Herself the Elf

I meant to share this with you all before the 25th, alas, somehow time flew by and so here is my Christmas elf story a little late.

Every December, around the second week, I take the time to make a few things for people I love.

I used my Christmas fabrics to create a furoshiki wrap for Byron's ham that we brought to the gathering, as well as some sewing bags using the pattern Jane Bulls wonderful children's sewing book. I picked up at the local library.  I had the opportunity to use my pinking shears for the first time... so interesting.

I knit a pair of hand warmers for my friend Rob, using my Hand warmer Family which you can find as a free download on Ravelry.

When I created the design, I used Schachenmayer Bravo, a multicoloured man made full DK.

This time I used the new so so soft Sky DK from Garnstudio. It is a little bit finer so I used a 3.75 needle and  knit 4 more rows each on the cuff and hand portions.

My mum would have called it a Beatrix Potter colour, and I agree wholeheartedly.

I was pleasantly surprised at how calming it was to work with. I haven't knit with the brown family very often in my life. Fascinating the way it looked grey next to black.

and minky next to brown

I also used this bonny red shade to make a second pair.

It was fun to use straight knitting needles for a change. I like the way these cuffs keep your pulses warm as well as dress up those handy one size fits all gloves. Oh so cosy.

Orange you glad

This month Kim finished her fabulous pumpkin coloured cardigan.

She created her own pattern and used the Shetland Flower motif.

I love the way she put the motifs down the sides of the cardi.

The yarn is lopi light, the right weight for indoor or layering pieces

The cuffs are a hem with textured colourwork on top and stripes underneath

I think the buttons are perfect, leather look, and absolutely washable

As a bonus, she made a lovely pair of mittens

More colour play on the cuffs, lots of fun!

Amazing... it only takes a few yards of each colour (and practice) for this much joy!

Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Colours

This year, knitters have been coming in looking for Hudson Bay Company Point Blanket colours. We have used different yarns over the years to achieve the right look.

This time we decided on Smart SuperwashDK. Kim knitted up these lovely accessories.

The mittens are from the same 1951 beehive book I used, but using the 2 needle variation. I like the way she carred the stripes into the thumb, just after the gusset. Feels very touchingly Canadian somehow, I guess these colors together run deep in my psyche, in our history.

Kim used much less than half of a 50 gram ball for the colours, so in theory... time permitting... one could make 2 sets using another 100 grams of the cream...before Christmas...2014

Similar colours can be had in regular Cascade 220. Especially the scarlet. A blanket like texture will be improved by brushing this yarn as the genuine blankets are themselves thouroughly washed and brushed to a cosy degree of nappiness.

Thumbing a mitten

Here are a few pictures and descriptions of how I thumbinate honeycomb mittens.
First step is while you are making the main part of the mitten. Knit the future thumb stitches with a short length of contrasting yarn. I prefer a bright, sturdy cotton, similar in weight to the main yarn.

After completing the mitten body, return to the thumb stitches and pick up the "stitches" on each side of the contrast stitches with a smaller double pointed needles.

Unpick the contrast yarn, to reveal the opening.
Knit the stitches off of the smaller needles with fresh yarn and proper size needle. Pick up a few at the corners.

Knit the thumb, work a couple decreases at the corners of the opening to acheive the correct number of stitches, as indicated in the pattern. Here 15 stitches were picked up, 5 on each needle.

Work one round, decrease one stitch per needle, 12 stitches or 4 per needle. (This is the child's size)

Final knit 2 together decrease at the tip of the thumb, cut the yarn a few inches away from the last stitch.

Thread through the remaining stitches. The top stays closed better if the yarn is run through the open stitches twice, with a large tapestry needle as illustrated in this drawing.

Poke a finger into the top of the thumb to even out and snug up the yarnand stitches.

Remove thy finger and pull it again to completely close the top.

Thread the loose ends through the tops of mitten and thumb.

Turn the mitten inside out and darn the loose ends into the knitted fabric.

Polka Dot Mittens

These are the days to get going on a mitten expedition. I dug out the Peer Gynt pattern from last year and my basket of DK wool colours. To start, it seemed right to knit one pair in each size.

