Amor Deliria Nervosa

Last year, I designed a hat pattern for Storied Yarn's A Yarn and A Tale yarn and book club. The book that inspired my hat was "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver, a dystopian young adult novel about a world in which love is a disease. The yarn that Jess sent me for the design was her fabulous bouncy, springy Bo Peep Worsted (100% merino, 250 yds/4 oz) in the colorway "Waiting for Something to Happen", a grey with pops of purple, red, yellow and blue.

When it came time to release the pattern to the world, I decided to knit up another hat in a more solid colorway, and I chose LOMOND Aran (183 yds/100 gr) from Kettle Yarn Co in the gloriously cheerful and bright "Ginger".

This yarn is an alpaca/merino/bamboo blend, and is crazy warm and cozy. Despite one version being knit in worsted and one in aran weight yarn, the gauge is the same - I think because the Bo Peep Worsted is so bouncy and full, it behaves like a slightly heavier weight yarn.

I was showing the Ginger hat to Alli last October, and she said "You know, you should really do some mittens too..." Since I always do what Alli tells me to, the next thing I knew, I'd gotten another skein of LOMOND Aran from Linda, and pulled out the leftovers from the grey hat. Then there were mittens,

and cuffs to go with the hats.

Both patterns are now available on Ravelry, and soon here on the Patterns page. If you buy one pattern, you can get 25% off the purchase of the accompanying pattern - purchase at any time, no coupon code needed.

Details and specs:

Amor Deliria (hat):
Sizes: adult small (medium, large), to fit head circumference of up to 18 (20, 22) in/46 (51, 56) cm.
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm and US 8/4.5mm, or size needed to get gauge.
Yarn: requires approximately 140 (160, 183) yds/128 (146, 165) m aran or worsted weight yarn.
Gauge: 17 sts/22 rows over 4 in/10 cm in lace pattern on larger needles. Note: these measurements are after blocking.
Price: $5.50

Deliria Nervosa (cuffs/mittens):
Sizes: S/M (M/L) for cuffs, for wrist circumference of approximately 6 (7.25) in/15.25 (18.5) cm, unstretched. Small (medium, large) for mittens, with final hand circumference of approximately 8 (8.75, 9.5) in/20.25 (22.25, 24.25) cm.
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm and US 8/5.0 mm, or size needed to get gauge
Yarn: cuffs require approximately 60 (70) yds/55 (64) m; mittens require approximately 124 (160,1 80) yds/114 (146, 165) m aran or worsted weight yarn.
Gauge: cuffs: 19 sts/27 rows over 4 in/10 cm in lace pattern on larger needles; mittens: 21 sts/26 rows per 4 in/10 cm in lace pattern. Note: these measurements are after blocking.
Price: $6.50 (pattern includes both cuffs and mittens)

Both patterns include multiple charts.

And just FYI, there is an update schedule over at Kettle Yarn Co for Sunday evening at 5 pm London (UK) time, and it will include LOMOND Aran, so grab some! (She's got a glorious teal blue BANFF Aran available now if you can't wait...) Storied Yarns also has Bo Peep worsted available right now in a some gorgeous solidish colors and a variegated that would look fab in these patterns. Even better, you can get a hat and a pair of cuffs out of one skein!

Right, I think I've done my duty in keeping you all cozy for this month, time to get back to working on next month's pattern!

Gherkin Mittens

I'm very pleased to be able to say that the fourth (and final) pattern in my London-inspired collection is now available.

The Gherkin Mittens are inspired by the Gherkin, a rather phallic odd building in the Financial District. While it's not in the London Bridge area where I used to work, it is extremely visible from there (as well as many other parts of London). I've been enthralled by its lines since I first saw it, and I'm thrilled to bits with these mittens.

Worked in bulky weight wool, these are super quick to knit up, so if you need a last minute Christmas gift, these are for you! I knit the large size for the prototype, and used about 220 yds of bulky yarn over the course of a couple of evenings.

