Retreat Mittens

Clever Judy mentioned an intriguing mitten pattern that is knit flat and sideways, Cozy Mittens by the Martha Stewart Design Team. Of course I had to try it, so I packed the necessary when I went on retreat. I didn't know what to expect – some retreats can be a bit intense – this one featured a series of somewhat strange pair exercises that reminded me unpleasantly of speed dating. At least there also was some free time for knitting. I coulda used a kacha-kacha for the knitting and possibly for the exercises too – however that may be, in short order I had an almost-singleton mitten.



A bit of folding and a bit of crochet yielded a finished mitten.



The knitting for the second mitten was the same as the first, but the finishing was mirror image. Here's the palm side view.



And for sake of completeness, here's the knuckles side view. I made the women's size mittens – these are a tad small on my hands.



Overall, I'm glad I tried it, although it's not my cuppa – which summation applies equally to the retreat and to the mittens!

Keeping On

At casa Jersey Knitter Thanksgiving table talk this year was rather taken over by U.S. current events. Even dessert was not exempt. Let them eat cake? Of course not – Occupie!

Curiously, the upper crust started sinking when placed on the filling. Apparently, it's not a sustainable situation. The small pockmarks appear to correspond to where I pricked the bottom crust.

As sometimes happens, my regular commitment to cook for a soup kitchen fell during the holiday weekend. The kitchen crew prepared twice the normal T-Day weekend quantity of food – everyone shared and everyone was served and the meal was wonderful and blessed, but there were no leftovers, not a morsel. It would seem Lily, the new food-insecure Muppet (a counterpoint to the Cartier edition Tickle Me Elmo of some Christmases past), is all too true to life.

I spent so much time cooking last weekend that there was no opportunity to go shopping. It's fashionable in some circles to cluck at people who turn out in the wee hours for Black Friday doorbuster sales. But this year efforts like Buy Nothing Day strike me as less radical and more self-righteous. Many shoppers are buying necessities rather than frivolities this year, and I'm not going to judge that.



Needless to add, I didn't make much headway on my latest WIP over the weekend. It's starting to remind me of a Belted Galloway. Charming as heritage cattle may be, I'm hoping for more rapid progress now that I'm out of the kitchen. I usually stow my knitting in December, but this year I think I'll keep on knitting.

Show of Hands

Tomorrow is General Election Day in the U.S. and I'm grappling with indecision. I don't mean about voting – those who have the right to vote should exercise it. (Click to find your polling place.) In NJ, the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. – be sure to vote on Question 1, which amends the state constitution.



My quandary is of the fibery sort: although I regularly wear fraternal twin mitts and socks, I'm hesitant to add this child's pair to a charity Mitten Tree. I may like esthetic asymmetry, but I worry about how mismatched mittens would make the recipient feel. Gentle readers, What say you?

Rough Diamonds

Hooray for sun after monsoonal showers! I've wanted to publish this post for days now, but there wasn't enough good light to take decent pix.

All summer into fall, I've had diamonds on the brain. Maybe the exhibits at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the American Museum of Natural History had something to do with it, maybe it was Naomi Campbell's testimony about midnight prezzies of "dirty pebbles," or maybe it's something in the air – I was amazed by the number of diamond motifs among this fall's knitwear. Also slightly piqued, because my design for the 4! Ounce! Challenge! is Rough Diamonds Mitts.



Ah, the anxiety of influence! The spinning phase of the challenge was sparked by the illuminating article, "Spinning for Crochet" by Maggie Casey with Margaret Tullis in Fall 2010 Spin-Off. I spun this steely teal-y beauty, Spunky Eclectic Light BFL, colorway Virgo, into 2-ply sportweight crochet yarn – that is, spun the singles S (counter-clockwise) and plied them Z (clockwise). It seemed like a good idea at the time, although ::cough:: I ended up knitting with it.



I consider myself an apprentice spinner and an experienced knitter; I've long known but never really thought about how I tend to add S-twist to the yarn when I knit, necessitating periodic pauses to unkink it. Most knitting yarn is S-plied, so that the act of knitting tightens the ply; were it Z-plied, knitting would tend to unply the yarn. Similarly, singles intended to be knit as singles should be spun S, not Z, lest knitting action cause the yarn to drift apart.



