I admit it. You caught me. I didn’t just get up, sort my morning and then sit straight down at the computer to provide you all with today’s entry. I went to Knitty first. You should too, it’s ok. I’ll wait.
Good eh? I admit that the last one wasn’t quite my cup of tea, but I’m loving this issue. I’m really impressed with Zigzag and I’m working very hard at convincing myself I’d look great in it. (I wouldn’t, but if I made the body a little longer and the neck a little shorter…you can see where I’m going. It’s probably easier to adapt the pattern than to suddenly find a way to be taller and more swan-like.) Some of the other patterns are very neat, but it’s the articles that I’m really liking. The one about colour should be required reading, and the advice given in the short row shoulder one is pretty darned good too. If you don’t know about that already then it could change your life. Fine, not really. The shoulders on your sweaters will be better though. That could change part of your life. You know, the part where strangers point and laugh at your non-short row shoulders and you wish there was some way you could make it stop? That part could be changed.
There’s one more nice thing to say about the Knitty articles and then we will get on with our day. This article is very kind, informative and helpful. It’s exactly how I feel about learning new knitting skills and I think that the author is bang on.
Moving on. I still feel crappy. I took Devin’s advice to try tea, whiskey and lemon. That helped a lot, well, it either helped a lot or I didn’t care that I felt crappy anymore. I forget which one. Norma sent me a very nice recipe for un-chicken soup, and that’s today’s strategy. That and continuing to knit mundane boring blog killing things. Sorry about that.
The Dreadlocks poncho continues…
I’m having a love/hate thing with the yarn. It’s the big loops. I am being constantly entertained and amused by the big loops at the same time as they are making me hostile. I keep sticking my needle into the big loops instead of the stitch, feeling angry and bellicose, then noticing that the big loops are cool, forgetting about the down side of the loops and then liking them for their charming loopy roundness again. Let’s not talk about that too much, since I don’t think it makes me sound smart.
I was right about the mitten thing. I am really suddenly abnormally interested in them. I can’t believe the awesome links I got yesterday. I want Folk Mittens, and Magnificent Mittens
and Latvian Mittens are heart stopping. I really, really, really want the (old and hard to find) book that Lisa is using to make these crazy good-looking butterfly mittens. Sadly, I remembered just before I ordered everything that I’m on a knitting stuff diet. Happily, I remembered that the reason I’m on a diet is because I spent all of my money on knitting stuff. There’s gotta be something in the stash. I hesitate to enter the deeper levels of the stash. It’s sort of a commitment. The stash is well established and has a very delicate ecosystem that allows it to occupy a much smaller space than it should. Removing or disturbing anything in this frangible system of wool and books can mean hours and hours of careful reconstruction.
I poked around the top level or “canopy” of the stash and found these.
Well, I found one, I started the other one last night. They are basic, no screwing around, no fancy-schmancy, froo-froo coloured roving, honest to goodness Newfoundland thrummed mitts, trucked straight here from The Rock by Joe’s Ma. This is the oatmeal of mittens. This is a good start.
Is anybody interested in thrummed mitts?
Yarn Harlot
You know, if you’re going to Rhinebeck, you really do need a good pair of mittens, as upstate NY can be quite chilly in October.
(I know you’re from Canada where they laugh at what we call cold in the south. Put the thermometer back in your mouth and work with me here.)
In fact, if you didn’t have nice (new) warm mittens, ones that fit your hands perfectly, you could get sick again. Especially since you’ll still be weak from the current ailment.
So for Joe, for the girls, for all those who count on you, you owe yourself – no, you owe THEM – new mittens for yourself.
I totally agree with you about the Knitting Maniacs article in Knitty.
That’s how I feel about new skills and it sometimes throws people off in my local knitting group. They get freaked out that I use small needles, knit socks, do cables, etc.
I say, try it, you might like it!
Hope you are feeling better. You are right about Knitty. The patterns are great but it is the articles that are where it is at this issue. And hey, why diet? I know, I know, there are a million reasons to be on a knitting diet, but….isn’t it more fun to live on the edge(of the checkbook at least?)…
Eklectika and I were just talking at this week’s SnB about thrummed mitts. We don’t understand how they’re made, the name, etc. Yarn diets suck. I have my receipts posted on my fridge. It’s sad.