The pattern includes both charts and written stitch directions, plus a cute picture of the wee small dog serving as a prop. Something like this:

Gherkin Mittens, $5.00


God willing and the crick don't rise, I'm hoping to release all four patterns as a mini-e book before the end of the year. Stay tuned!

FO: Handspun Northman Mittens

I can't remember if I did this last year or not (I don't think I did), but this year I've decided that, in the face of just over three weeks to Christmas, and a lot of gift knitting that must be done, thereby obliterating any other potential blog fodder, I am going to do the FO posts as the Os are Fd (so to speak). Otherwise I'll be forced to post a picture of my narrow escape from Sleeve Island and that will stay at the top of the blog for the next few weeks. And that's not what any of you want to see - grey cables are not very interesting photo montage material. So without further ado...Present #1 (that I'm blogging about in December - some of the others have already been mentioned and won't be revisited).

Pattern: Northman Mittens by David Schulz of Southern Cross Fibre fame
Yarn: For the outer mitts - handspun pencil roving from Artisan Threads, in natural white and naturally dyed teal, approximately 135 yds teal and 80 yds white. Also some handspun brown BFL for the cuffs, left over from the Norwegian Snail Mitten extravaganza last year - no idea how many yards. For the lining - 120 yds of handspun BFL singles that were dyed by me with Burgundy Jacquard Acid dye.
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm for outer mitten, US 5/3.75 mm for lining.
Gauge: Outer mitten: 6 sts/inch, lining: 5 sts/inch.
Start/finish: 28 October - 29 November 2010. They would have been done faster, but I had a wait of about a week and a half while I tried to get some more teal pencil roving, and then I had to spin and dye the lining yarn.

Comments/mods: Let's start with modifications: besides using handspun instead of commercial yarn, absolutely none. This pattern was a joy from start to finish - well written, nicely laid out, with gorgeous pictures and fantastic charts.

I like the purled cuff quite a lot - using two strands of yarn for alternate purl stitches creates an interesting texture. The pencil roving had a bit of lanolin left in it, and the rustic yarn made for a slightly scratchy outer mitten, but the lining solved the itch factor. And Gill at Artisan Threads was very helpful in procuring me another ball of the teal roving when I ran out (I may have even gotten some more of the white roving too. Just to have on hand, you know).

I really like the lines and patterning on the thumb gusset.

I even managed to remember to switch charts for the left and right mitten, so the amount of swearing involved in the completion of this project was greatly reduced.

For the lining, I spun a singles yarn because I thought that some feltability might be a good thing for mitten lining. And the Spintelligence Fibre Club has me in a singles spinning mode these days. This yarn was spun at 6.25:1 and soaked in hot water until it cooled (overnight). It then went in the dye crockpot with a 2 DOS burgundy dye solution (volume dye/weight of fiber) for a couple of hours. I let that cool overnight, and the dye bath was largely exhausted the next morning.

The BFL made for a soft and squishy lining, and my inability to loosely tie my skeins led to a Malabrigo-esque kettle dye job. Result! So these are destined for some lucky someone somewhere with cold hands. Any one want to predict who? There might be a prize in it...

Southwark Collection, design #2

The Brits have a certain dry sense of humor when it comes to phallic symbols, which has resulted in the above building being nicknamed The Gherkin. It even has it's own Wikipedia entry. The Gherkin is visible from many parts of London, but when I walk up Borough High Street coming back from the coffee shop, I can see the tip peaking up into the sky. Pun intended.

I love the swirling lines going up around the building, and have been trying to wrap my head around how to recreate them in some mittens. First up was the yarn:

I bought this skein of StR lightweight waaaaay back in my first Blue Moon Fiber Arts experience (actually, my only BMFA purchase so far, since I ain't paying to ship to the UK, thankyouverymuch). It's been marinating in the stash, waiting for the perfect project to come along. And for whatever reason, my inner magpie decided that it needed to become some twisted stitch mittens.