In the design phase, I started making samples with a commercial-spun yarn, Noro Silk Garden Sock, colorway S269, before working in handspun. I wanted to conserve the handspun and SG Sock is a good substitute, plus I knew the texture stitches would be more visible in lighter color yarn. The white-gray mitt was the first completed, followed by the steel blue pair, and last the speckled brown mitt.

The twist-stitch motif is a 20-stitch variation on the 16-stitch Knit-Twist Lattice in Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, adapted for knitting in the round. Handspun yarn sometimes contains variations in wraps per inch and grist – twisted knit stiches traveling on a knit background are more forgiving of thick and thin spots than twists (or cables) over a purl ground, and also use less yarn. I like the quilted look, as well as the secure grip the textured stitches give on things like steering wheels.



While the stitch pattern is worked on every other round, the increases for the thumb gusset are worked on every third round. This causes the thumb of the mitt to lie closer to the palm, at a more natural angle. What can I say? I'm fussy about things like that. These vagaries are noted both in the written and the charted versions of the pattern.

The pattern phase of the challenge posed its own hurdles. Writing up the pattern was straightforward enough, but posting it to Ravelry became rather more involved than I would have expected after a volunteer editor flagged the pattern. I think that's resolved now. In any case, my very first pattern on Ravelry is finally up: Rough Diamonds Mitts!



All in all, I enjoyed the 4! Ounce! Challenge! I learned a lot, something I value highly. Group members produced such beautiful and inspiring yarn and patterns that this month there will be a 4!O!C! knit-along. I'm grateful to the organizers – indy dyers Adrian of Hello Yarn, Amy of Spunky Eclectic, and David of Southern Cross Fibre – and to the moderators of the group for what has been, for me, a deeply satisfying challenge.

Smitten

My last mittens for NaKniMitMo are the official NaKniMitMo10 mitten, an excellent combination of stranded and gansey knitting, Anna's Mittens by Spillyjane. (I got the pattern as a gift download through Ravelry, which worked well.) I knit mine out of odd bits of Patons Classic Wool.



The excellent pattern is meticulously written in a way that is clear and helpful for novice knitters without being annoying to more experienced ones. There are some fine design elements: the colorwork section, which is thicker because of the stranding, covers the wrists like a pulsewarmer for extra warmth; the moss stitch frame forms a graceful arch at the top of the mitten. So clever!

Just to show off, here's the inside of the mitten. I expect with wear it will full, locking in the yarns and becoming fuzzy-cozy.



The only mod I made was to shape the top of the thumb with mirrored decreases to echo the top of the mitten. I like the pattern enough to want to knit it again (gasp!) – I could see knitting pulsewarmers from just the colorwork section or mittens from just the gansey part.

Overall, I had a happy and productive NaKniMitMo. The moderators were unfailingly encouraging and the other participants expanded my vision and my queue. I never did get to my UFO thrummed mittens (cough), but I end the month totally smitten with mittens, eager to knit more, and looking forward to NaKniMitMo11.

Up next, the February knit-alongs. I understand a bunch of obsessive Sockdowners will be staying up past midnight tonight to stake their claims to sock patterns with fewer than 15 projects – already a few Sooners have been called for jumping the gun. Apparently manufactured scarcity works. I plan to participate eventually, but for the moment I'm focusing on Zarzuela's S/KAL and the mighty Ravel*****s.

Redacted 6/26/12: The Ravelry event formerly known by a name that rhymes with and supposedly infringes on the Olympics™.

Go Fish

Fresh from their bath, here's a pair of sprightly child-sized Goldfish Mittens, knit in Frog Tree Alpaca Sport. They're so adorable (if I do say so myself) that I think I must knit more, yea, a small school of them, in many sizes and colors.



Meanwhile, the people's choice among the Socks of Shame currently is Piscean, shown here with some strangely orange snacks. It's still early in the new year, but I can't help noticing a theme of colors and motif seems to be emerging. Hm....



