Knit Along: Winter Wonder Mittens - DONE!

Unopposable Thumbs...

Turns out, the thumbs were indeed something to fear.  Not for lack of clarity in Amy Loberg’s lovely design, but just because there’s a motif involved.  Picking up stitches from the waste yarn was harder than I thought because of all those strands carried behind the fabric, not to mention the particular (and delightful) fuzziness of the yarn.

I am inappropriately proud of these.  They are light and warm and fancy-looking, presidential alpaca sources notwithstanding.  My finest achievement yet!  I took them to church to show them off to a friend who is a big fan of mittens (is that two sins or one?).  When the second one is done, I shall be stuffing them into people’s faces whenever I wear them out.  “Talk to the hand” will take on a whole new meaning.

“Look at this ninja knitting!” I said, holding my mittened hand up to my son.  He rolled his eyes and said--with the absolute knowledge only a fifteen year old can produce--"Mom, ninjas do not wear mittens.”

If they saw these, I bet they would reconsider.

Knit Along: Winter Wonder Mittens - Day 6

Exactly what have I achieved here?

We have achieved mittens.  Or, actually, just mitt, as this one doesn’t have the thumb yet that makes it a mitten.  Look at them, they're beautiful.  But I’ll tell you, if one more person asks me why I’m knitting mittens in May, I’m going to do something truly creative with the sharp ends of my dpn’s.  It’s not like I’m knitting a Christmas stocking in July (which may actually be the smartest time to start knitting a Christmas stocking if you’re not fast at these things).

So, I’m knitting like a madwoman this morning, trying to get this done so I can show all of you.  And I make my goal.  Satisfied at goal achieved, I reward myself with a long hot shower...

...and reach up to discover a dpn still stuck in my hair where I tucked it behind my ear like a pencil earlier this morning.  I laugh at further evidence of my knitting obsession, until I remember these are wooden needles.  Those can’t get wet, they might warp.  So there I am, jumping out of the shower to stand dripping in a towel in my bathroom drying off my wooden needle.  Honestly, how ridiculous is that?

Any fan of knitting might not find it entirely shocking.  

Knit Along: Winter Wonder Mittens - Day 4

Head and Hands...

I’ve been pondering the value of creativity lately.

It’s a peculiar topic for me, because as a writer, I am creative for a living. Knitting has always served as a counterpoint to my labor of words, the “anti-writing” that recharges me to continue writing. 

I heard a piece on the radio the other day about Helen and Scott Nearing, icons of the back to the land movement and authors of The Good Life.  While there are a host of policital/social views offered in the book, I was most intrigued by their concept of a ideal day, divided into three blocks of distinct pursuits.  Labor to earn a living (in which they highly valued manual labor), civic-community pursuits, and professional/recreational activities. Hands, head, and heart, as it were.   I was fascinated by their “three blocks of four hours” concept--it explains why my day feels incomplete if I haven’t had time to knit.  

I’m stymied, however, by their lumping together of professional and recreational pursuits. They are very distinct for me. And yet, my profession creates other people’s recreation, and I know my profession is considered recreation by many (clearly folks who haven’t seen me near a deadline!).  In short, separate my professional creation from my recreational creation.

I don’t write to relax, although some people do. It got me thinking; would I write for fun, if I only had to do it when I felt like it?  Yes, I think so.  Writing about knitting is fun for me.  That’s not to say writing novels isn’t fun--it is enormously satisfying, but it’s work.  It’s hard.

But wait, these mittens are work.  They’re hard.  And I am on a deadline of sorts, knowing you all are watching. Where’s the difference?  The interesting thing is that I know there is a difference, but I’m not at all sure what that difference is.  If I could knit for a living (oh, the joy!), would it become similar to what writing is for me now?

All I know for certain is that I must have both.  They balance each other out, head and hands, in my day.  I’m sure I would feel incomplete if I lost the ability to do either.

Makes it poignant, when you think about it, that I’m pondering this as I tax my head power to serve my hands with toasty mittens.

Knit Along: Winter Wonder Mittens - Day 3

Thumthing wicked this way comes...

It’s sitting there, tucked snugly inside the current mitten, mocking me.  The thumb.

Really, after mastering all this lovely patterned color-work, I should hardly be afraid of a thumb.  It’s what separates us from lower life forms, right?  Opposable thumbs?  The physiological distinction that enables me to hold my knitting needles while other adorable yet less evolved species like my dog must content themselves with scratching?  Of course I should be able to craft a suitable housing for my beloved thumb.

Yet, I have to wonder.  Why do they leave it to last?  Is it so difficult that we’d bail on the project if we tried it mid-stream?  The same reason why I believe God gives us the easy child first so that we’re duped into thinking we can handle more and then POW...the “challenging child” comes along? (I was that second challenging child, by the way, so I’ve earned the right to say that...).

I do have a few mittens where the thumbs came out dorky.  Too fat, too long specimens, inelegant reminders that small details make a big difference.  Still, I’m astounded how this element makes me fret.  It’s probably no mistake that I marked its location with red yarn.  A cautionary color.

All else is going well, however, so I will try to persist in optimism.  I will cary on. 

Knit Along: Winter Wonder Mittens - Day 2

The World Beyond Stripes

I feel so impressed with myself.  These are looking so nice, I want to stop people on the street and shout, “Look at what I made!  Look at me, knitting with a strand in each hand--each hand I tell you!”  Yes, I was a theater major in college, which means by definition I am a shameless attention hog.  Just in case you haven’t yet figured this out.

