Halland Mittens

LATVIAN MITTENS

As you can probably tell I love to knit mittens. By far the most gorgeous mittens I've ever seen are Latvian mittens. Apparently Latvians share my obsession with mittens - they have mitten poetry, wedding mittens, funeral mittens, etc. And exactly why would anyone need wedding mittens? Do they get married outside in winter?? This wonderful web site discusses the history of mittens in Latvia with some nice photos. I guess there was even a tradition of giving a pair of mittens to the blacksmith when you had your horse shod for the first time!

HERE is a photo of Saartje's Latvian mittens. And HERE is a photo of Geane Helfrich's Latvian mittens. And if you want to buy some gorgeous Latvian wool mittens for less than the price of buying wool to make them, check out the crafts section of the Baltic Shop.

I have the Latvian Mitten book by Lizbeth Upitis but have never made any of her beautiful designs. In the meantime, here are the Halland mittens from Folk Mittens in Nature Spun worsted with a few changes.



Robin asked on my tag board about the difference between Cascade 220 and Nature Spun worsted. Nature Spun Worsted is cheaper and *can* pill a lot. On the Norgeknit mailing list we've discussed pilling and Nature Spun. I've had experiences either way with it - sometimes it pills more and sometimes less than other yarns. The Halland mittens in Nature Spun worsted are definitely pilling. Cascade 220 comes in such gorgeous colors but I don't know how well it wears.

When thinking of my efforts at stash control I realized I am not as good about using up unspun fibers. A few months ago I did some Kool Aid dyeing and I have some red and orange merino top ready to spin pictured above. Not to mention this wonderful stuff below. It is a selection of all different colors of dyed Ashford wool from Halcyon Yarn that I've had for several years. I plan to spin each color up and Navajo ply it. Perhaps if I choose a knitting project using it I'd get it done faster?







I do spin more in warmer weather and it has been snowy and cold lately. But I think I'd get more done if I designated a particular time of day or particular event (like watching rented movies) that will coincide with spinning. A friend of mine recently learned needle felting so I was happy to give her the rest of my raw fleeces. I don't really like working with raw fleeces anymore as carding is too tough on my wrists.



In the unspun category I have the pictured fibers, the alpaca, some llama top, kid mohair, and a few dribbles of silk and hemp. I also have some cotton sliver, both white and some natural colors but I'm not adept enough at spinning cotton yet. Plus I have a Rubbermaid container full of collected pet fur I should probably use or get rid of before our next move.



And I forgot to mention I have two grab bags of Cascade 220 I purchased from One Fine Yarn in my worsted yarn container. Great colors - I used some hot pink, orange, lime greeen and blue to make some of Anna Zilboorg's fingertip-up gauntlet mittens. Didn't manage to get a photo before I gave them away so I guess I should make another pair.

I know most knitters feel otherwise but I'm not comfortable with a gargantuan stash of yarn. I currently have four large 54 quart Rubbermaid containers and one smaller container of yarn which is too much.



Container number one is for worsted yarns which I don't knit with much anymore, mainly a mishmash and a small collection of Classic Elite Tapestry. I'm mainly keeping this container of yarns if I ever teach knitting to kids.



Number two has a large quantity of Nylamb - an old Brunswick fingering weight sock yarn that is quite soft and lovely. In fact, I have enough Nylamb in a dark green color to make either Nova Scotia or Cape Cod in Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters book. I just haven't decided which one yet.



Container number three contains my sport weight yarns - mainly Nature Spun in as many colors as possible and a bag of some Norwegian sport weight wool in bright colors purchased from Elann.



Container number four contains my sock and fingering weight yarns. I have a bag of Stahl Baby Merino also purchased from Elann several years ago, a good quantity of Wildfoote for socks, a big bag of Pingouin Laine sock yarn from Elann in relatively boring colors and some odds and ends like fingering weight cotton for dishcloths.



And the smaller container holds my DK weight yarns. I'm trying to build up my collection of Emu Superwash DK from Elann in as many colors as possible and I also have some Country Garden DK in colors from Smiley's Yarns that don't really turn me on. I also have a sweater's worth of Tiur for a future project - the Dale of Norway Kashmir sweater. And I have a few baskets of leftovers and handspun which I'll use to make more Spontaneous Scarves.



My recent efforts at stash busting have made me realize I work better with less yarn and less clutter. I do prefer quiet and order to total chaos on the yarn front plus it really helps with all the moving we do. One of my goals is to reduce my total stash to just those four containers.



