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.

Yarn Crawl 2017

Local Yarn Shops (LYS) of Durham
 are collaborating in a Yarn Crawl
 October 20th and 21st to celebrate the 2017 knitting season
with our fellow fibre enthusiasts.

Soper Creek Yarns

80 King Street West

Bowmanville, Ontario

Wool Queen

182 Simcoe Street S. 

Oshawa, Ontario

Wool on William

5 Williams Street W. 

Oshawa, Ontario

Never Enough Wool

26 Water Street

Port Perry, Ontario

Kniterary

124 Dundas St., West

Whitby, Ontario

Myrtle Station Wool

9585 Baldwin North

Ashburn, Ontario

In Myrtle Station, participants will enjoy 20% off the regular price of

 all Lopi, one of my all time favourite yarns. 
I may have mentioned before how much I appreciate
 the company being owned by the employees themselves.  
The yarn itself is processed using the natural hot water of Iceland.

Cascade 220 is a premier standard worsted weight
 with lots of pattern support on the web as well as the public library. 
Our in stock selection is pretty darn healthy

Sock yarn, and more sock yarn, which I wonder...is it sock yarn? 

We are knitting shawls nine times out of ten...with sock yarn.
I am on point 21 of the"Hitchiker" shawl only 21 more to go

 Bonus Free Handy Pattern Sleeve with any purchase! 
These protective sleeves are framed with a nice stiff border. 
I like to slip a magnetic board in behind the pattern
 and use magnetic strips to keep my place.

(especially on breezy days at the beach...in Cuba...in January, sigh)

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.