mittens galore!

Hi everyone!  I've been knitting mittens like crazy, and I wanted to share one finished pair with you.  As I mentioned before, I was making thrummed mittens for my mother in law.  Her grandmother, my husband's great grandmother, always knit their whole family double knit mittens, so they were warm, windproof, and just all around great.  As she is now 95 and has advanced arthritis in her hands, it's become my job to knit everyone mittens.  I obviously hate it. :)  So last year I knit my brother in law some mittens.  My husband and his brother both have big hands, so it was a large undertaking, to say the least.  Ever since I knit Gabe's mittens, my mother in law has wanted mittens as well.

Gabe's mittens, in all of their glory

She always has cold cold hands (much like myself, actually), so I wanted to do something a little differently for her.  I had seen thrummed mittens before online, which are basically regular mittens with pieces of wool roving knit right into them.  They are very puffy, and quite cushy.  Here is a picture of my finished thrummed mittens

They are super duper cushy and warm.  I didn't take a picture of the inside of one, mostly because the cuff is tiny tiny (as you can see), and it was stretching the limits of the cuff to turn them inside out.  You can see a picture of a different knitter's pair here, and one of hers is inside out.  I put together a couple of different patterns for these mittens.  I've discovered that I have this sickness in which I cannot do any pattern exactly as written, I have to make it hard on myself and make some sort of change.  I was talking to my husband about a different pair of mittens that I'm knitting, and saying that I was doing the thumbs a different way so I had to think about it and then make it up as I was going, and he replied (with a slight hint of sarcasm, I might add!), "Well really, I'm shocked."  He knows me too well.  Isn't it great how you can't keep any secrets from the people you live with?  :)
Anyway, one pattern I used was the Yarn Harlot's thrummed mittens tutorial, which she did on her blog, and that tutorial can be found here.  I also used a pattern called Thrummed Mittens on 2 needles, which can be found here.  The Yarn Harlot's was knit in the round, so I followed the directions for that, but I didn't like the thumb on hers, so I used the thumb from the pattern for 2 needles (which were knit flat), adapting it for knitting in the round.  What I basically ended up doing was using my favorite mitten pattern and knitting in thrums every third stitch on every fourth row, offsetting them a stitch for every thrum round to get the spiral pattern.  I followed the instructions on the Yarn Harlot's blog for making a thrum and knitting it in.
All in all, these mittens turned out really great.  My mother in law loves them, and everyone who tried them on now wants a pair.  I informed everyone that there is a long waiting list, however.  :)
I also started the owl mittens and the fiddlehead mittens from the last post, and I'm really enjoying them.  I can't show you any pictures however, because my camera is on vacation in Guatemala.  The owl mittens are very cute, and I managed to finish one mitten in two days, mostly because I kept saying, "I'll do one more row so I can see the pattern!"  However, I picked gray yarn for the background, and it is beautiful yarn, but more suited to a lacy scarf than mittens.  I have decided to rip out the mitten I did and redo it in different gray yarn, and make a scarf for SOMEONE for Christmas out of the first gray I bought.   The fiddlehead mittens are turning out gorgeous, because Chelsea picked beautiful yarn (she always does, she has great taste), and a beautiful pattern.  She has been present for most of the progress on them, and she is very excited.  They are going pretty quickly, the only thing is that when I'm done the two mittens, I have to go back and knit a lining for each one.  Oh well, the things we do for our sisters!
So there is an update on what I've been knitting recently.  I'd love to hear what everyone out there is making, whether knitting, sewing, scrapbooking, or whatever else you do!  What are your homemade Christmas gifts?  Do you have anything you tend to make time and again because it's quick and easy?  Share your thoughts with us, and keep crafting! :)

March's bag, and current projects

Hey everyone!  Sorry I didn't blog last week, we had a crazy day in the shop!  We didn't have very many votes for March's bag; in fact, there were only two!  As a result, we had to flip a coin to choose the bag for March.  The winner was the Be Green Market Bag from Paradiso Designs:

We have discussed our plan at the shop for the Bag of the Month, and decided that it's a lot of pressure for you to choose twelve bags in rapid succession.  So what we're going to do is start with these three bags, and we'll choose the rest of them.  If anyone has an objection to this, please let us know and we'll do something else.  Otherwise, we'll take care of choosing the rest of the bags and let you know what we'll be doing for each month as it's happening.

In other news, it's cold out!  What have you been doing for crafts lately?  Sylvia has been working on several different quilts.  One of them was a quiltalong that she and I did at my church this summer, the disappearing 9 patch.  Click here to view a post from a different blog about this pattern.  Hopefully she will share pictures soon, she's almost done putting the final borders on it!

I've been working on lots of different things too.  I have made quite a few of the Four Corners Apron, which is really fast and fun.  It's also easy to make in a variety of different fabrics.

 

I also have several quilts I'm working on, most of which are gifts so I can't tell you about them yet. :) I did finally finish a quilt that was a gift for a wedding in 2008.  Yikes!  I'm also getting ready to revamp some furniture in our living room.  I made new cushions for a loveseat that was a gift from my parents when we got married, but they aren't really comfortable, and I figure that two and a half years of uncomfortable furniture is long enough, and it's time to redo it!  I'm hoping to use extra foam and polyester batting to make the cushions extra cushy and comfy.  Mostly, however, I've been knitting.  Right now I'm working on a pair of thrummed mittens for my mother-in-law.  This is what they will look like when they're finished (the left one is inside out):

They are super cushy.  I have the first one done except the thumb, and I'm working on the cuff for the second one.  They are actually quite quick to knit once you figure out what you're doing.  I'll give more details about yarn and patterns used when I'm done.

I also bought yarn this week for three more pairs of mittens for family members, my two sisters-in-law and my future sister-in-law.  They each picked out their own mittens, and these are what they chose:

These are for Chelsea, my future sister-in-law.  These are fine and dandy, but what you can't see is that there is a lining in these mittens that is another mitten, so basically I'm knitting four mittens for her.  It's a good thing I like her! :)  My sister-in-law Hannah chose these Owl mittens:

 

Her mittens will be made with a gray background and rosey pink owls, to match her jacket.  Claire chose mittens with flamingos on them:

 

Her mittens will have a black background with darker pink flamingos to match her jacket.  I also may or may not have promised my hairdresser and her daughter mittens as well (yes, I'm crazy too), so I'll be knitting mittens for awhile.  I'm really hoping to get some sewing in there too.  If I'm lucky.

What are you working on during this cold weather?  I'd like to say that cold weather makes me get back into crafting, but I never really stopped over the summer so that would be a falsehood.  Cold weather makes me want to stay home and craft all the time, however.  We would love to hear what you're working on, especially if you want to share pictures!  Stay warm, and we'll see you soon!