Since I have joined the Knit Mitt Kit Swap, it's time to talk mittens!  For the most part, I have been on a fingerless mittens and gloves kick for some time now.  I am one of those people who struggles with mittens and gloves.  Usually shortly after putting on mittens or gloves because my hands are cold, they get overheated and I start pulling the mitts or gloves off.  Then my hands get cold again and so back and forth and back and forth and back we go . . . Then came the concept of fingerless.  It was a miracle.  I've knit two pairs of fingerless mitts, one from a pattern and one of my own design.  Recently, I pulled gads of free patterns for fingerless mitts and gloves off the Internet.  There is a plethora of wonderful designs out there -- all for FREE!  We love FREE!  So I have all kinds of plans for fingerless items this winter.  The Knitty fingerless mitts, fingerless gloves using self-striping sock yarn, fingerless gloves in a silk-wool combo possibly with beads on the backs . . . Very ambitious, I know.

This summer, though, I had an experience that pushed my mitten and glove knitting in yet another direction.  While visiting Minnesota, we went to a great living museum called Iron World where they are preserving the history of the people who came from all over the world to work in the iron mines.  While we visited the preserved boarding house, we found this woman in one of the main rooms. 

I am embarrassed to say I have forgotten her name but she lives in Ely, Minnesota though she was originally from Kentucky.  She has one of those southern names like Anna Mae.  She is doing a special project in which she is knitting a pair of mittens representing each country from where people came to northern Minnesota to work in the iron mines.  Thee are Greek mittens as well as Latvian, Norwegian, Finnish, etc.  This list is some 40 - 50 countries long.  She researches knitted mittens from each country and knits a representative pair.

When I walked in the room and saw these mittens, I could not remember my friend Idella's name as I tried to call her to come and look.  It was truly breathtaking and I was deeply affected by what I saw and learned that day. 

The white sheet in the photo is a list of the countries the knitted mittens represent so far.

Being completely inspired, I walked into Sisu Designs the next day, the yarn shop in Ely, and purchased a pattern and yarn and began knitting this:

I was obsessed with this knitting through the entire vacation and I plan to finish these this winter.  I've learned a lot about fair isle knitting with the project which I had done before but not perfected or thoroughly explored.  My niche has been lace more than color knitting.  So this is some challenge knitting and I quite proud of it, not to mention the fact that I love these northern European designs.

Now on to the Knit Mitt Kit Swap questionnaire.  Here are my answers:

Are you allergic to any fibers?  No, but I am sensitive to most fiber.  I cannot wear most wools against my skin except merino, some alpaca, some angoras, some cashmeres.  Only the softest fibers for me, baby!

What is your favorite color?  You mean one?  I have to choose one?  But there are so many and they are all so lovely!  Okay, the fall back is always purple but I am not stuck on that.  I tend to be drawn to darker and richer or jewel tone colorways as opposed to light pastels but for lace knitting that's not always true.  So good luck trying to pin me down!

Are you a new mitt knitter? How long have you been knitting mittens?  I started knitting my first mittens in a hotel room in Denver in 1986 or 1987.  I have not knit a lot of them, though.  I think the next time I knit mittens or the like was 2004!

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?  Depends on the pattern.  I like both.

What fibers do you prefer in mitten yarn?  Soft merino, soft alpaca, sock yarn, soft is key.

Where do you usually knit mittens? As with all knitting -- anywhere, any time.

How do you usually carry/store small projects?  I am a bag ho.  I like individual small bags for small projects.

What are your favorite mitten patterns?  All the fingerless mitts and glove patterns that are popular right now and Scandinavian designs.

What are your favorite mitten knitting techniques?  Fingerless, fingerless, fingerless.  Color knitting and lace, too.

What new techniques would you like to try?  I have never actually knit gloves before so the finger part is interesting to me.  I also like the idea of doing more color work.

What are your favorite needles for knitting mittens?  Depends on the yarn.  I usually love Inox double points (metal) but for some slippery yarns I like smooth wood or bamboo yarns.

What are some of your favorite yarns?  Alpaca and wool blends, wool and silk blends, blends with a tiny bit of mohair or angora.  There are so many to love . . .

