Dear Mother Nature,

I would like to say that I feel winter has gone on too long. I realize that winter weather is good weather for knitting. It's very kind of you to make more snow and cold so that the people I knit mittens for will be able to wear them before summer arrives.

Yes I also realize you gave us some nice weather last November but, really, that was 5 months ago. I know that March is your favorite time of year and you probably get a little chuckle from making it nice and warm and melty outside and then blasting us with -30 windchill and snow the next day. Ha ha. Hilarious. Guess what? It's April now. Just take the snow away, ok?

I'm hoping that perhaps this is an April Fool's joke (if it is, it's not very funny!) and that I'll wake up tomorrow morning and spring will be here.

Sincerely,
Allison

PS. My cats would also appreciate going out on the balcony without getting their feet cold and wet! K, thanks!

Good bye winter! (I hope!)

Well I'm keeping my fingers crossed that winter is on it's way out. This post will be a tribute to on of my favorite winter knitting projects.

Mittens!

I've made three pairs of mittens since January! All for my co-works Ken and Ken. The first Ken requested two pairs of mitts right after Christmas and presented me with two balls of Patons Classic Merino ($4/ball at Micheal's he said!!). I finished those in February, and he and his sweetheart quite enjoyed them.



A few days after receiving the finished mitts, he provided me with a big bag of homemade cookies! It seems there are perks to knitting for other people!

Then the other Ken, who has been admiring my knitting in the coffee room for over a year now, decide that he must have a pair of mitts too. He asked if I knew of any icelandic yarn, and I thought of Lopi immediately. I had to send him to the yarn store to get the yarn though. He took a detour with some of the other guys from work, on the way back to the office from a meeting or something. You've got to understand that these are "hunters" and "fisherman" and they think knitting is girly. So they've been ribbing Ken non-stop about having to buy yarn at a yarn shop. I think it's just fine, especially since I'm getting deer steaks and sausages out of the deal!!! :)

I'm almost done those mitts... he requested a "dummy" string be added as well... lol.

So I'm hoping with these last mittens being completed I'll be able to say good bye winter!

In case you want to get started on some mittens for next year, here's my tweaked felted mitten pattern!

Allison’s Felted Mitten Recipe

Yarn: Approximately 200yards 100% wool worsted weigh yarn such as Cascade 220 or Patons Classic Merino or Knit Picks Wool of the Andes.

Needles:
Set of 4 or 5 dpns, size 5mm (US 8), it may be easier to use a 16in circular needle for the larger size.3.5mm (US 4) dpns

Other notions:

5mm crochet hook

2 markers

cotton waste yarn

stitch holder

Gauge: approx 4 stitches per inch but finished size is determined by felting

Sizes: Woman (Man)

Note: Cuffs are picked up and knit after felting is completed.

Using larger needles, CO 44(52) st using knitted cast on.
Knit 10 rounds.

Begin thumb gusset:

Right mitten:

Knit 3, place marker (pm), m1, K3, m1, pm, knit to end of round. Knit one round. Knit 3, slip marker, m1, k5, m1, slip marker, knit to end of round. Knit one round. Continue in this fashion, increasing just after first marking and just before second marker until there are 11(13) stitches between the markers. On the next plain knit round, place these stitches on a stitch holder or waste yarn, and cast three stitches onto needle in right hand using the backwards loop method. Knit to end of round.

Left mitten:

Knit until 6 before end of round, marker (pm), m1, K3, m1, pm, K3. Knit one round.Knit to marker, slip marker, m1, k5, m1, slip marker, K3. Knit one round. Continue in this fashion, increasing just after first marking and just before second marker until there are 11(13) stitches between the markers. On the next plain knit round, place these stitches on a stitch holder or waste yarn, and cast three stitches onto needle in right hand using the backwards loop method. Knit to end of round.

Begin mitten body (right and left mittens):
*Knit 7 rounds. On 8th round, knit 20 (24) st. Wrap next stitch and turn so wrong side is facing. Sl 1, purl 18 (22) st. Wrap next st and turn so right side is facing. Knit to end of round, knitting the wraps with wrapped stitches as you come across them.
Repeat from * twice more, for a total of 24 rounds.

Decrease for top:K1, k2tog, K16, ssk, K1, pm. Repeat once. *Knit 1 round.K1 K2tog, knit to 3 before marker, ssk, k1, repeat to second marker. Repeat from * until 24 (28) stitches remain, then work decreases every round until 8 stitches remain. Thread yarn through remaining stitches and weave in ends.

Thumb:
Transfer stitches from stitch holder onto two dpns. Then pick up 5 (7) stitches on a third dpn. 16 (20) sts total. Knit 15 (18) rounds. K2tog 8(10) times. Thread yarn through remaining stitches and weave in ends.

Fulling:Using a crochet hook, and cotton yarn, crochet 44 (52) stitches around cuff of mitten. This will keep holes open so that the cuff stitches can be picked up after fulling.Put mittens in a zippered pillow case and run though 1 or more hot wash/cold rinse cycles, with a low amount of water, a small amount of laundry soap and a pair of old jeans. Check fulling process frequently in order to obtain the correct size. Felting is complete when stitch definition is no longer visible. Let the mitten run through spin cycle to remove excess water. Shape mittens as necessary and allow to dry completely.

Cuffs:
Remove cotton waste yarn. With smaller needles, pick up and knit 44(52) stitches with same yarn as mitten.Begin k2p2 ribbing and continue until cuffs are desired length. Bind off using EZ’s sewn bind off or other stretchy bind off.