Last year's fibery resolutions pretty much crashed and burned: there was backwards progress on the Socks of Shame as previously noted; the tally for NaKniSweMoDo was 2 FOs, not 7; the blankies never got started, much less made; a Sheep 2 Shoe kit was forfeit; and most of my stash is still stored in plastic. I joined a number of knitalongs, then didn't knit much. I'm not unhappy about how I spent my time and the consequences thereof, but it was hardly my most successful year in fiber.

Undeterred, I'm setting three fibery goals for the new year – or rather, reprising three goals:

Reduce the official number of singleton socks aka the Socks of Shame. The count currently stands at 12. But it occurs to me the real task is dynamic rather than static. No doubt at this time next year there will be new singletons on the clothesline – that doesn't trouble me. Success hangs on removing socks from the line faster than they are added.

Spindle sufficient yarn for a pair of socks before my birthday. Despite abject failure last year, I'm feeling strangely confident of achieving this goal. I can't say what's different this year. Some writers develop creative blocks; perhaps some spinners do also. Or perhaps I just needed to let that STR roving go.

Reduce use of plastics, particularly plastic bags and stash storage. It may well be that this should be a life goal rather than an annual fibery one, but it bears repeating. One of my favorite gifts this Christmas was a fancy insulated market bag that will be perfect at the farmer's market, not to mention it's a thematic fit.



Coincidence? What say you? With all these synchronicities, surely 2010 will be a good year.

Coy

This blustery winter has been providing the motivation and the NaKniMitMo photo pool the inspiration to knit mittens!



Next up, a pair of Goldfish Mittens, shown here cavorting in a Eucalan bath. They're a bit shy at the moment, but will be ready for their close up shortly.

First of the Year

Happy New Year! Here's something rarer than a year end blue moon: my first FO of the year, finished on the first day of year.



I'm inordinately pleased with these beaded Yule Tree mitts. They were knit out of handspun fingering spun from 2 oz. of Zarzuela's Fibers Superwash Merino Top, colorway Santa's Coming! The yarn turned out smooth and springy, with a delightful spongy quality, and the knit fabric has a light, smooth hand reminiscent of wool crepe. I beaded the cuff and the lace motif (but not the top edge because that would fidget me); the yarn held up to the friction of stringing well and supports the weight of the beads nicely.



Perhaps best of all, Yuletide is only half over, so my mitts are still in season, at least for a few days. It seems like an auspicious beginning to NaKniMitMo.

Found My Mittens

Kate Gilbert is a goddess among knit designers. When my hard drive crashed, I lost my mittens, namely Bird in Hand and Wintergreen. Data recovery failed to recover them (how I cried), but she sent me new copies. Thank you, Kate! I'd like to dedicate my entry for today's Annual (Silent) Poetry Reading to her.

The three little kittens
they lost their mittens
and they began to cry
                 – Traditional

By a happy synchronicity, I've been working on a f-f-felted door mitten, from black Patons Classic Wool. The nice thing about door mittens is one needs only one (unless one has more doors than I). Here it is before and after f-f-felting, with one of my mittens (from a swap with Deb) for scale. There's a bit of green crochet cotton around the opening to help the edge felt evenly.

   

The project was inspired by the Felted Door Mitten by Two Old Bags. I didn't use a pattern, just knit a mitten with exaggerated vertical dimensions to compensate for differential shrinkage and f-f-felted it. The result could be a serviceable oven mitt or hotpad, but this was intended to be decorative, and will be embellished accordingly just as soon as such can be found.

V is for Vote

V is for vote. Tomorrow – Tuesday, November 4 – is General Election Day in the U.S. Remember the day well – it's not often that the choices are so clear and the consequences so historic.

Many observers have noted the exceptional role of high technology in this campaign with respect to fundraising – the same could be said about its role in organizing and the dissemination and the debunking of rumors. Tomorrow technology will play its part in documenting the election experience. Among the several organizations encouraging citizen journalism are PBS and YouTube with Video Your Vote, the New York Times Polling Place Photo Project, and Twitter Vote Report. If you want to participate, be sure to peruse this how-to resource.



