The Frenzy Continues...

The felting frenzy continues at my house with another pair of felted mittens that are earmarked for my mother for Christmas, or maybe her birthday in October so she has them before the weather gets really cold.  I used this same pattern as I did for the pink pair with a few modifications:  I cast on only 38 stitches instead of 44 and made the child size for the inner cuff instead of the adult which seemed like it would be too loose.  My hopes were that having fewer stitches would prevent the belling out that happened on the cuff of my first pair, but alas it did not.  The purl rows I think are to blame and if I were to make a yet another pair I would omit them.  The yarn used for this set was leftover from a sweater I made my mom about 2 years ago and I have been meaning to make matching mittens for her ever since.  It's Jamieson's Soft Shetland, which, you guessed it, is 100% Shetland wool.  It felted quite differently from the Lamb's Pride used for the pink mittens.  It ended up being not as thick making it  easier to bend your hand and less clumsy, and oddly lots of fiber came off loose in the washer during the felting, which unfortunately clogged our washing machine.  Thus, if you felt yourself putting your items into a tied pillowcase would be a safeguard against this happening, which I knew but didn't heed - sigh.  The mittens were very fuzzy when I took them out of the washer so I gave them a judicious trimming for the smooth look you see above. 

This marks the end of the all the felting I think.  Now, I'm onto making a matching hat for the mittens as I still have more yarn leftover.  This is the pattern I'm using (the less slouchy version), but I will be knitting it with some mods that I used previously for this hat.  Namely, I'm lining the brim with angora yarn so it's double thick over the ears and then continuing with only the Shetland yarn for the crown.  I figured the hat should be just as warm as the mittens don't you think?

Now, I haven't forgotten about casting on for my sweater vest that I'm really excited about, but I'm equally as excited to finish my Christmas gifts by the end of Summer.  It's a bit of a push pull between the two.   But, I think the Christmas gifts are winning.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

YOP Update - More Gift Knitting

 

It was a good week for me in the knitting realm.  My baby gifts were finished and given to the recipient to much fanfare and applause.  The last minute knitted stuffed Elephant was the biggest hit as apparently there was an elephant in the movie Inside Out that her kids adored.  I may have to make a couple more for them or at least pass on the pattern to their mom who is a fellow knitter.  

With those projects being crossed off the list (and yes I added the elephant to the list just so I could cross it off as I'm like that) I moved on to finishing more of my Christmas gifts.  In the toy making yarn stash I had a lot of pink colored yarn.  Now, I personally am not one for pink being of a ruddy complexion it only makes me look redder in the face, but I have one friend who is a pink color fan.  I decided to try and make her some felted mittens from this pattern that I've had for some years now.  As you can see they start out huge, but after 40 minutes of felting they are more like actual mittens.  Have you noticed the color change?  The yarn I used for knitting toys was all plant dyed and my guess is that the laundry soap I used to help felt the mittens must of had enzymes in it which changed the color.  Some plant dyed colors are really stable like weld yellow and indigo blue, but others not so much.  I don't care for the resulting shade as much as I did the previous color so I'm going to show them to some friends tonight at my monthly scrapbooking meeting to get their opinions.  What do you think?  

The mittens are also a bit more stiff and clumsy than a traditional knitted pair, but they should be killer warm in the subzero temps we get here in Minnesota.  The inside cuff is knitted in an angora/wool yarn that will keep out the drafts while keeping the mittens from falling off the hand.  I want to knit a pair for my mother, but I'm not sure if I should adjust the pattern and narrow down the wrists some as they bell out a bit. 

In the midst of all this I was breathlessly waiting for the mail to deliver the yarn I ordered from Knit Picks.  It finally arrived on Friday and I wound up a ball and started swatching right away.  After I finish my mom's mittens I believe I will cast on and get chugging away on this sweater.  Who knows maybe I can finish it just in time to use it when Fall hits.

Check out the other Year of Projects participants here.  Have a great week everyone!