I need a pair of mittens

4th June, 2020

I decided yesterday afternoon to knit me a pair of mittens.

Well, it wasn't quite that sudden. I had decided that the pair of mittens that I had knit with yarn from Hawaii should be reknit and teamed with some hard wearing handspun yarn. The mittens had developed a hole which I didn't want to repair, as the mittens were quite flimsy.

However, between Round 6 and Round 7 of Sock Madness I had about 2 days. I'm no longer in the competition but was interested in knitting the socks with the beads which turn out to be the Round 7 socks. (192 beads is tantalising!) So I needed something quick.

I used my favourite basic pattern book: Winter Warmers from Patons. (Book 483) It has lots of hats, scarves and mittens in different weight yarns and it is an essential item in my pattern collection.

This is them...

Happy and warm.

So enjoyable, I did some more. Now I have a pair for the beach and one for the city.

Letter to the unknown customer

To whom it may concern,

Just thought I'd drop you a line to let you know that I've finally listed all my current fingerless mittens on Etsy. I know this is a little old fashioned writing a letter, but it feels better to be actually writing to someone, albeit unknown, than just speaking into the ether and wondering who is listening.

So let me tell you about my mittens. There are three different types that I've listed:

These are the last of the handspun yarn crocheted into a simple shape. I need to make more of these, but there's alot of spinning to do. I do have some gorgeous coloured tops in my stash waiting for me.

Then there's my new range:

I've made them with the boys in mind, but they do look good on women too! Currently, they come in black, grey or natural colours. I like addiing something different on the band and down the back of the hand.

Then there's my standby fingerless mittens, the ones with the buttons. They started this whole fingerless mitten making run.

There's the black and cream ones I always have, though I do need a couple of grey gloves, I am from Melbourne!

Then there are the couple of colours I currently have.












And, finally,

the chunky ones! Two are handspun and the other is from a stash dive with amazing buttons.

I have made an aweful lot of these fingerless mittens with buttons, over 150 if my records are to be believed, and the spreadsheet never lies, though I can hardly believe it! What makes it even more unbelievable is that each one is different. Sometimes it's just the yarn and I knit the square in stocking stitch with the thumb and the borders in moss stitch. That's my standard pattern, but alot are diving into the stitch books and playing with different stitches.

Anyway, I hope you like them and if you want to become a known customer head over to the fingerless mitten section of my Etsy shop.

Hope to hear from you,

Cheers, Teresa


I

Buttons

I've been sorting through my buttons.

I just love buttons!

Trying to find the perfect match.

Now, I have to sew them on.....

Just some finished things

Here are the finished articles referred to in previous posts. Just so you know I do finish things!

Firstly, the mystery socks. I slowed down once the last page was sent out, and then they sat waiting for the toes to be grafted. Finally, they're finished, I've worn them and I like them. Just perfect for jeans. Now, I need some new shoes.....

Oh, and, yes, I do have different sized feet and therefore different sized socks!

Then there's the fingerless mittens using the Earth Pallette experiment. I found just the right buttons and I like them, they'll be at Rose St. on Sunday.

And, finally the scarf. I am so happy with it. It has rolls, holes, bits sticking out and, I think, reflects my trip to the Botanical Gardens. The picture doesn't quite show everything, but, I hope you get the idea.

Ladders

Now, I have to replace the fingerless mittens that sold on Saturday! I have a certain number of mittens in my head that I think I need to give people a reasonable choice. The first part of this is to replace those sold!

Hanging in my workshop were two hanks of 12ply yarn that had been dyed in Earth Palette dyes. I like the idea of these as they are a cold water dye and also allow you to 'paint' the yarn. My friend, Jackie and I, had purchased a few at the Sheep and Wool show and it seemed like a good idea that now was the time to experiment!

To make up the dye we used hot water to melt the dye and other chemical crystals. We were supposed to allow them to cool, but being impatient to give it a go we used them warm. In my fellow dyers case this didn't cause any problems as she was cautious (newbie dyer!) and I just ploughed ahead. Of course, the dye took too well and the mixing I was expecting didn't quite happen. I ended up with these two balls of yarn.

Using the newly purchased stitch dictionary (see yesterday's post), I chose a stitch they called 'ladders'.

And here are the knitted mittens, without finishing and buttons. Aren't they fun?

I can see this stitch in all sorts of ways: a very fine yarn would really suit this stitch, rearranging the ladders and perhaps, casting off and on the background stitches to really create a ladder. Just some ideas.