Manitoba made

My Sheeples bulky handspun, Manitoba grown yarn has arrived.

Yum!

Hat Update!

Well folks, I have to say I like knitting hats. They're quick and satisfying. :)
I finished both hats this month and the verdict on warmth is two thumbs up! Yes I've succeeded in making a hat that beats the cold of Winterpeg.

First up:

Chris' hat

Featuring Lopi wool and polar fleece lining (instructions for lining a hat on this excellent blog). He tells me it's very warm and the best hat he's ever owned. I think I've finally knit something my hubby actually likes! He even got a compliment from one of his co-workers :)

Next:

My hat

Featuring Homestead by Plymouth Yarn, which is organic wool, yum! And for the fair isle bit I used Cascade 220 and sheeples yarn held together. The best part of this hat is the lining. It is a merino boucle. Amazing. I'm not much of a fan of boucle yarn generally but this yarn feels like a wooly lamb when it's knitted up.

I did some reading up on warm hats (ie I asked the Ravelers) and it seems the best way to keep warm in windy cold weather is to have a tightly knit outerlayer and a warm underlayer. Many people said I should use alpaca or quiviut or cashmere because they are superwarm, light fibers. The reason they are so warm is that they trap air in the fiber (caribou fur is warm for the same reason). When I saw and touched the boucle yarn I thought it would be perfect because it traps a lot of air, even though merino's not the warmest of the warm fibers. I was right.

We had some -30 something windchill weather this week and I tested my hat. Toasty warm. Awesome!

Next up... mittens... (but not for me... more later!)

A little off topic...

...but still connected!

I recently saw this really awesome video clip about North American materialism. It's called the Story of Stuff. It's quite eye-opening and you should all watch it! (It's not even preachy, just straight up facts.)

How is this linked to knitting? It's part of my world view. I'd rather make something from scratch than go to Evil-Mart and buy a cheapo sweater that will wear out quickly and was probably made in a sweat shop in the philipines. I also get a lot more joy from buying yarn that was grown and produced by a local farm/mill, or at least fairly traded, than when I buy imported stuff. (I love Sheeples and Wolseley Wardrobe!!)

The above video just affirms to me why doing those things is good! I'd love to hear what you think!

A new year of knitting

Yes I know I haven't really been blogging lately but several people have told me they check once in a while. It's not that I haven't thought of it but I just haven't been inspired and I don't want to bore you with mundane posts just for the sake of posting.

2008 has been an explosive year for my knitting hobby. I've really settled into the hobby. I met up with other knitters. I got on ravelry, about a year ago now, which has opened up a whole world of possibilities for projects, yarn and techniques.

I've also knit a whole bunch of gifts.

Thrummed booties (will possibly post how-to at some point) and soaker for Heather's baby, Meredith




A hat for Anna's baby, Eliza



Booties for Nathan and Carly's baby, John


Socks for my dad


A little bear named Bubby for my niece, Autumn Grace

and little mittens for charity

I feel like my knitting is at a place where I feel comfortable knitting for other people. I feel like my skill is good enough :)
I've had 3 sweater requests from three men in my life: my brother, my husband and my father-in-law. I'll keep you posted on progress but for now I have another short term goal.

I want to make a hat that will keep my ears warm in the bitter cold of Winnipeg winter. It's a lofty goal to be sure. Any of you who have experienced -35C with a northern windchill of -45C will know that a plain, single layered, ribbed hat does nothing to cut the cold. So I'm on a mission.

There are several things to keep in mind when knitting a hat.
- design
- material
- fabric thickness/windproofing

I posed the question of how to make a warm winter hat on Ravelry and got a huge response. Here is a summary of the advice people gave:

1. Use a warm fibre. Apparently quiviut (musk ox fibre) is the warmest there is, and following in second is cashmere. I'm not made of money so I'm going to rely on good old wool. Alpaca may be another choice. Those fibres are warm because they trap little pockets of warm air. Boucle or brushed yarn might do the trick.

2. Earflaps are the way to go. Yup stylish and warm. I agree and I'm going with the flaps.

3. Small gauge is better. There are fewer spaces for the wind to get through. This is especially good for an outer layer. Felting is even better.

4. Use layers. There are numerous ways to achieve this. Double knitting makes 2 layers at the same time. I might try this, we'll see. The other suggestion was lining with polar fleece. Fair isle or stranding patterns also create more layers.

So all these ideas have been swirling around and I think I've got the yarn I need for the two hats I want to make. I'm going to use a fair isle pattern, the norwegian star (classic!).

Hubby's hat will be Lopi bulky wool, knit on 3.75mm needles with a polar fleece lining. I'm casting on today!

You'll have to keep checking back to see what my hat will be!

For the love of lace...

I am addicted.



I started the Gnarled Oakwoods stole from the Twist Collective (AMAZING new online knitting magazine!!! I want to knit it all!!). At first the yarn (mmmmalabrigo lace) was not cooperating so I frogged the first couple rows but now it's rolling and I cannot stop knitting it! I had to restrain from knitting it at Woolly Bullies this week because I just know I'll make some huge error. So far so good though! I think this is a knitting-all-alone-on-my-couch kind of project.

I can't wait til my holiday by the lake this fall so I can really sink my needles into it!!! mmmmmm malabrigo.... soooo soft.... I wish you all could feel it through you computer screens...

I think the race between cables and lace just got a whole lot more interesting.