I was having a bit of a brain cramp as to how to work the decreases so as to maintain the lines of the twisted stitches, but get a bit of the change in the diamond shape as it goes up. I think I came up with something as I was on the verge of going to sleep a few nights ago, but it remains to be seen whether or not my dreamy solution is a real life, practical solution. Stay tuned.

Going gray

Picasso had his Blue Period, and apparently I'm in a Gray Period. To whit: in the last week, I have purchased this,

and started this.

I finally started knitting Design #3 that's been percolating in this,

and started knitting a DK weight protoype of Design #2 in this.

Hmmm...one might be forgiven for thinking that the recent rash of Absolutely. Spectacularly. Sunny (but cold!). Weather. is inspiring me towards typical London autumnal shades in an attempt to fool the weather gods in to keeping the clouds away for a bit longer.

A bit of a spree

As those of you on Ravelry know, a number of designers chose/are choosing to donate some of their proceeds from pattern sales to various organizations offering aid to Haiti. Using their nifty "Help for Haiti" tag, you can browse the patterns, or filter the results to patterns that you've already favorited or queued.

The ease with which I was able to find patterns that I had already noted down meant that I dropped quite a bit of imaginary PayPal money on patterns. Including:

Snow White
Gosport
Honeybee Cardigan
The Manzanita Collection
Francie
Northman Mittens
Triskele Mittens

And I don't think I'm done yet. A number of designers (including me) are extending the donating period well into February and even later. So get out there and start buying people!

The next question, of course, is what do I cast on first with my four sweaters worth of stash (at least). Any suggestions?

FO: Hat and mitten set

Back to the Christmas rundown. This was certainly the year for handspun gifts.

The hat was knit in July, and I had enough of the yarn (blogged here) to make some matching mittens.

Pattern: Robin's Egg Blue hat by Rachel Iufer, inspiring matching mittens
Yarn: Hello Yarn Fiber Club superwash BFL in "Night Sky", 2 skeins bulky weight, 245 yds. I used probably 200 yds for the set.
Needles: US 10/6.0 mm - next time I'll go down a needle size on the mittens - they were a bit loosely knit.
Comments/mods: I've already blogged the hat, so I'll just comment a bit on the mittens. I figured out the number of stitches I wanted for the folded over cuff, and worked that like the band on the hat. Then I knit a generic mitten shape, with an inset thumb (as opposed to a thumb gusset deal). The mittens are a bit loose, but I think they can work with liners if it's really cold.

The buttons came from some I salvaged off my Mountain Mohair sweater when I turned it into spaghetti. I think they work well, and the receipient seems to like them!

FO: Homage to Hello Yarn

Of all the Christmas presents, these were the hardest to give up, by far!

Backs

Palms

Pattern: Norwegian Snail Mittens by Adrian Bizilia
Yarn: Handspun BFL in natural brown and "Norway" (dyed by Adrian as part of the Hello Yarn Fiber Club)
Needles: US 00/1.75 mm (hoo boy!)
Gauge: ~ 9 stitches/inch
Start/finish: 8 November - 6 December 2009
Comments/mods: I've blogged about the spinning here. The 2.5 oz of brown BFL I originally spun up ended up being too thick as a 3-ply, so I spun up another ounce quickly and 2-plied it, getting ~70 yards. That worked perfectly. I ended up having to spin up another ounce later (72 yds) but didn't finish it all off. Let's say ~120 yds of the brown.

I didn't use up all of the Norway I'd spun either. As you can see, the stripes didn't match up as well as I was hoping, but I refused to let that bother me. Otherwise, I would have been splicing and swearing about small bits of handspun gone to waste and so on. I think I probably used two thirds of each skein, so maybe 3 oz total? Again, since I didn't measure the yardage, I have no idea how much I used. I'll have to measure the leftovers and weight them to get an estimate.

The pattern was great fun to knit, although I have issues with using sport weight yarn on miniscule needles. My bright blue metal size 00 dpns are now bent and tortured from the effort of trying to knit with this stuff. I adore the stripes on the palms. Maybe even more then the snails...