Now, I'm off to do the shopping, washing and all the stuff that didn't get done on the weekend......It was a nice weekend.

Craft Hatch here I come!

I've figured out what time I have to be at Craft Hatch and will catch the 9.29am train to the city. I'm excited and apprehensive. I love this tiny market and hope that, despite tomorrow being cold and wintry, that people will come to the City Library and have a look and maybe even buy!

I took a quick picture of the new things that I take to the market. It's a good reference for me and reminds me that I have worked over the last two weeks. The first week was spent spinning and dyeing with a bit of basic knitting. This week has been more knitting, and finishing off each item and then pricing and putting on their tags. (Sigh!)

I'm happy with the new neckwarmers in single colours, the new lace-up fingerless mittens, dyed after they were knit. Just one more scarf sneaked in and I would have liked to make more button up mittens, but I managed one.

Sort of feel satisfied after spelling it out. Off to move the car as the builder finishes up his work tomorrow. Pictures to follow!

Found the camera at last!

I really did think that we could get through this house renovation without much disruption. Yes, I am a glass half full (well, three quarters full!) type person. Subsequently, I'm now in a state! Part of this resulted in my misplacing the camera. Needless to say, I've finally found it!

I've been busy today, sewing on buttons on my latest batch of fingerless mittens - 60, to be precise. I'm off to Rose St. Artists' Market tomorrow, hopefully the rain will hold off for us.

So, I thought I would just show you some of the work of the past two weeks.

These are the articles I finished for last weeks Ivanhoe Makers Market.

1. Blue fingerless mittens made from the beautiful wool roving I bought on my weekend away at Tarndwarncoort.

2. New design of fingerless mittens, very simple but laced up down the back of the hand. Just using the yo,k2tog at the beginning of each row and using the resulting 'loop' to lace up with a twisted cord.

These both sold last week!

3. A funky simple beany using three different yarns together.

4. A black and white, feather and fan scarf, knitted lengthwise. This is the first of the upmarket footy scarves. Know a Collingwood fan out there?

These are the mittens I've just finished.

1. Two more mittens using the last of the Tarndwarncoort rovings. All that handspinning is just wonderful for my sanity.

2. The purple mittens use the pattern 'Stars and Stripes'. The grey mittens use the pattern 'Twist and turn'. Both these patterns are from the No.5 Vogue Stitchonary on Lace, that I just recently received. More on my purches in another post!

3. The hat is using some hand-dyed 12 ply from Morris and Sons. I managed to make their sale and picked up a few more cream wool packets. There's a little feather and fan pattern and the rim is stocking stitch which rolls up. I've got a hat like this and it's fun using the natural curl of stocking stitch.

All I have to do now is put the price tags on and I'm off tomorrow to market!

A busy weekend

Yes, it's going to be a busy weekend. Saturday is the Ivanhoe Makers Market, new name, bright new logo and hopefully a busy day to celebrate the end of Winter and the start of Spring. I'm going to have a 20% off everything sale, to celebrate. I hope that everyone comes and says hello.


These are the latest neckwarmers that I've been working on. Handspun, dyed, knit and finished with a button (of course).









And a few more fingerless mittens.









Then on Sunday, I'm part of a team that will be competing in the Sheep to Shawl competition at the Royal Melbourne Show. The competition starts around 10.30am and finishes when all the teams have spun and knit a shawl, however long that takes.

I've always wanted to have a go at competing, should be fun. It would be nice to have a cheer squad?

Rhythms of the day

Having embarked on studies again, committing somewhere around 3 days a week has meant that I've needed to rearrange my week. Having had particular rhythms to the week for so long, it's been difficult to change my habits and enlist the help of the household. It's slowly getting there, but it's been an interesting challenge.

This might explain why I've only finished two fingerless mittens this week when I need to make quite a few for the next market, but here they are:

Buttonless mittens no more!

I've got through the pile, and these are the mittens I finished this week.

More purple, this time with cable down the side.

The black moss stitch, with the coloured embroidery.

And another red onion skin fingerless mittens. The yarn had copper coins as a mordant.

This week I'm excited, I get to stock Incube8r on Friday and Saturday is Craft Hatch at the City Library.

More yarn, more mittens!