Oh I loved your comment about the “canopy” of your stash! I took a look at the new Knitty, and found many items I really like. And yes, I’m interested in thrummed mittens. I thought I might venture and make a pair for our poor old school crossing guard who is in his eighties and wears old mittens held together by duct tape.
I would LOVE to learn how to do thrumed mittens. I love the kits that Fleece Artist has.
Any chance we could meet up at SnB night at Lettuce Knits and you could teach me how to make them?
OOoOOooer! yeah, those are spanky! really nice 🙂 i am so excited to start mine now! as a confession, this is going to be my first pair of thrummed mitts. i am sure i will figure it out – i better because i just faxed in the entry form for the local fair. so are you going to start a new pair for a thrum-along? 😀
I’ve had the Robin Hansen book “Fox & Geese & Fences” or some such name, in my stash since 1983, all the while meaning to make thrummed mittens. I don’t know if this means I’m interested in them or not.
For those of you who were wondering what the heck a thrummed mitten is (like myself):
http://www.northeastfiberarts.com/kits/thrummed_mittens.html
The Winter 2001 issue of Spin-Off has some gorgeous ones (the maker calls them “fleece-lined mittens”).
http://www.interweave.com/spin/spinoff_magazine/back_issues/wn-01.asp
Hope you are feeling better already!
as for thrummed mittens, i got a kit from Philosopher Wool a couple of years ago and I made a pair for my daughter (3 at the time).
well, she hated them, refused to wear them and we finally gave them away to another little friend. But i still think thet are great and will proba bly make a pair for myself soon!
Ooo! Oooo! Thrummed mitts! I have had a pattern for “honest-to-goodness” Newf thrummed mitts for a few years now (it was one of the first non blanket/afghan patterns I bought) as well as the roving for the thrums, but haven’t got around to knitting them up. Now I really really want to! Planning a Thrum Along, perchance?
I am also on a mitten kick. I’ve asked for “Knitting Marvelous Mittens. Ethnic Designs from Russia” by Charlene Schurch for my birthday. Check out the nifty palm-side curve on the thumb! I thought it was very cool. Mittens for everyone for Christmas! 🙂
And I have to agree about this Knitty. Patterns are great (Blaze would look great on me too, right…?) and that article you mentioned is bang on!
Hope you feel better soon!
Ack! I forgot two “essential” (ish) ingredients in the soup recipe — mushrooms and white wine. And reading this thing, I couldn’t help but think, “she ought to splash some whisky in there, too, just for good measure! 😉 Mittens are awesome. For a minute there, you had me hyperventilating — I thought you had done a MITTEN AND A HALF since last night. I was going to send my Uncle Gino over there to go after you kneecaps. Well, I don’t have an Uncle Gino, but I have a Great-Uncle Herb in Ontario, and an Uncle Garnet in Vancouver. Very Canadian. Probably not too intimidating, actually. Forget I said anything.
Thrummed mitts… I made a pair last winter – I LOVED them while I was knitting them up, and once I started wearing them, my hands would get so hot I could only wear them in spurts. I’d go for a walk with my dog, and I would wear them for 5 minutes, take them off because my hands were all sweaty, and get cold, put them back on, get too hot in 5 minutes… you get the idea.
Sigh. They are great, but not for me. Instead, I’m in the middle of making a pair of fingerless gloves, with a little mitten top. I guess they are called Convertable Mittens?
I am ashamed of you. Yarn diet. Ptui. Next thing you know you’ll be moaning that you should keep to one project at a time. Who ever heard of a moderate harlot? C’mon, we look to you as a role model….
I love Knitty.com — especially now that I’ve joined up with Afghans for Afghans knitting project. Thanks, Harlot, now I have something to do with my leftover yarns =)
Totally off topic: listen to DNTO tomorrow afternoon on CBC — Sook-yin Lee tries to track down Prince in his Toronto neighbourhood…
Thanks for the Knitty alert. I’ll be sure to check it out. The mittens look spiffy, but I’ll have to pass since I’m already well stocked on them for our frigid Florida winters.
I agree, the ZIGZAG looks great and I just want to start it now, but to make me wear it, it would need to be longer and a shorter neck. Same issue.
Mittens look great, but I have been hestitating to knit mittens or hats since we moved to San Diego.