This is what my polling place, a public school, looked like two years ago – tomorrow I'll post pix from this year. The wait was modest then, but tomorrow I'm taking my knitting in anticipation of long lines. (It's a good thing the PTA always has a bake sale on Election Day.) NJ law prohibits electioneering inside a polling place or within 100 feet of its entrance, so I won't be taking any of my partisan finery or knitting projects – no pumpkins, buttons, T-shirts, mitts.



In New Jersey, polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Don't forget the two public questions – see analysis!) Find more NJ voter information here; for voter information for all of the U.S., see here.

Man Mitts ver. 1.0

The other day DH announced he wanted man mitts. He's anticipating lots of evening and weekend work on the Wall Street mess, during which the heat, literal and figurative, may or may not be on. So man mitts were made.



The mitts are worked in Malabrigo Worsted, colorway 508 Blue Graphite. It was DH's idea to style them this way. I think it's a hint to the IT department – his abacus only goes up to 9,999,999,999,999. DH likes to be prepared.

The only trouble is they're a bit baggy and (sez he) itchy. I made the mistake of mumbling something like these are version 1.0 and DH could have nicer mitts. He agreed happily. Next time, he wants cashmere mitts with half-fingers. He also wants socks, but that's another story.

Meanwhile, casa Jersey Knitter is looking forward to the vice presidential debate tomorrow, October 2, at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, at 9 p.m. EDT. Guess that means no SnB for me!

If the prospect of a debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden isn't riveting enough, there's a fascinating sideshow. Moderator Gwen Ifill has been preparing despite a broken ankle – she even solicited questions from the public. Conservative commentators somehow only today noticed Ifill has a pending book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, listed on Amazon (publication date: Inauguration Day 2009) and are claiming bias. Hm... is their raising the hue and cry now due to inadequate vetting or something else? What say you?

G is for Goodies

G is for goodies, two that I got and some linky love for everybody.

Rosemary generously gave some prizes to her Toque, Yo! test knitters and I got a Designs by Romi penannular pin [grin]. A heart, of course, because that's her signature design (pictured on an old gauge swatch). I love how it's not just for lace shawls, although it sure does make me think of making myself Muir. Thank you, Rosemary, I enjoyed test knitting and now can wear my heart on my sleeve, literally.

Last week I knit up some fingerless mitts from the Patons Soy Wool Stripes that Julie in Texas sent as part of a swap. It's colorway 70530 Natural Geranium. As with the last pair, these are sororal twins. Thanks again, Julie, these are perfect for when I get pinky on the brain, which has been known to happen.



And here's three happy links:

Jessica is having a Summer of Socks 2008 Button Contest, through April 25. Which implies Summer of Socks is coming soon! (Be sure to sign up for free accounts on Flickr and Ravelry, if you haven't already.)

Knitty is celebrating their 50 millionth site visit with their biggest contest ever, through May 1.

Knitting Daily has made the Top Five Interweave Knits Readers' Choice patterns available as a free download through May 14.

A Red Sweater Day

Although I'm late to the party, it must be noted that yesterday was Sweater Day! Children's educator Mr. Rogers would have turned 80 yesterday and since his signature garment was a sweater (most were handknit by his mom), yesterday was a day to wear a favorite sweater in his honor. Today isn't so bad either. While some would insist only a red cabled zip front will do, Mr. Rogers was an infinitely accepting person who wore many styles and colors of sweaters over the years, well worthy of honors. So here's my favorite old sweater, the whimsical VK cat sweater:



Much as I love it, perhaps it's not quite suitable for Good Friday services. Ah well, at least no one could possibly dislike these cheery embellished mittens from my Mitten Swap pal, Deb. Deb is not only my upstream pal, she's also the swap organizer and won the Bobby for Funniest Ravatar (as knitiot on Ravelry)!