I have my knitting books organized by subject and my patterns are filed the same way. Straight needles are kept in an old tin, circular needles are kept in pencil cases and here's a photo of my double pointed needles, crochet hooks and cable needles organized nicely in a circular solution container. Before I purchased this dpn container I used pencil cases but the dpns kept poking through.

Bosnian Mittens

Here's a photo of the Bosnian mittens from a kit from Blackberry Ridge Farm that I gave away to a friend for her early morning runs. They were quite easy to knit and very warm. I did a little embroidery on the front of the mitten with the red color to jazz them up.

I am really enjoying the look of the Spontaneous Scarf. I'm doing it in reds from my stash in a variety of fibers and yarn weights with a lot of hand spun and Kool Aid dyed yarn. I may do a wider version as a stole next. A while back I had Sally Melville's Styles checked out from the library and she suggested to organize your yarn stash by color instead of yarn weight. Just the exercise of taking all the odd balls of yarn in my stash and organizing them by color range has had a wonderful result. I notice I really enjoy looking at baskets of yarn in one color range - the colors really pop out more.

It will most likely be a pretty boring knitting week. I'm on the plain part of the first Trondheim sleeve.

Ugly Tam

There is a wonderful article in the current issue of Spin-Off by Charlene Anderson-Shea. It is called Spontaneous Knitting and details a great idea for using up small amounts of yarn, oddballs, mini handspun skeins, etc. Essentially she casts on several hundred stitches and knits seed stich (which definitely looks woven) with a different yarn each row plus extra for fringe at the ends. I really like the look of the finished scarves in the article.

I really want to try this as I have a whole bag of odd handspun and hand-dyed yarns I'll never use otherwise. Plus I have a basket of odd skeins or leftovers from other projects that I can use up. I sorted through them all tonight and picked groups of similar colors for future scarfs.

I've heard people say all colors look good together but I don't agree. I'm trying to read more and more about color theory so I can do a better job of choosing colors when I add to the stash. For instance, I'll always try to pick some black to go with other colors. Black really does seem to make other discordant colors blend better.

I've certainly made some items with bad color mixes. Here's an example - it is a tam from Anna Zilboorg's hat book using Lamb's Pride (purple, pink, gray, brick red and dark green) and I really dislike the color combo. I gave it away to someone who thought differently.

I got about 6 inches done on the Dale of Norway Trondheim sleeve and then proceeded to rip it out. As you can probably tell I rip stuff out a lot. If I don't like the pattern, yarn, colors, or see a mistake, I will rip. Life is too short to spend time doing projects that are annoying.



I didn't like the accent colors DH picked for Trondheim so I decided to do it in more muted greens and blues. The dark color of the body of the sweater made the nifty purl texture pattern (that looks like ski tracks) totally disappear so I think I'll just do the K13 P3 rib instead. Ironically the ski track pattern is the reason I decided to knit Trondheim. The sweater is for my friend Brad who works at a ski resort grooming cross-country trails.



This week I received my first issue of my subscription to INKnitters. I am in love. I received a free copy of the first issue and decided not to subscribe but now that I've seen the current issue I know I have to order all the back issues. For knitters who love technique or experimentation, this is a fascinating magazine and packed with a lot more knitting content than the other knitting magazines. The Winter 2002 issue has stories on Anna Zilboorg's favorite buttonhole, handpainting your own yarn, a knitted intarsia Advent Calendar, and a pattern for a sock with a double knitted heel. The cover sweater is color knitting with the floats on the outside of the sweater. It is wonderful to see patterns that are five pages long rather than all the really simple stuff offered in mainstream knitting magazines. And after reading the article on knitting tips I went out and bought a $2 fishing tackle box to hold all my odds and ends (stitch markers, crochet hooks, tapestry needles, etc.)

Here's a photo of the Dale of Norway Sirdal cardigan done in Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight (colors - evergreen and snow) on size 2 and 4 needles. I used the small Sirdal buttons from Bea Ellis Knitwear and the back-ordered braid just arrived. Bea was kind enough to send a sample of the larger Sirdal braid and I'm glad I chose the thinner one. I've since added a few rows on the collar ribbing because I'm going to wear it as a coat.

Here's a blurry photo of Jack the cat. The Humane Society said he was part Persian but we think he may have some American Shorthair in him - hence the short legs, large body and big head. There are no strangers to Jack - only friends he hasn't met. He adores all members of the human race.











