oh no! more mittens

Here on the left is the next pair of mittens finished. Ann Budd's pattern book has a much better thumb than the Knit Simple pattern I made first. The mittens are a little snugger also, which I like. Anyway, they will fit the small-handed person that I have in mind for them. Now I have made two pairs.

I do have to rename the new ones though. They are now called Grace after characters in The Sea by John Banville. This is an unpleasant but readable novel that won a Booker prize in the UK. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson turned out to be unreadable. It was like reading a religious Emerson or Thoreau, two authors that I cannot stand. I like philosophical novels as much as the next person, but this was too much: no plot, just pontification.

Speaking of philosophy, I have a new library book from one of the most philosophical minds in knitting today: Cat Bordhi.

I must say that I have not been interested in her previous books. I was not impressed by what you can do with a mobius ring. I think the fascination is with the mobius idea rather than the thing as a knitted object. And as for knitting socks on circular needles, I have come to realize that I detest circular needles and will avoid them except when I have to knit 300 stitches back and fourth. Those cables give me the creeps.

This new book is another story. Cat has developed some novel and extremely elegant looking sock designs based on what she calls sock architecture. And you can see the built quality of some of these designs:

In addition to her unique and innovative designs, Cat offers tons of information about sock knitting including many charts indicating stitch numbers for all the sock parts in a lot of sizes. This enables you to design your own socks much like the Ann Budd books, but Cat's are somehow more sophisticated. This book is already in my Amazon cart, and I'm not returning the library book until it arrives.

As well as being a knitting innovator, Cat Bordhi is a self-publisher, again, at a sophisticated level. Her self-designed and -illustrated sock book is pretty and fun to read.

finishing mittens

All finished. My first mittens, named A Thousand Acres. They are cute and kid-like though fitting a small/medium woman's hand. Do you think their name is a little too grand? Oh well.

The second mitten came out better than the first. These are borderline as to whether they are good enough to give. I made a mistake in the thumb gusset. Seeing that I got 6 rows to the inch rather than 7, I added a few rounds to the gusset part where the work goes in rounds rather than inches. I have made that type of mistake before, trying to be too precise. The thumb gusset is thus too deep. I'll have to see how subsequent attempts come out before I decide to keep these or give them away.

I can see that mittens are going to be fun and easy. They take so little yarn that I'll be surprised if I have to buy new yarn for them at all. Of course have to and want to are two separate matters. Here are the next in line:

This is the basic mitten pattern from Ann Budd's pattern book. The yarn is leftover Paton's Classic Merino in Rosewood. I made my mother's Christmas Clapotis from it. They are knit on #5 US Crystal Palace bamboo double pointed at 5 stitches and 7 rows to the inch. But I'm not messing with the row gauge.

I just started listening to Marilynne Robinson's Gilead so, assuming that I stick with the book, I will have to name these Gilead Mittens. What is with Kansas abolitionisim before the Civil War? This is the third book I have read recently with this theme. The Civil War era has such a strong hold on the American imagination.

starting with mittens

On this lovely spring day (read that with heavy irony), mittens don't seem out of place at all. I wish these babies were finished. I might be tempted to wear them.

This is my first try at mittens using a simple pattern that was sent in the mail as part of an ad to subscribe to Knit Simple. I don't like that mag, even though it is a Vogue publication, but I am happy to use their cute striped mitten pattern. The yarn is worsted weight leftovers: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in Clematis (more purple than it looks here) and Paton's Classic Merino in Leaf Green. The Lamb's Pride is a little heavier than the other, but together they get gauge.

The needles are Crystal Palace double point bamboo #6 (US). I spent a fortune yesterday at my lys (Arcadia for you Chicagoans) buying sizes 4, 5, and 6 thinking I might need them for my further adventures with mittens. I already have 7 and 8 in Inox which I think are not too slippery.

I think that mittens might be a more boring project than scarves and not as tailored to each recipient. But on the plus side, I can get into surface design if I want to and I can make a lot of them out of yarn I have on hand. I spent way too much on the scarves.

Because many of the gift recipients are people I work with at the library, I especially like to use reference to the audiobook I was listening to in naming them. So this pair is called A Thousand Acres. If you really use your imagination you can see rows of crops in the stripes of the mitten. This is my second reading of this book, and I am liking it better this time because I am more used to Jane Smiley's plotlessness. Actually this one has a bit more plot than some of her others. Her observations of human interactions and motives are acute.

Getting back to Arcardia, while I was shopping for needles yesterday I picked up some yarn to swatch. I want to re-knit the sweater I call Jilly (you can see it if you scroll down) in a firmer material than the cotton/silk blend I used originally. The yarn on the left is Tahki Bali, a bamboo tape in an aran/chunky weight. It shrank drastically in the blocking. It is also too shiny. The yarn on the right is Berroco Comfort - 100% synthetic. Yarn snob that I am, I would never dream of using an all synthetic yarn, although I have liked blends. But the quality of the yarn in the skein looked right for my purpose. I like the swatch as well. I am really tempted to knit the sweater in this yarn; it would cost less than $30 and would go in the washer and dryer.

nada. rien. bubkis

Perhaps the title of this post has made you decide to skip it. I hope not, but I can't promise much. Let's see if I can make something out of nothing.

Below is the progress of the Kimono Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls. This has become my in-between project that I work on mostly in between other, more engrossing projects. It is now just under 30 inches long. I have two balls of Jaeger Zephyr Spun wool/silk (about 1,200 yards) and 1,500 yards of Henry's Attic Petite Cascade silk. It looks like this quantity will make a long enough shawl. I wanted to buy more Zephyr Spun, but the Mosaic Yarn Studio only had two balls. The clerk assured me that 1,200 yards was plenty for any shawl. She is no doubt right, but I prefer to have too much just in case.

This shawl will be perfect for warm weather. I don't expect to make many more lacey shawls for myself. Solid wool ones like the Wool Peddler are more practical, although I do love Oberle's Bird's Nest shawl as well.

April is the month when I should begin my Christmas gift project, that is if I do one this year. In 2006 I made around 15 scarves as presents for everyone at work and other friends. It was a large but satisfying undertaking. I learned a lot about yarn and knitting techniques by doing it. That project was, in fact, the inspiration for this blog, because I wanted some place to show off. (This was before I got on to Ravelry.) I skipped 2007. That is, I only made a few of my presents from that year. But I promised myself that I would do a big project for 2008.

My first thought was socks. Hence my sock experiment from the previous post. I do love my socks, but I realized that fit is crucial in sock knitting. I wore my socks for the first time yesterday. They are wearable, but too big. I would have to know the foot measurement of every recipient to make them socks that they would really like, and that will not do. I want it to be a surprise.

So here is what I am thinking now: mittens. Fit is not that important in mittens, and everyone can use a pair for really cold, snowy conditions even if they don't wear them regularly. I would make gloves, but I fear the fingers. Maybe next year or 2010.

Just casually surfing Ravelry and Knitty produced 8 free mitten downloads. How cute are these from Elliphantom:

Or these from Hello Yarns:

Elliphantom also has a free squirrel pattern, and Hello Yarns (inventor of the Irish Hiking Scarf) has a skull and crossbones. And of course, being obsessed with knitting books as well as knitting, I am getting Folk Mittens to complete my collection of the Interweave press Folk series. The only one left to go after that is Folk Knitting in Estonia.

So, am I committed to mittens now? I guess so.