I knit a 12 foot long garter stitch scarf in a periwinkle shade of Twist from Knitpicks but it is too boring to photograph. It does match really well with a sage green jacket I have and I like really long scarves.

Here's the progress on the Selbustrikk gloves for DH in Knitpicks Palette (my new favorite yarn for colorwork gloves). I think most knitters save knitting the thumbs for last but I prefer to do them early to better fit the gloves as I go. And yes, it is STILL snowing here for the great blizzard of 2006.




Because we can't even get out of our driveway, all fancy-schmantzy New Year's plans are cancelled. Peaches recommends that everyone spend the holiday playing games with good friends.



She suggests a bunny nap to those who over-indulge in the New Year's festivities.



HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I'm a big snow person so I'm delighted that NM is getting socked this year. DH is stuck at home because the two highways into Albuquerque have been closed since yesterday and it is still snowing.







The middle photo is looking down on our little casita and the last photo is only about a third of our roller-coaster driveway. DH will likely insist on shoveling the entire thing and he's already been out to the post office and the little local store. I'm going to be totally lazy and knit instead.

Santa Fe Decorated for the Holidays

Knitting??? What's that??? I haven't accomplished much in the fiber department in the last week but I do have another tutorial to show you soon.

The plaza in Santa Fe



An art gallery on Canyon Road




More Canyon Road



A hotel all decked out

We went to Santa Fe again for Christmas eve and I managed to get some photos.

Here are some gentlemen lighting all the farolitos along Canyon Road. This is quite a laborious process and they were using canisters of butane? fuel to light all the candles.



A wreath on a coyote fence




Every year they do a large ice sculpture in the plaza of Santa and his reindeer.



Canyon Road again - not the best photo but in the front right you can kind of see a stack of pinon logs used for the bonfires/luminarias.



I'll have more photos tomorrow.

HELP! A large brown rodent-like creature is eating all our Christmas presents!



HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Sore Thumb

Today's thumb is almost the opposite of yesterday's. The sore thumb (also called the straight thumb, basic thumb gusset, side thumb shaping, and side seam thumb) sticks out directly from the side of the mitten or glove. Generally the people who hate peasant thumbs the most (like DH) love these thumbs the best. And vice versa. I personally find them somewhat uncomfortable because I feel like my thumb is being pulled away from my hand too much when my hand is at rest.



I often use this thumb for making gloves for men who usually have wider hands proportionately. There are several advantages to this type of thumb. I think it allows the most hand movement so it is ideal for use for gloves to be used for sports or other outdoor activities. This is a nice thumb to use if you're using a striped pattern because you can keep doing the stripes similarly on the gusset (or text as on the poetry mittens shown above). The best thing about sore thumbs is that the glove can be worn on either hand so you don't have to deal with making a right and left glove and using either side of the glove may mean the gloves last longer. (Except in the case of the Floral Fair Isle gloves below which have different patterns on each side.)



Unlike peasant thumbs, sore thumbs use a gusset. A thumb gusset (also called a sidewall, fourchette/forchette, and gore) is a triangular piece of knitted fabric starting at the base of the thumb that allows for better movement. In the sore thumb treatment the gusset is made directly on the side of the hand. I already talked about how I do the thumb increases on the side of a gusset HERE. In most patterns thumb gussets start immediately at the wrist and the stitches are increased every three rows for a good fit.

The handknits in the photos today are the Bosnian mittens from Blackberry Ridge, the Poetry Mittens (I gave the pattern away but I think it was from Threads?), and IK's Floral Fair Isle gloves.

Peasant Thumbs

There are four main types of thumbs used for knitted gloves and mittens. Each day this week I'm going to discuss one type of thumb. I don't believe there is one type of thumb that is best for every hand. I think the thumb that works best for you mainly depends on the angle from your wrist bone to your bottom thumb knuckle.

Today's thumb is the easiest thumb to knit. I call it the peasant thumb but it is also called the invisible thumb, set-in thumb, simple thumb and stocking thumb.



To do the peasant thumb you simply knit to the desired location, knit the thumb stitches on waste yarn, then transfer the stitches back to the left hand needle and knit over the waste yarn stitches. (You can also use the method I show HERE for the peasant thumb to make it easier to try on the glove or mitten for the best fit while you're knitting.)

To remove the waste yarn I first take a dpn and put the top stitches (row above the waste yarn) on the dpn by carefully picking up the right hand side of each stitch. Then I do the same thing with the bottom stitches and then I remove the waste yarn by cutting or pulling it through all the stitches.

Another method to achieve the same end result is called the set-in thumb by Sheila McGregor in Traditional Scandinavian Knitting. In this method, used for traditional Norbotten mittens, you don't put in the thumb at all. When you have finished knitting the tube you have the recipient try it on. Mark where the base of the thumb is (bottom thumb knuckle), carefully snip a thread in the center, take each side of the thread and rip out enough stitches until the thumb is wide enough, put the live stitches back on needles and begin knitting the thumb.

I have long, narrow hands and I like the fit of the peasant thumb very much. DH has wide hands with a wide angle from his wrist to the bottom thumb knuckle and he intensely dislikes the fit of peasant thumbs.

I’ve read that a peasant thumb affects the glove's durability because of the more limited ability to move the thumb. The peasant thumb is used often in traditional Latvian and Estonian designs and one advantage is that any color knitting pattern can be seamlessly extended up the thumb.

The knitted items shown above are Selbu mittens I made with graphs from Traditional Scandinavian Knitting and Liidia's gloves from Folk Knitting in Estonia.