And here is my third cat Bosco. He adores the rabbits. He's a flame point Himalayan and his fur, while long enough, is too slippery to spin. I'll have to combine it with wool. Now all my 5 pets (3 cats, 2 house rabbits) have finally been featured on the blog.



I've abandoned the Dresser Scarf socks. I started doing the heel and realized I really disliked the two colors together. I don't like working with Cascade Fixation enough to buy another ball and finish them in one color. The pattern was fun though. I think the cuffs would make cute wrist warmers if done a little narrower.



I started the Trondheim sleeve in Emu Superwash DK from Elann. The main color is a pretty royal blue and my DH has picked out the contrast colors. I think Dale sweaters are my comfort zone and I'm really not happy if I'm not working on one at all times.

These are the mittens I just mailed off to my favorite 3 year old gentleman to match his snazzy new winter parka. Fortunately they actually fit him and he wore them to day care to show them off. I used various stash yarns and a corrugated ribbing. The tips of the fingers and mittens are striped but you can't really tell in the photo.



I really like the way corrugated ribbing looks even though it is less elastic. I'm finishing up the cuff of one of the Norwegian gloves in corrugated ribbing. I hold the color used for knit stitches in my left hand and the color used for purl stitches in my right hand so it goes pretty quickly.



My WIPs include the vest, St. Enda, the gloves and the Dresser Scarf socks. I want to try to finish the vest soon because the yarn for the Trondheim sweater will be here any day and I want to start that immediately. I don't feel comfortable with more than two sweaters on the needles at once.

I'm sure you'll all over fall over in shock but I started another project this weekend. Yes, believe it or not, I started something else instead of spinning up more alpaca or finishing the back of St. Enda. Shocking, isn't it?



The new project is Priscilla Gibson-Robert's Dresser Scarf Socks from the latest issue of Interweave Knits in two colors of Cascade Fixation. I decided to go through my stash and clean out all the odd balls of yarn and I had these two balls of Fixation that had been annoying me for months. The pattern is absolutely fun and I'll get to try some new techniques like garter stitch kitchener, short row toes (I've done short row heels but never toes), and a wacky zigzag bind off. The cuff is knit on two needles so I'll do that in one color and the foot of the sock in another. I'm not even sure the colors match (turquoise and kind of a weird red) but I'll be happy to use up this yarn. The finished socks will go in my knitting box for future gifts to as yet unknown recipients.



I now have a whole basket of odd balls and partial skeins of yarn I need to find patterns for. I really have to stop buying weird skeins of yarn on sale and stick to just adding colors to a few well chosen and relatively inexpensive lines of yarn. To use up the rest of the yarn I'm currently thinking Debbie New's Better Mousetrap socks in an old Interweave Knits issue, the Sideways Garter Stitch gloves in the current issue of Spin-Off, the mittens in Viking Patterns for Knitting and maybe some more fingertip-up gauntlet mittens from Anna Zilboorg's book. We'll see...



And here is a photo of one attempt to get rid of some stash yarn - in this case it was extra amounts of Heilo yarn left over from Dale sweaters. I call these my Flip Mittens - named after my wonderful black bunny Flip. The rabbit cuff pattern is from A Year of Mittens. As you can tell I ran out of the light yarn by the time I got to the thumbs so I improvised.

Salt Lake City Olympic Sweater

Here's a photo of my favorite knitting project of all time, the Dale of Norway Salt Lake City Olympic sweater done in Heilo in the deepest navy colorway.

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Here's a photo of the back of the sweater. I made this for DH and I believe he has worn it once. I couldn't even convince him to wear it when we went to Santa Fe to see the Olympic Torch. I keep it at eye level in our closet though to ogle it since I love the colors and the design.




I'm starting to think it is a good idea to economize on smaller projects. For something like socks I'll use stash yarns, even yarns that are different fibers or weights, and I'll use a mishmash of needles. This is a good thing as I would like to use up more of my stash and make more small items for gifts.

But for larger projects I'm going to spend some time on like sweaters I'm going to try to pamper myself a bit and use better yarns and needles. In that vein yesterday I ordered myself one Addi Natura circular needle and one Clover Bamboo circular needle for the upcoming Trondheim sweater.

Lillehammer Socks

These are the Dale of Norway Lillehammer socks done in Brown Sheep Nature Spun. I wasn't quite getting gauge so I skipped the Norwegian deities on the feet. They are absolutely perfect for cross-country skiing.