My granddaughter is a big fan of Frozen. She requested a pair of polka dot mittens. Blue with white polka dots to be precise. Good to be clear about what you want in life, that is what I say.

I had previously made a pair for her little brother in rust Cleckheaten 8 ply superwash from this old chestnut of a book. I think it dates from 1951 for some reason. This is my favourite weight in the store, it is a European standard, 5.5 stitches to the inch on a 4mm needle. My favorite Aunt would say, Britain is certainly not part of Europe. Note, the mittens are actually made on a 3.25.

The book has a super chart for mitten making, all the sizes laid out for your knitting pleasure. 

There are variations on the theme, though I made the straight forward ones. Drop me a line and I am happy to send you a scanned PDF of the chart.

Next I dug out my other 4 needle mitten pattern book, these being made in a slightly heavier weight, I used Cascade 220 superwash. I picked a summer colour, to remind me of sunny days and blue oceans. It was lovely to work with, and also using a 3.25 needle.

I needed a model to measure the Frozen mittens by, since my orginal pattern was for adults. The Beehive Starlight is vintage too. Likely 40 years old and made in Great Britain. It is a wool wrapped with an iridescent thread, so I am imagining it as the snow.

The pattern uses an afterthought thumb, which you can see here with the pink cotton yarn. You purl the thumb stitches with a scrap, back up to the main yarn and repurl the stitches. After all is done, you pick up the stitches, pull out the scrap yarn and knit the thumb. This practice is well explained in the pattern. 

I have never felt better

You may remember years ago , when we had the location on Brock Street in downtown Whitby, we made a lot of felted mittens from Alafoss Lopi. The pattern used one ball, had a ridged cuff with stocking stitch in between and the afterthought thumb. Like the Handwarmer Family a pair can be accomplished in a couple of evenings, not counting the felting process. I use them for winter bike riding because of the cosy windproof characteristic of felt.

Last week, Sharion, the president of the Whitby Knitting Guild, presented Byron with a lovely, smoke coloured pair of mittens but with a 2 by 2 rib cuff variation. To ensure the mittens turned out similiar in size and shape, Sharion basted them to each other before processing them in the washing machine.

This was Sharion's first venture into fulling and felting, and don't they look great! The thumb shaping is more sophisticated, using the technique shared in the excellent note package from the Beaverton fall retreat. You can find the pattern; "New England Boiled Wool Mittens" used as the starting point for her variation here.

The Whitby Handknitting Guild meets the second Wednesday of the month at the downtown branch of the public library from 7pm to 9pm. It is a warm and welcoming evening, with generous hints, tips and encouragements shared among all. Hope you can join us sometime!

Weight a minute

You will remember the Handwarmer Family pattern from a while ago. Today I thought I would share  samples I worked on in order to illustrate the usefulness of the Pocket Scale from Lee Valley tools. I like these handwarmers to cosy up my leather gloves when I ride my bike in the fall.

Sometines, in the knitting life one wonders if there is sufficient yarn to complete a project. My strategy for going ahead with confidence is to use a very sensitive scale to measure the project.

In the handwarmer case I weigh the first one I knit: 9.5 grams. This is Bravo Jaquard acrylic DK.

Then the remaining portion of yarn, and yes I have 14.9, grams enough to complete the pair!

This pair is made of pure superwash wool double knitting in the smallest size; 9.4 grams. This is the Kaffee Fassett Regia DK.

I have 17.9 grams to finish the pair. Another use for using weight is to rummage through the stash and check out other potential candidates for hand warmers and also what size will be the most efficient.
Of course the fiber will make a difference, for example, cotton is heavier than acrylic, so you want to be sure to compare apples to apples

For a 3rd size I will need 13.8 grams per hand warmer. 13.8 plus 13.8 = 27.6, so out of a 50 gram ball I could likely make a second pair of the 1st size. (9.4 plus 9.4 =18.8. it will be close)

For much larger items I have asked permission of the cashier at the local supermarket as they have a really large and senisitive scale. Lee Valley also carries an excellent scale we use to check our suitcases before we travel. I will give it a try with a sweater