It's a very good thing these were a bit tight around the hand, otherwise my mother-in-law might be going home with very chilly fingers. I hope these beauties enjoy life in Vermont!

ETA (30 Dec): my MIL wore these yesterday on our poorly planned hike in the rain/sleet/snow and her hands stayed dry and warm enough that she had to take the mittens off. There's something to be said for teeny tiny needles I guess!

FF: No spinning, double FOs for Project Spectrum

It's rapidly moving in to that sad time of year when the spinning wheel starts to get a little dusty. I haven't quite managed to fold it up and put it away in the Stash n' Gear Room yet, but the brake band and the drive band are both off, and it's looking a bit neglected. Which is unfortunate, because I received 12 oz of Hello Yarn goodies in two different colorways this week, and I'm itching to spin them up. However, it is That Season, and so the spinning is taking a back seat.

In order to try and make it up to you, I present instead, not one but two FOs in my favorite color. One is a start on the gift list, the other is for me. So here goes...

The giftee:

Pattern: Jack in the Box Mittens by Robin Melanson, from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (100% wool, 245 yds/100g), left over from a sweater knit for my MIL long ago, color Touche Teal (icky name), and I used less then one skein.
Needles: US 6/4.0 mm for cuff, and US 7/4.5 mm for rest
Gauge: 5.5 stitches/8 rows per inch.
Start/finish: 4 Oct-8 Oct 2009. Really they were finished today when I sewed on the buttons. But so quick!
Comments/mods: I made the "mens" size, and the finished measurements are 10.5 inches long (from edge of cuff) and 8 inches around. They are roomy on my hands and about an inch too long for me. Which is ok, they aren't for me. The pattern was well written, quick to knit and fun. All good there.

Some details:

This cuff was fun...

I love the Staghorn Cable down the back of the hand - it's such a great texture

I can't believe it's taken me so long to jump on the mitten bandwagon. They are great projects! And, given that you can knit them in something other then fingering weight, they're a lot faster then socks...

FO #2 (for, ehem, me):

Pattern: Indigo Playmate by Wendy Bernard, from Custom Knits
Yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair (70% wool/30% mohair, 140 yds/2 oz), colorway Glacier Lake. I had 11 skeins of this originally, but I ended up with about 9 skeins worth (weight-wise) in this sweater.
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
Gauge: 4.5 stitches/6.5 rows per inch after blocking.
Start/finish: 3 Sept-8 Oct 2009 (knitting was actually finished about a week earlier, but I have a blocking block).
Comments/mods: I repurposed this yarn from a Moriah's Wildflower Cardigan that I knit PR (pre-Ravelry), and then didn't wear much in Texas. I subsequently discovered that someone had chewed a wee hole in the bottom of it, and decided to rip it out and reuse the yarn in something else.

The yoke and body knit up really quickly. I found that I liked the way this yarn knit up on 4.5 mm needles much better then the US 9/5.5 mm needles I had used for the cardigan; the fabric is thick and cushy and snuggly, but still fluid, while the previous incarnation felt a bit too loosely knit.

I did modify a few things. The collar was supposed to be three inches wide at the bottom edge (so not including the short rows for the shawl collar), but I was wary of yardage, and only knit it two inches wide. Still works fine, but the shawl collar isn't quite as dramatic. I think I like it better this way - this is my first shawl collar, and I was a bit dubious about the full sweep shown in the book. But I like how it looks on (pardon the crappy modeled shot but my photographer is busy eating gelato and looking at rocks in Pisa, so this was the best I could do) (PS - Honey? I'm gonna be so glad when you get home. Be warned that I'm dumping the kids on you and vanishing out the door ASAP).

The other modification I made was to knit the belt and then decide I like it better without. I'm a bit...thick around the middle, and as knit, the belt made this ride up a bit too much and get too short. So I've decided to leave it open. If it needs to be closed, there's always a trusty shawl pin around that would work.