Thank you, Deb, I love my new mittens and all the other loot (Fiddlehead Mittens pattern, Frog Tree Alpaca yarn, artisinal chocolates (!), project bag, beach reading, notepad and magnet, and little sheepy friend, plus a sheep drinking glass not pictured because of flare). The fit and colors are perfect!



Yesterday was also Maundy Thursday, Purim (a sometimes boisterous holiday), and the spring equinox – clearly, a red-letter day. It was too windy to balance an egg on its point outdoors, perhaps because of all the hot air directed at various members of my church denomination, which has made for an interesting Holy Week. So instead of an amusing egg photo, here's a brief 2008 Presidential Candidates Implicit Association Test, which I hope gentle readers will find both illuminating and entertaining.

The Palms

Here's a bit of green as a nod to yesterday's festivities, although I'm mostly thinking about Sunday's Palm Sunday service at Church of the Improv, which included Arvo Pärt's beautiful Berlin Mass for choir and string orchestra. It's wonderful beyond words to hear sacred music written by a living composer. The staging – with violins (playing ethereal harmonics) placed to the left of the chancel, violas, 'cellos, and basses to the right, and choir on the chancel steps – emphasized the conversation between voice and instruments in ways at once reminiscent of Ives' Unanswered Question and Renaissance chant. [Sigh] What a way to start Holy Week.

Put in knitting terms, the music was not unlike mittens of Malabrigo Worsted – soft, smooth, and flowing...



... simple, yet richly textured. It all makes sense – Pärt is a minimalist composer from Estonia, land of mittens.



These modified Chevalier Mittens by Tikru have jumped in the mail with a few other goodies and are on their way to my Mitten Swap downstream pal. I've heard from my upstream pal – my mittens are also in transit. By some synchronicity, a cold front has settled roundabout Exit 151, so this is a good time for mittens!



While I'm thinking about palms, I saw these oddities at the Flower Show. They have 3D bottlebrush fronds rather than the more usual flat pinnate or palmate fronds. Alas, they weren't labeled and none of the experts there could identify them (a few even claimed they "hadn't noticed" them). Perhaps they're a Roystonea sport? I wonder what they are called.

Ed: I heart the Internet. They're foxtail palms, Wodyetia bifurcata, an Australian species well known to Aborigines, but not to botany until 1983. Hardy and easy-care, they're increasingly popular in landscaping, particularly in Florida.

Amabilis

The month is less than a week old and already has both meowed and roared. Perhaps in harmony with that seasonal split personality, Malabrigo March is reminding me of how much I love fancy texture stitches. I also hate the same stitches, but right now it's all good. The Amanda Hat by Gina House is finished and she is lovable perfection, if I do say so myself. I'm particularly happy with the way the Diagonal Demi-Brioche stitch and the color pooling work together.



Amanda as written is a bit too deep for my head, so I set out to omit one repeat of brioche stitches, four rounds, half below the garter band and half above. Apparently I can't count to two, because somehow the omitted rounds are all above the garter band. Ah well, I rather like the subtle asymmetry. I also added an extra set of decreases on top for a better fit.



Consistent gauge is extra important when working brioche stitches. The fabric has a strong propensity to pull in, which causes many knitters to tighten their gauge, which causes the fabric to pull in more, ad infinitum (– and beyond!) in a spiral as inexorable as a gravity sink or an economic depression. Happily, it's generally a virtue if a hat tapers toward the top, which makes Amanda a forgiving project for the first-time brioche knitter.

The next Malabrigo March project on the needles is Chevalier Mittens by Tikru. I'm a great admirer of her Suomi style and this pattern is no exception. Alas, my poor digicam seems unable to capture the richly ombréd red-violet of the Pagoda colorway; indeed, what it does register seems to obscure the beautiful cables. So I dabbled in some special effects to convey a better sense of the luscious texture.



Chevalier as written has a cuff that reaches almost to my elbow – a magnificent gauntlet for a knight of yore, but too much of a good thing for my taste. I've shortened the cuff. I'm working the m1 increases for the offset thumb gusset so that they lean away from the thumb instead of the more usual lean toward the thumb, resulting in soft organic curves on the palm side that showcase the yarn and contrast with the embossed relief on the back of the hand. Sorry, no pix of the thumb gusset this time, I got obsessed with the color balance problem.