I’d be interested in thrummed mittens if I didn’t live in Hotlanta, Georgia. As it is, I’ll content myself by making some with self-patterning sock yarn. Should be just the right weight. Yours are really nice, though.
If you will let me know your mailing address, I have something mittenish to send you…
I had actually printed out this pattern earlier in the week: http://www.prairiewool.com/thrummitts.html I’d seen someone knitting a pair last winter and tried one on, wow so marshmallowy soft inside, yum!
Based on the photo of you on your visit to Baadeck Yarns, I would say that your would look great in ZigZag. For myself, I would do the lace panels only centre front and back, and stockinette stitch the rest – the way the sleeves are shown.
Yes – a Thumalong is a must. Give us time to assemble ingredients.
Aside to JENNY. Get going on mitts for crossing guard with all possible speed. We knitters can’t have him wearing mitts held together with duct tape. It’s just not a good image :~)
Judith
Thrummed mittens have been on my list of projects for this winter! I bought some ever so-soft fleece at the Shepherd’s Harvest this summer and thought it would be perfect for thrummed mitts. I’ve just been waiting for the weather to cool off a little more. Julie, thanks for posting the pattern link!
I have miserably failed at knitting thrum socks, so wouldn’t do much better with mittens. I can’t get the pulling apart thrums from the roving. Now a few weeks later my roving got matted and isn’t even “pull-able” anymore.
Next time I see trum mittens I’ll buy them. LOL! Did you see they had some for sale on the Caribou from NFLD to NS? 😉
Hey-a great SAT word, bellicose! I have always loved that word and feel it is used far to little. Reason number 72 to read Harlot-she is vocablulary inhancing.
Hi Steph,
I have been collecting stuff about thrummed mittens for years. My hands get too cold in gloves so I started knitting mittens. One pair finished, one stranded pair from Charlotte Schurch’s book on Russian mittens is half done — I am afraid I get SMS (second mitten syndrome). But I have promised myself to knit the second one in October. I DO have a lot of alpaca pencil roving, and I think that’d work great on thrummed mittens. I live in central PA, so I don’t think I’ll have to worry too much about my hands getting too hot…
Oops, forgot to comment on Knitty. Zigzag is nice but I would want to make it a lot longer — the one I have zoomed in on is Blaze, though no way would I make it in orange. And it would have to come out of stash yarns, or i am going to have to join a 12-step program. Indulgence calls for a gauge of 25/4 inc. Oooh, I think I could use that gorgeous olive Phildar Lambswool I bought in Paris — I mean, oooh la la!
I really like knitty this time, too! And Zigzag is one of my favorites. I love Blaze and might make it out of the Spring Violet Alpaca I bought at our local Fiber Fest (if I can get a couple more skeins). Great knitting, Steph!
Hi,
Love your blog ! And Yes I am into thrum mittens . Knitting my third pair now for my family . I Love them ! Nice to see that others do too !
Happy Knitting,
Kim
Stephanie, If you can try and get a copy of Robin Hansen’s Fox and Geese book. Many of the patterns are based on traditional designs from the Maritimes. Maybe someone already mentioned the book here. I am too lazy to comb through the comments.
I have always wanted to make puffy mittens.
I watched The Cider House Rules last night, so now I am all about the mittens. (Have you seen that? No knitting, but tons of knitted stuff.) But I also just started my poncho! What are you trying to do to me?
Thrummed Mittens? I want a pair!
Hi, Steph!
The new issue of knitty is fantastic. I’m dying to make “cozy,” but am a YO failure. Is there any way (in your sick state) you’d be willing to post an easy lesson about this technique online?
I’ve tried learning it from the directions in the “Stitch ‘n’ Bitch” book that everyone loves, but just keep coming up with a lot of big holes. (Hey, but if that is the point, I must be doing it right!)
Any advice you have to give would be fantastic!
You may be a Harlot, but I can be a Tease. Steph, I happen to have both Magnificent and Latvian Mittens sitting on my bookshelf….
I am still at the thrummed mitten phase of my knitting evolution, so if you’d like to browse, let me know.
I LOVE the thrummed mittens! I have been wanting to try that very project. Are they difficult to get the hang of?
Does anyone have a pattern for making thrummed hats?