I do love this yarn though. It's got great depth of color, and just feels so nice and soft. I guess it wouldn't be that great if you have an issue with mohair, but I love it. I wish it weren't quite so pricey, but there you have it. Gorgeous stuff.

I like mittens for big people too

I love mittens

At least mittens for little people.

Look at the little fin - so cute!

Pattern: Nemo Mittens by Sigurlaug Eva Stefansdottir (both Ravelry links)
Yarn: KnitPicks Essential, dyed by yours truly. I used 4 gr white, 3 gr black, and ~10 gr orange (works out to approximately 19/14/46 yds respectively of fingering weight yarn)
Needles: US 1/2.00 mm
Gauge: 8 sts/11 rows per inch
Finished circumference/length: 5 inches/5.25 inches (cuff to pointy tip)
Comments/mods: The "only" modification I made was to switch yarn and needle size. The pattern calls for sport weight/size 2.5 (3.0 mm) needles for a 4-6 year old size, but I had fingering weight, so size 1 it was. I probably could have gotten away with US 2/2.75 mm ok, but this gauge will be a bit warmer perhaps.

These were so fast! Done, with fins added and ends woven in after three evenings work. Love it. I hope Boo loves them as well, although I'm not sure what she thinks about mittens...

The yarn for these was recycled from some KnitPicks Essential that I dyed for some socks for my sister-in-law about three years ago. It was my first dyeing experience, so I used Kool Aid and ended up with a range of reds, pink, and purple. I took the largest ball of leftovers (41 g of red) and overdyed it with some yellow Jacquard Acid dye in the hopes that it would end up kind of orange. Some pink (5 g) got overdyed with black. I also had a full skein of Bare waiting around, so I knew I could dye more if needed.

Soaked the yarn, and then put both into my handy dandy crock pot for the dyeing.

The pink to black went into a glass jar in the middle while the red to orange was carefully arranged around the outside.

A few hours later, they were all done. The pink-to-black transition went very well, but the red-to-orange still looked really red. I rinsed them out and discovered that the red was bleeding. Quite a bit in fact. Bleeding enough that I got a bit concerned about what Walrus' socks had done to the rest of her laundry (sorry B!). But...I rinsed until I got sick and tired of rinsing, and then hung it up to dry.

I was concerned that it was going to end up too red, but I think it's alright. The mittens are awfully cute though. So cute that I think Boo will need a matching Nemo hat...

Slogging along

I started some socks for a friend's Christmas present a few weeks ago, and they've been a tough row to hoe in several different ways.

The pattern is lovely, with lots of twisted stitches,

and the yarn is also lovely (and sparkly!), if a bit splitty at times.

But the absolute killer was the heel flap, with multiple rows of k1, ptbl...

Oh my aching wrist! I have a bone deposit on the back of my right hand that, 99% of the time, I don't even notice. (The 1% of the time I notice it is when I hit it against something and jump around turning the air blue for a few minutes because O The Pain.) However, every so often it becomes an issue. Like, oh lets say hypothetically speaking: when I get all fired up to finish a heel flap and end up totally wracking my hands doing ptbl on size 1 needles. Ooof.

Since my reckless foray into heel flapitude this weekend, my right hand/wrist have been less then happy with me, to the extent that large doses of NSAIDS seem to be in order. So in order to give it a bit of a break*, last night I cast on for the first of three parts of a present for Boo.

To say that my younger child has something of an obsession with animals would be a laughable understatement. Nemo is one of her all time faves. So I was hunting around Ravelry, and came across a free (hooray!) pattern for Nemo mittens. Originally using sport weight yarn, and sized for 4-6 years old, I'm using some left over Knit Picks Essential that I dyed (another post there), and size 1 needles. I think they'll fit. And they're using so little yarn, that I think I'll be able to bust her out a Nemo hat as well. Yee haw!

*To any normal person, a break would mean "Stop knitting you idiot!" However, the holidays are right around the corner and I Have Gifts To Make.