I kept these under wraps on the blog because I didn’t want my mom to see them before she got them, but now I can show what is one of my most favorite projects to date.

*click a thumbnail for a pop-up gallery*

The Facts:

Yarn: my hand-dyed 70/30 mohair/wool sport weight (14 wpi) 2 ply yarn for the outside and fingering weight cashmere for lining
Pattern: my own
Needles: size 3 40″ Addi Turbo for magic loop
Gauge: 6.5 sts. and 7 rows per inch
Size: women’s medium
Started: not including the dyeing, November, 29, 2007
Finished: December 16, 2007

The Yarn:

My interest in using yarn that had a halo for stranded colorwork was rekindled after knitting the Fantom Bohus, which has such lovely, feathered color transitions. The patterning in these is much more graphic, but the halo softens everything just enough to keep things from being stark. Also, mohair= strong, which is a great thing for mittens.

The Dyeing:

I dyed the yarn for these ages ago, with some kind of mitten in mind. The yarn was hot pour dyed* in nearly solid colors with acid dyes. Despite dyeing what I thought was far too much lining yarn, I ran out and had to have a mismatched thumb. The horror!

The Pattern:

The chart is my own, but no doubt influenced by various sources, including Turkish socks. Spirals are good. We can never have enough spirals, is my motto.

The Knitting:

These are knit from the bottom up with the circumference about an inch bigger than the recipient’s palm measurement. I usually like mittens to be about 1/2″ larger in circumference than the palm, so the extra 1/2″ of space is needed for a lining.

Stitches for lining were picked up in the cashmere at the inside edge, decreased a bit, and a second mitten was knit. This second mitten can be popped right inside the first. They are unbelievably cozy.

The thumb has a side seam gusset (sore thumb), which is great for not disrupting the patterning, and also allows the back and palm of the mitten to be identical. There’s no right or left mitten, which helps to ensure even wear.

I used an i-cord cast on for the mitten edge. It’s a lovely edge, but be warned- it wasn’t enough to prevent curling (as seen in the progress photos above) without the lining added.

The Kit:

I love these so much that I’m planning to sell them as a kit, with pattern and dyed yarn. These will be test knit in various simple and complex color combinations and sizes. I’ll keep you updated. The lining won’t be cashmere for the kits, due to the problems associated with producing it. The cashmere I used for these was bought ages ago, before I knew of these problems, and I’ll work my way through it and that’ll be it for cashmere for me, unless I come across American cashmere yarn. My yarn is from ColourMart, which sells mill ends, so it’s a less destructive way to get cashmere, but I’m cool with not using the fiber at all, myself, and don’t want to sell it. I’m testing alpaca for the lining right now. I think it will be plenty scrumptious.

The Boasting:

Mom liked them!

I hope everyone got awesome presents. (Of course, we all gave awesome presents, right?) I know I was treated like royalty this year, receiving all three seasons of Deadwood and the first two of Buffy- excellent knitting entertainment- as well as all kinds of other treats. There are two containers of hot chocolate mix left over. Who’s thirsty and cold?

*There are excellent instructions in The Twisted Sister Sock Workbook, by Lynne Vogel.

Despite chatting on a regular basis, Amy (Spunky Eclectic) and I don’t share our fiber club plans with each other, mainly because we trade subscriptions and don’t want to ruin the surprise. We were strangely in tune with our July club offerings, and now we both have lots of rainbow-y yarn at our disposal. We both chose sturdy wools with lots of crimp and body and happy, bright colors, in combed top form. Even the names are similar.

To spin these, I folded the top in half and pulled it apart there, then split each half into strips as wide as my pinky, and spun those from the end. Half went on one bobbin and half on another, and I plied them together. Easy peasy and my favorite way to spin these spotty tops. I’ve become a very consistent spinner and rarely have more than a couple of inches left on either bobbin after the plying is done. It’s always cause for a little jump and clap in my seat. It’s the little things!

Hello Yarn Lantern Festival:

Hello Yarn Fiber Club July 2007 offering
hand-dyed and handspun Corriedale wool from combed top
*see the fiber*

2 ply worsted weight
4 oz., about 240 yards
Super fluffy! Very rainbow-y.

There’s a lot more where that came from. I’ve got another skein of 160 yards done and as much wool again to spin, bringing me up to about to about 800 yards of worsted. Hmmm!

Spunky Eclectic Celebration:

Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club Selection for July 2007
hand-dyed Shetland wool

2 ply worsted weight
4 oz., about 230 yards
soft, light, fluffy

I’m amassing quite a collection of handspun worsted weight yarns. Whatever will I do?

Inspired by the colors of the Fantom Bohus, I dyed up some Bluefaced Leicester wool top awhile ago, and spun like a mad woman this weekend.

hand-dyed and handspun Bluefaced Leicester wool
worsted weight 2 ply
11 oz., nearly 700 yards
Not for sale.

This was dyed in the oven with acid dyes and spun and plied at a ratio of 1:10.5. It’s worsted-spun from commercial combed top that I split lengthwise into thumb-wide strips and spun from the end.

I was able to concentrate on spinning in the evenings because we watched two of the worst movies I’ve ever seen this weekend. Ghost Rider and Into the Blue provided me with multiple reasons to keep my head down with eyes pointed at my spinning! I stayed up way past my bedtime last night in order to finish plying. Shambles thought I was crazy for staying up so late. He didn’t even wait for me to finish brushing my teeth before running and jumping into his bed.

This is “Lantern Festival”, the Hello Yarn Fiber Club’s July offering. Everyone got 5 oz. of this Corriedale top. I wanted to end the first round of the club with a serious punch of color and I’ve been so happy to hear from people who are enjoying it. Thank you!

Cambridge Knitting Group

The Lazy Red-Liners are going to meet at Cambridge Common (the park), near Harvard Square around 6:30 on Monday, 7/23. Bad weather location is Dado Tea at 955 Mass Ave between Harvard and Central.

Everyone is welcome, including folks not in Ravelry yet!

I’ll be there with my half-ripped Bohus sweater (you don’t even want to know and I’d prefer not to think about my rookie error). The location is still up in the air. As the hour grows nearer, I’m sure the location will be hashed out. Give me a shout if you’d like to come and can’t get on Ravelry to see where to go.

ETA: It looks like Dado Tea is it.