Mostly, I love the whole new world--intarsia, fair isle, color work, etc--that this new skill opens up.  A world beyond stripes is now my new horizon.  Normally, I would run from curly-cues, but I LOVE these.  The selection of patterned hats and mittens out there is endless--and now I can have at any one I want.  I feel like a kid in a candy store with Daddy’s platinum Visa.

It’s not only the fat selection, it’s my fattened toolbox.  The satisfaction of an important new skill.  And really, while your fingers tangle up at first even if you are a continental knitting veteran, it’s not that hard.  The vital dynamic here is not what you see, but what you don’t.  Success here is all in how you carry the yarn behind the work.  It’s got to be loose enough so that it doesn’t distort the pattern, but not so loose that you’ll snag on loops every time you put your hand into the mitten.  And the little twisty trick to carry yarn behind when you don’t use it for more than five stitches?  The one I learned taking a class at my local yarn shop?  I smirk every time I do it.

If you think this looks beyond your skills, dare yourself to give it a try.  The world needs more satisfied smirks.

Next, we make room for the thumb.

Winter Wonder Mittens from FiberWild! - Day 1

I have met the Alpacas who will warm my hands.  I love that.  It’s like the Michael Pollan of fiber...I’ve gone and traced my way back to the origins of my food cycle or something.  I know this fiber’s origin (or at least its friends--I can’t actually say for certain that I’ve met Grant and Washington, but I’ve chummed it up with their herd for sure).

At first I was sure this yarn would be too fine.  Who wants lacy mittens?  I always think mittens must be dense and sturdy, but these Winter Wonder Mittens have a delicate quality to them.  I had forgotten the extra layer colorwork creates by carrying the second color along behind the first.  And alpaca is very warm despite feeling very light and astoundingly soft.  I suspect once these are blocked, they’ll be quite snuggly.  Right now they are promising to be beautiful.

This is not television knitting.  Attention must be paid when working a pattern like this.  You need the little post-it note trick, keeping track of you rows and stitches.  It’s like lace work in that regard. I ended up blocking the pattern into 10-stitch quadrants and putting stitch markers every ten inches so that I was only checking 10 stitches at a time, not an entire row’s worth of non-repeating pattern.

I'm excited, and looking forward to the rest of this project.

GALENA, ILLINOIS

Ah, the drive-away weekend...

Icon of American recreation, those mini-breaks we all think we’ll get to but hardly ever manage.  For me, the ideal long weekend away consists of no more than a three hour drive, and there had better be chocolate, yarn, and coffee when I get there.

Yep, that’d be Galena, Illinois.

Even in chilly February, this is one of those postcard-perfect resort towns that is just busy enough to feel entertaining, just sleepy enough to feel relaxing.  From the moment you drive through the big green floodgates (which reminded me of the Emerald City for some reason), happiness beckons.

This Main Street looks like a main street, feels like a main street, and walks like a main street.  It’s marvelously simple on just about the perfect scale.  As such, there’s no real science to how you take the place in.  It’s just a matter of wandering and exploring.  So, I’m going to take a novel approach here and show you my favorites by type rather than a specific route.  And rather than hand you one long blog entry, I'm going to break it up into smaller, topical installments.

Starting, of course, with the yarn store:

FiberWild!

304 S. Main Street

Galena, IL  60136

815-777-3550 or 888-848-KNIT

www.FiberWild.com

How can you not love a store with an exclamation point?  This really thoughtful establishment boasts a massive inventory and a collection of exclusive kits that will amaze you.  Despite its tourism base, FiberWild! manages that instant community we all seek in a yarn store through go-the-extra-mile customer service and encouraging personal support.  While I was there, I watched co-owner Amy Loberg (she owns the store with her husband Sean but longtime fans will tell you store cat Scout probably rounds out the executive branch) nudge a reluctant knitter into her first entrelac.  Brilliant.  That’s the kind of store owner I like--one that encourages me to expand my skills.  

They’ve done a great job of replicating the store’s high-quality atmosphere in their on-line experience, too.  If you saw something and talked yourself out of it (the horror!), you’ll be able to go back and get in online for sure.  Something truly unique to FiberWild! is their selection of fine finished knitwear.  This isn’t only a yarn shop, this is a hand-knit apparel and accessories store.  Walking in to the shop virtually guarantees a case of the “gimmies,” even if you’ve just mastered the purl stitch.

Projects that caught my eye include:

Winter Wonder Cap and Mittens

You’re going to hear a bit more about the yarn I’m using to make these (they are one of our knit alongs), but Amy also suggests Classic Elite Yarn’s Fresco wool, alpaca, and angora mix.  FiberWild! sells these as a kit since Amy created the patterns, but the mitten pattern can be also downloaded free from the Classic Elite website. If you’re looking for a place to show off your mad colorwork skills (or an elegant place to learn them), these are for you.  Impressive, and sure to make fellow knitters bow to your superiority.

Want something a little more basic but with a local twist?  Opt for the Stockton Socks done up in locally produced Suzy the Shepherdess Yarn from neighboring Stockton.  Good husband, dad, or boyfriend knitting (but you know what they say...knitting your boyfriend something has jinxed many a relationship!).  Then again, it comes in women's sizes, and what woman doesn’t want cozy toes?

If you want to go for the gold, break out your ninja knitting skills and tackle what I’m going to tackle, the Arched Gusset Sock.  An exquisite design of Amy’s, this kit is the black diamond ski slope of knitting.  I’m more than a little nervous, I’ll admit.  But can you imagine the looks I’ll get when I show these masterpieces off?  Done up in Soxx Appeal Superwash Merino, these guarantee some first-class footwork to be sure.

Next?  Why, food of course!  Stay tuned.