What yarn do you totally covet?  Cashmere.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?  The new lace fingerless mitts in the latest Interweave Knits.

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?  See above.

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?  Lisa Souza variegated -- some rich colorway.

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?  Chocolate.  No fruit filling or fruit cream centers.

What’s your favorite animal?  Dogs and casts but I collect figurines of ducks and birds.

Would you prefer super warm mittens or something more like fingerless mitts?  Fingerless.

If you were a color what color would you be?  Purple please.

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?  The landscape at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

Do you have a wishlist?  Ebony needles and I love knitting earrings and beaded stitch markers.

Anything else you’d like to share with the group today? I read somewhere that one of the causes of dry skin on the hands is exposure to cold temperatures.  The writer advised that the hands never be exposed to the cold, that you put gloves or mittens on before going outside and have them on the entire time.  I wonder if this is true.

Have a great day.  Knit some mittens!

Did you hear about what these college students have done?  Good for them.  How many of you out there knew that the phrase "under God" was inserted into the pledge of allegiance during the McCarthy era?  Go figure -- a pesky little separation of church and state problem courtesy of McCarthy.  I support this move by these students because I think we forget that a great part of the philosophy underlying the creation of the United States was allowing differing points of view, including the opinion that the government should be changed radically or even replaced.  Another important principle was that no one would be required to pledge loyalty to the government or a certain religion or any particular group or belief.  So how did that little pledge end up in our elementary schools?  Why is it not limited to appropriate places like the military?

Okay, I'll get off my soap box and leave you with this:

I pledge allegiance to the yarn of the fiber universe and to the fiber animal from which it came, one universe under the fiber goddess [or insert -- existing as it does in the grand scheme of things], indivisible, with exquisite colors and softness (and a large drain on our bank accounts) for all fiber addicts.

How about that election and Rumsfeld getting the -- ahem -- stepping down?  What a week!  On post-election morning I discovered Stephanie Miller.  OMG that woman is hysterical.  If you are an irreverent Democrat, Independent, or leftie, you will love her, too.  I am now turning her on every morning in the car.

Tune in later for actual knitting content when we will talk mittens!

Here she is.  I don't think I could pull off the model shot that Brooklyn Tweed did in his version of this so I only photographed the sweater.

The EZ recipe calls for hemmed edges with a knit facing.  After I chose the Lorna Laces Worsted in the watercolor colorway, it quickly became apparent, however, that this yarn needed to show off and could not be hidden underneath the purple.  So I changed it up and I'm quite pleased. 

Isn't it a sweet edge?

Here's a sleeve.

And here is the detail on the back.  I really like the design created by the saddle shoulder shaping.

What I also love about this sweater is the fact that EZ was right!  Following a very basic formula creates a perfectly fitting sweater.  It reminds me of the formula I learned for knitting socks from Susan Lupton at Village Wools.  The recipe is basically add body measurements and gauge and a few basic instructions, knit steadily, and voila you have socks or a sweater. 

Because the wool was nearly crunchy -- a dense, strong wool from a dairy farm in upstate New York -- I washed it in a wool wash and then put it through an extra rinse with hair conditioner.  That was a miracle worker.  The wool bloomed and softened and now has some very nice drape.  You can view a full collection of photos here.

Meet Elvis and Granola!

Can you guess who is who?

Here is the techno hair shot!

They are in their post-felting, pre-eye stage.  They are stuffed with plastic grocery bags for the drying process.  Now that they are dry, the next step is to sew their eyes, then stuff them with poly fluffy stuff.  I think that pink Elvis should have some cute little pink lips but my son (it is his) says it's not a girl hedgehog.  And as to the intellectual hedgehog on the left in the photo, she was supposed to be for my daughter but she's already complaining to her friends, etc. that this is not how she wants "her" hedgehog.  I'm tired.

But I have good news on the regular knitting front.  I have finished the EZ sweater except for the blocking and I am trying to finish socks I started earlier in the summer in Fleece Artist merino sock yarn from Knit Happens in Alexandria, Virginia outside Washington D.C.  More pics later.