Red-violet does seem to be a challenge for my digicam, cf this splendid dendrobium orchid from last year's Flower Show. I'm off to Philly tomorrow to chatter in botanic Latin, walk and gawk 'til my feet fall off, and stock up on goods, garden and otherwise. (Thanks, Alotta.Knittin, for the advance review. I'll look for those Flying Monkey cupcakes!) As I mentioned to blogless Kelli, I'll be the one inhaling – all the fresh flowers and plants are such a breath of spring.

Pretty Special Monday

This morning's snow, while not enough to merit French toast, nonetheless left me with the giddy conviction that surely the day between Super Bowl Sunday (Go Giants!) and Super Duper Tuesday (GOTV!) must be pretty special, too. Sure enough, Margene hath cried REDUX!, and therefore NaSpiMoMo shall spin some more, Macbeth shall spin some more (and the wrap up post is postponed even further).

(??) Er, anyway, next on the spindle...



... some Blue Face Leicester roving dyed by Sandy, the Twisted Mom of The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, a swap gift from my generous Yarn Aboard 2 pal Lisa. It's magnificently dyed, the most vividly colored stuff I've attempted, the attenuated fiber no less brilliant than the compressed roving. I'm fairly certain I understand how the colors will work when plied, except for the chrome yellow. Should be interesting.

Last week Deb kindly bestowed a Make My Day Award on this blog – thanks, Deb! I don't usually participate in memes, so let me acknowledge the token of esteem, note the "rules," and leave it to others to enjoy however they see fit.

Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

The results of my Mitten Swap poll convinced me to scrap the poetry mittens. (Pity, they would have been fun to show off on Poetry Day.) After a bit of swatching, I started Maimu's Mittens by Nancy Bush, in Folk Knitting in Estonia, which have two notable embellishments on the cuffs: two-color vikkel braids and wrapped nupps, formed over two stitches. (I'll try for a better photo on a brighter day.)



Since it's a swap mitten, I went with Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply in MC 013 Claret (red with purple nubs) and CC 016 Thistle (purple with red nubs). The yarn is much softer than most Shetland yarns, but still has the stickiness so desirable for stranded colorwork. I hope my pal likes the mittens.

New Jersey is among the Super Duper Tuesday states – its Presidential Primary Election is tomorrow. "Election" is something of a misnomer – voters are selecting the delegates to the national convention, who will choose the party's nominee. Even given the convoluted process, every vote matters! In NJ, polls are open 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

That's Two

It's WIP Wednesday and I'm two outta three on last week's goals. I'm as caught up on bloggy stuff as I'm going to be and spinning is going well. But the Birch Leaf sock toe is in limbo.



The leaf points are pretty, but by a Noro-esque perversity the toe just overlaps the color repeat for the entire sock. Which means if I finish the toe on the first sock, the second sock will have the same color sequence as the first, only offset somewhat. I wouldn't mind if the offset was none, a little, or a lot. But offset somewhat? Maddening! Horrible!



I'm going with a different flavor of madness: start the second sock without finishing the first, try to align their colors, and finish both toes at the same time. If that doesn't work, I'll try something else (tralala).

The January/February 2008 Piecework is awfully thin for the money, but I'm smitten with the cover Poetry Mittens by Veronica Patterson and Jane Fournier. I'm leaning toward a version for my Mitten Swap pal – borrowed the handsome mitten shaping from the Colonial New England mittens in Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski, charted a pal-specific verse, and swatched a bit in the round (my own name, how immodest). But... I'm not sure everyone appreciates poetry.



Next week is the last of NaSpiMoMo. My goals for the week are:

1. spin some
2. start swap mitten
3. start Toque, Yo!

After two iterations of WIP Wednesdays, I'm finding I dislike it intensely. The imposed structure seems artificial, with little apparent benefit for the time consumed. I'll give it another couple tries. If there's no improvement, I'm going to let it go.