Fun with over-dyed skeins

I had some fun over-dyeing some skeins of fine baby alpaca today.  Over-dyeing is a 2 step process which involves dyeing the yarn a first time in a variegated fashion, they adding an all over color to the skeins thus adding deth to the yarn. Over-dyed yarns seem to glow from within!

As soon as the skeins were dry, I balled them up, and they are in the process of becoming mittens.

This will be a fun design that I am hoping to put together as a kit for which I will design different color combinations! These first mittens will be for me though. I guess I am a little selfish but I just had to have orange and green!

Done!

I am happy to tell you that I was very good yesterday! I finished Mr. SockPixie's Shetland socks. Mark Twain was right, the best way to deal with temptation is to yield to it.
I yielded, I spun some of the delicious red roving, and then satisfied, finished the socks!



To recap the socks were made from my handspun, 2 ply, light worsted Shetland in a natural chocolate color, and some left over handspun 2 ply Romney (a left over from the EZ's mitered Mittens) also a light worsted. The socks were knit on US 5 dpts.

There are really no words to tell you how much I enjoyed the whole process of spinning the yarn, and then knitting the socks. Complete is maybe the word that comes to mind. That's it, the experience felt complete...even if I do not...yet... raise the sheep that will produce the fiber, that I will spin, to make the yarn, that I will knit into garments, that my loves will wear...

Romney Mitered Mittens

The Romney Mitts are finished and already claimed by little Miss SockPixie! I know that they will be well used and appreciated here in Boston.



To recap,I spun the light worsted 2 ply yarn from a natural silver colored Romney roving. The spinning was done from the fold using a short forward draw on my Louet Victoria spinning wheel.

I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's Mitered Mittens from her great little book the Knitter's Almanac.

The miters are a wonderful way to make really simple mittens look very attractive. Knitting the miters takes no more concentration than back and forth knitting. EZ's mittens are the perfect, relaxed, quick winter project!



I knit the mittens thumbless, following Elizabeth Zimmerman's advice, and inspired by her "unvention" did the thumb trick .(Follow the link to find pictures of the thumb trick process.)



Now I just need to knit a pair for myself so that I may take part in my family's snow ball fights!

EZ Thumb Trick

I finally took the time to work the magical trick Elizabeth Zimmermann "unvented" to make thumbs into mittens after the fact.

The great thing about the trick is that you just knit the mittens kind of thoughtlessly, without worrying about a thumb, and only add it once you are finished with the knitting of the body of the mitten. You do not even need to hold a few stitches with a waste yarn! All you need to do the trick are the mittens, scissors, your DPTs, and strong nerves if you are thumb trick virgin!



Place the hand of the recipient in the mitten and ask them to bend their thumb. With one of you DPTS lift a stitch where the thumb bends, roughly in the middle of the joint in order to mark it. The recipient can remove their hand.



Next, with sharp scissors, and after having taken a deep breath, snip the marked stitch.



Next, using a DPT gently pull the cut yarn through, releasing live stitches on the left and on the right of the snipped stitch.
I like to use the DPT, as it exerts less pull on the fabric, and seems to minimize the risk of loosing stitches.



The total number of live stitches you need to release will depend on your gauge, and the size of the hands of the recipient.(I released a total of 10.)



Take a first DPT and insert it through 1/2 of the released stitches, with a second DPT, pick up and knit 3 stitches , place about 1/2 of the remaining live stitches on the same needle, then on the 3rd DPT, place the last of the live stitches, and then pick up and knit 3 stitches.



You are all set to start knitting the thumb, just join the yarn, and knit away!

I hope this will inspire you to try knitting mittens the EZ way!