Tuesday, November 10, 2009

more on the thrummed mitts

One pair is done: And I've made some changes to the other: The grey and red pair will be put away for Christmas now.

The changes I made to the blue? After some careful measuring and weighing, I determined that I would not have enough of the grey alpaca for the pair. Crap. So I dug out my wheel of navy pencil roving, and have alternated rows of super soft grey alpaca and not so soft but really warm navy wool roving. The bonus? I like this better. The navy adds a depth of colour. Even my husband noticed and liked it better. (A comment made without even any prompting! He's getting so much better at this...) He's sure my nephew D will love these. I hope so. Or at least, I hope he likes them enough, or at least, he likes me enough not to tell me if he hates them...
You can see here how generous I make the thrums. I feel that the inside of the mitten should be completely packed with fibre. You shove your hand in, and the fibre forms around it, making a custom sized pocket, just for you. Luxurious. It's the only way to go.

The blue mitts are so much easier to knit - the Heilo yarn is closer to a DK weight, while the Briggs and Little grey was a worsted. On 4mm needles, the grey made a firmer fabric, but it was harder on my hands. This Heilo is much easier. I can see these mitts taking less time, even though they are larger.

Next up - some Peruvian hand painted stuff with plain thrums, and some beautiful cream coloured wool with hand painted thrums. Or maybe I'll keep the cream colour and make the thrums in the stripe colours of a classic Hudson's Bay Point Blanket.

Can't get any more Canadian than that...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thrummed mitts are the warmest! Someone should design a thrummed jacket, or at least a vest!!

Acorn to Oak said...

I'm curious about how to make these thrummed mittens...do you wrap a thrum around the needle instead of the yarn and knit it in each place that you want to add it and then just pick up your working yarn again on the next stitch? They look so cozy, warm and soft. What a brilliant idea!

Acorn to Oak said...

P.S. I love that blanket!

deirdre said...

I want to get on your Christmas list... I've made thrummed mittens before, but they didn't look nearly as cushy as yours do...

Brendaknits said...

The mitts look great. And you are so lucky to own a Hudson's Bay blanket. I'm jealous.

Carol said...

Hudsons Bay blankets are totally iconic. Love em!