've never been here in winter you are missing out. Sometimes in the middle of January, the icy winds blow from the arctic, and the temperature drops into the -30s Celcius, but the wind makes it feel like -40s. Yes, it's so cold your nose hairs freeze together when you breath. But it's best not to have your nose exposed to that kind of cold.

As I right this, the temperature is -28C, with a windchill of -39C. Some might say that is too cold. But I say the temperature is just right.... for knitting!

There is only one project that can truly satisfy a knitter in this kind of weather and that is a warm pair of mittens. Have I mentioned how much I love to knit mittens? None of this fingerless mitt crap either! No way. You'll get frost bite in under a minute if you try that here. Even regular single layer mittens are not enough to keep out that biting wind. Some people prefer double layer mittens, like Fiddleheads, or thrummed mittens perhaps. My favorite is felted (or if you're picky about your fibre terminology, "fulled") mittens.


Start with 100% wool (alpaca also works). Knit the mittens much bigger than you need them. Then throw them in the washing machine, in a pillow case, on the hot/cold cycle. Check them often. I knit my cuffs after felting.

I've knit 2.5 pairs of mittens in the last 3 weeks. Very very satisfying! The .5 pair is for my dad, who tragically lost one of his mittens. I knit him a replacement, because he lives in Saskatchewan and it's just as cold over there!

Winter is also a good month for alpacas:


I knit some alpaca goodies for a local alpaca farmer. I hope they like them!

And also spinning! I'm participating (somewhat... with the limited time available) in the SpinDoctor podcast Rare Breed spinning contest, where you spin as many types of rare sheep breed wool as you can before June (also the deadline for my thesis...). I don't think I'm going to be a high scorer, but I'm super interested in spinning different kinds of wool.
I started with some cotswold from Nova Scotia:


and then some Romeldale/California Variagated mutant from Spirit Trail Fiberworks.


I'll try to post more as I go! :) Until then, keep warm (unless you're someplace like California or Florida, in which case, you should come visit and find out what winter is really like ;))