I feel like a fish out of water. I only have two projects on the needles now. The Norwegian gloves had to be ripped. The pattern came with a striped lace cuff that I didn't like (the photo in the pattern just had a simple striped ribbed cuff) and I think I'll do it again with a corrugated ribbing. I'm also deciding if I should substitute another yarn. The Rauma yarn (Ganselerie?) that came with the kit has no elasticity whatsoever.

I spent yesterday afternoon playing with the shoulders on my vest. The original pattern has a stair step decrease at the top. Originally I was thinking about short-rowing it instead but wasn't sure how that would work with the pattern stitch. So today I tried seaming them as is using the Woven Seam method from the Nancie Wiseman finishing book. What a neat method of seaming shoulders - looks just like Kitchener stitch! Unfortunately this didn't work with my particular pattern stitch. I tried it again doing the woven seam in the second row which looked better (made the pattern continuous) but there was too much bulk at the seam. So finally I've decided to do a straight cast off at the shoulders, no stair step decreases, and then my favorite 3-needle bind off.

My only other knitting project is St. Enda which will now become my nighttime project. I need a project that is easy to see at night and I'm making St. Enda with a light yarn using large needles.

Here she is! Isn't she sweet? I still haven't named her but she's an Ashford Traveller castle style spinning wheel DH bought me for my 40th birthday. He wants to do some decorative painting to spruce her up this spring. And you get to see a small bit of our lovely passive-solar casita in NM in winter.



The Dale of Norway Sirdal cardigan in Brown Sheep Nature Spun on size 2 and 4 needles is done! Break out the bubbly! I can't believe how this project dragged on and how sick I am of this sweater. I'm going to have to put it in a closet for a while so I don't have to look at it. I will, however, have photos for you in a week or two.



Now I just have to restrain myself from starting on the Dale of Norway Kashmir pullover in Tiur. I really want to arrange it so I have only one sweater on the needles at any time. I still have St. Enda and the vest to finish up. My 3 project goals for the Productive Spinners mailing list are now St. Enda, the vest, and spinning a ton of alpaca I've had hanging around for years.

Sirdal will be finished shortly. I'm knitting the collar ribbing and all I have left to do is darning the yarn ends and knit the button band facing to cover the steeks. Buttons are on and it is looking good.



I have two small photos to post today. Note to self - the next time you take photos of your knitting, move the camera closer to the knitted item! Because my scanner died an untimely death, I'm using Snapfish for film processing. They provide postage paid envelopes and provide both prints and put the photos online so you can easily grab photos and use themonline. Their service is quite fast also - the film I sent in last Tuesday was in a viewable album online Monday afternoon.



First of all some socks the lovely and talented Jeanette made for me out of a gorgeous hand-dyed mohair/wool blend from Vermont. Thanks Jeanette - they are so comfy and warm! They are a little greener than this photo shows.











Here is a rather small photo of one of the Meida's mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia. I sent them off to my friend Gracie last week. The dark purple part is cashmere/silk (Richesse et Soie) and the other colors on the cuff are Nylamb.

Solhav Mittens

I'm almost finished with the Dale of Norway Sirdal cardigan. All I have left to do is the front steek, knit the button band, knit the collar and attach the buttons. It is such a relief to finish a big project!

Although I have no new projects (unbelievable!) I have two less WIPs. I decided to rip out the Best of Show socks as I wanted my size 0 RCN double pointed needles. Plus let's face it the socks used three colors a row. Then I used the needles to work on Kalev's mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia. I got to the yarnover braid and took them to a friend's house where I somehow screwed up on the row. I like the other methods of braiding in that book but the yarnover braid is quite difficult to rip out. I ended up with almost ten less stitches after I did the braid. So I wisely decided to cease the project and get back to my other projects.

DH & I went on a hike yesterday and as it was quite cold and windy, he wore his Solhav mittens. These are from a kit from Nordic Fiber Arts with Rauma Strikkegarn. They turned out nice and puffy and are quite warm. Here's the photo:

I have to report another FO - the Fuzzy Feet slippers. I used two different mystery wool yarns from the stash and the cuff yarn didn't felt as much. I just cut off the cuff and my husband has stolen them for himself before I could put them in the washer one last time to fit my feet. The next time I knit a pair I'll reconfigure the pattern to make them narrower for my skinny feet - I think I'll cast on 40 stitches instead of 44 and from there it is just a basic sock pattern.