Embroidery on knitting

One of my favourite knitwear designers/writers is Montse Stanley. Sadly, she died in 1999, but her work lives on through her books, most famously her 'Knitters' handbook'. She collected books and knitting tools, including the first time I read any mention of knitting belts. This was donated to the University of Southhampton and is in their Library collection. Unfortunately, it is not accessible online (well, I couldn't find anything more than a description, tantalisingly, of the collection).

I did manage to pick up one of her books at a HWSG Textile Bazaar. Note to self: after missing the May bazaar, DON'T miss the October? one, always worth a visit on the chance of finding something.

I have been wanting to use some of her techniques. I always found that while dated, her aesthetic is closest to mine of any of the designers I admire. Strong lines, and texture seem to be her strong points and an encouragement to her readers to design.

I decided I would try this very simple technique of one of my fingerless mittens. These are always useful for trying small techniques and this gives me a way of producing lots and mitigating the boredom factor.

It starts with a moss stitch fabric, over which another yarn is woven. I chose a black fabric with the fibre sandwich yarn.

Please don't ask about the fingerless mittens I'm supposed to be knitting for myself from this yarn. Having always being worried that using my own hands for the mittens I might make them too big, I have largish hands for a women, what do I do when making my own.....make them too big! They will be done by Craft Hatch on Saturday........

After a few attempts, I finally settled on this pattern, which I am very pleased with...... Now to sew on the buttons......

What did I finish this week?

I've decided that I'm going to document the articles that I finish each week.....just in case you're interested in anything. Most will end up in my Etsy shop, but not always. I often don't put things on for a variety of reasons: the main being time, however, photographs are often the reason. If I don't feel that I've managed to give a good indication of colour, texture or form, I'll leave them to my market stall, so people can see them for real. Occasionally, I have articles that I need people to feel or try on because they're a bit odd!


So here they are for this week:




Red Onion with Alum mordant dyed silk scarf with folds



2 skeins of chocolate centres yarn (100gm and 90gm)

Purple fingerless mittens with bobbles down the edge of the buttons. (sold)

Doesn't feel like alot of stuff, but there is a pile of fingerless mittens still to put buttons on and more chocolate fleece to spin!

So, if you're interested in anything, don't hesitate to contact me: tsbtextile@yahoo.com.au

Mosaic knitting

The first UFO is finally finished...if only there weren't so many buttons! I've had some good suggestions for a group name...I like a 'fleet of UFO's' or a 'distraction of UFO's'...the only thing I have to say, is that it's still there.

I had leftover yarn from another project and decided to try some Mosaic knitting. It ended up being quite successful, with all that leftover yarn disappearing, there's now only a small ball of cream left and just enough yellow to go into the compost bin, a fine effort!

I did try this stitch at first thinking I would make a scarf, but, of course, the back is fairly unattractive. Making them into these fingerless mittens was just perfect. Using the fairisle idea of only changing one colour at a time ensured that the colours used in each one matched sufficiently to look purposeful, even though the original colours were not chosen to match each other.

Off to the guild today to 'work' in the library. A pleasurable pastime.

Not more fingerless mittens

With the market (9"x5" QMM) on Sunday, I've been finishing off these fingerless mittens. I just thought I'd show you all as these are the brightest I've done yet. Several requests/queries indicated that I needed to make some purple (I can do that), pink (!) and aqua (?). I also threw in some onion-skin dyed yarn, which is much more me.

It's interesting doing colours you wouldn't normally select for yourself. I decided to purchase some handspun yarn from the HWSG in pink and purple, and use that. I haven't worn pink since primary school. Mum made me a hot pink drop waist short sleeved dress. I did like it then, but since haven't worn anything like it.

However, I do feel that somehow, they've become a product of my personality and I like them. Hopefully, they go well on Sunday.

Fingerless mittens galore

Off to Incube8tr with some more buttoned fingerless mittens. I am very keen to make as many as I can before Sunday as well. I haven't seen anything like this anywhere, and I have this interesting feeling that I might have hit on something.

Looking over what I have sold, there are probably three products that have sold well(ish!) and that are also unique designs: these Fingerless mittens, the silk scarves and the tri-scarf. I think I might concentrate on these for the rest of the winter and see what happens.

Fingerless mittens

I thought I would make some fingerless mittens and wristies to go with my hats. It is interesting how fast I can turn these out now without having to think too much.

However, I am really happy with the third pair that I made. Well half made, I've only done one and haven't sewn on any buttons. Just giving you a look at the possibilities. These might be useful as you don't have to knit in the round, just make a square and sew on the buttons.