Also a future WIP - I got a wonderful Norwegian glove kit from http://www.arnhild.com for Valentine's Day. I gave the order form to DH and instructed him to buy it for me and he complied. And he brought me home flowers tonight so it feels like Valentine's Day a week early. He's a keeper!



The glove kit contains a yarn I've never tried - Rauma Gammelserie. It seems softer and more tightly spun than Rauma Finullgarn and I'm having trouble not casting on for them right now. I know I have to work on finishing Sirdal. Plus there's Kalev's mittens to reconfigure and perhaps more Fuzzy Feet for myself? Help! Somebody stop me.......

Tree Socks

Although I've been knitting for a long time, I am continually amazed at its power to transform an less-than-wonderful day. I'm quitting caffeine for the millionth time, I waited for 8 hours for the satellite dish guys to show up and they had no idea what was wrong with my dish anyway, I have a sick pet, etc. But all I needed to lift my spirits was to start yet another project. I decided to join the Fuzzy Feet Felt-a-long. I'm finishing up slipper number two and am looking forward to felting them tomorrow. Right before Christmas I purchased all the Fiber Trends slipper felting patterns and am looking forward to checking them out also. I'd have already made some clogs by now but I don't have any heavy worsted yarn in my stash.

I received the Sirdal buttons from Bea Ellis Knitwear and really like how they look. I think this is exactly what I needed to kick me into gear to finishing this neverending sweater. Now here's a photo of a tree-themed sock from A Time To Knit Stockings in Nylamb.

Sander's Mittens

Am finally working the neck steek on Sirdal. Hallelujah! I have no idea why some projects like this one seem to drag on forever and others seem to fly by. Anyway, I know I'll wear Sirdal all the time which is nice. Last year I made something like 450,000 pairs of mittens and even after giving tons away, I still have more than I'll ever use in this warm climate. Maybe I should go back to knitting socks since they never seem to last me long.

I guess it is time to admit I started yet another project. It's a sickness... I am working on Kalev's Mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia. I have to rip the cuff out and make them narrower. They are designed for a man and the only guy I know who really wears mittens has small hands. I'm going to put these mittens in my knitting box. My knitting box is a new idea I'm trying for gift giving. Instead of making specific projects for specific people (and ending up making projects that didn't interest me) now I make up extra stuff, put them in the box, and when family and friends come over they get to pick their own stuff. I'm always surprised as people never pick things I think they'll like. I get to knit projects that interest me in yarns I like and the gift recipients get exactly what they want. Everyone wins.

I guess I feel it is necessary to knit every single mitten pattern Nancy Bush has designed. Here's a shot of Sander's mittens in Alice Starmore's 2 ply Hebridean yarn with the nifty fishtail cuff pattern. These were donated to Afghans for Afghans.

I have the most wonderful knitting location in this new house. The only place in the living room to put the couch was right in front of the south-facing bank of windows. The house is passive-solar and we get a lot of sun so sometimes I have to put the shades down or my neck starts to bake. The abundance of natural light streaming from behind while I'm knitting is so nice for my eyes tired from staring at little charts all day. Lately it has been unseasonably warm so I open the windows behind me while knitting for fresh air. All the pets sleep in the afternoon and my new neighborhood is unbelievably quiet. I'm not sure I could manufacture a more serene and ideal knitting spot.



Yesterday I organized my knitting supplies. I returned all stray needles and skeins of yarns to their storage containers. I put all my knitting files in the desk file drawer.

Nagano Child's Hat

Here's a photo of the Dale of Norway Nagano child's hat.

Second FO of 2003 - I've finished the Maida's Mittens from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia in Richesse et Soie cashmere/silk and Nylamb wool/nylon. I took some photos today and need to get the film developed.

Back to Sirdal. I need to be accountable for the three goals I had for the Productive Spinners list - spin up the 4 oz combed alpaca (done), finish the main pattern on Sirdal (almost done), and do one entire pattern repeat on St. Enda. Haven't even touched it as I was distracted by knitting two pairs of mittens last week. Still I am more productive so that's a good thing. I have to report on my progress to Productive Spinners by Wednesday so maybe I can get some more done on my goals by then.

Has anyone noticed that there are rarely any patterns for stranded colorwork in any of the major knitting magazines anymore? I wonder if the newfound popularity of handpainted and self-patterning yarns means less people are interested in colorwork. Fortunately Dale of Norway is still turning out incredible designs - I can't wait for the Turino Olympic sweater design. And Bonnie Franz has started a newsletter called Stranded for those of us who love colorwork.