How much snow is coming??!!

Well in the northeast we are closing down the hatches and getting ready for a 'storm of historic proportions'. EEEK!! What does that mean??!!





The way the forecast is going . . . . there might be enough snow to go outside and be creative. 

Maybe there'll be enough for this . . .


Although I think I'll stay in and knit.



Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber. (Unless you are in the northeast, then keep your fingers in your hand-knit mittens!)

Don't Get Bent Out of Shape . . . Just Get the Right Needles for the Job!

At the end of the day . . . when dinner is over . . . when the dishes are done . . . when the coffee is made for the next morning . . . there is nothing better than sitting down with my knitting, a glass of wine (in my favorite wine glass which was given to me by a special person), and relaxing. 


Well, I thought I was relaxing!!

Then I put my knitting down for a second, and holy shamoley! Look at my needles! They were straight when I bought them. They were straight when I started knitting all these fleece-lined mittens. But now, after a few pairs of mitten cuffs . . . well, at this rate I will have the first pair of bamboo circular needles!

I knew I was using a smaller sized needle for worsted weight wool . . . and I knew the mock cable was a little tighter than a K2P2 ribbing . . . but wow. 

If nothing else, I guess the 'experts' are right. Sometimes if you are having trouble with a project, try switching your needles. Different types of wood will have different gripping capabilities.  I love my Addis for lace, but my KnitPicks double-pointeds are my favorite for socks. 

And yes, as you can see,  bamboo needles have a give to them and are easier on your hands!

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Whispering Mittens

In my quest for the perfect mitten pattern, I came across The Mitten Book by Inger Gottfridsson. The book contains patterns that were first preserved and published by Hermanna Stengard  in 1925. Before I even looked through the book I decided I loved it . . . just based on the quote by Stengard in the front of the book.

click here to place a hold

"How would it look, do you think, if everyone, old and young, would sit down together and knit for awhile? Laughter and merriment and riddles and questions and folktales and anecdotes from each person's life would blend together in the stitches. Then later, when you recalled these events that have gone through your own fingers stitch by stitch, they would speak their own quiet language: Do you remember? Do you remember?"

It just struck such a chord with me. Haven't you done that? Knitted something and then whenever you wore it . . . you remembered where you were in your life at that time. 


I have my first two-color Norwegian sweater sitting forlornly in my cedar chest. I never wear it anymore, but I can't bear to part with it. I made it when my kids were just toddlers - sneaking literally a row, or maybe two, each night after they were asleep. Then there's the green scarf from a skein of yarn I found one weekend when my husband and I went away . . . the shawl I made went I went through chemo treatments . . . the scarf I made from a kit that I purchased when I went to my first Stitches East Convention . . . the mohair coat my mother made from yarn she purchased on one of her past yearly visits to my aunt in Maryland. It goes on. So many knitted pieces gently whispering "Do you remember? Do you remember?" when I open my closet door.

Go ahead, look through the book. Imagine knitting a pattern that was also worked about 200 years ago by another knitter across the world. The patterns may be more work than you care to put into a pair of mittens . . . or maybe not. You could thread a little love into your skein of wool . . . knit them up . . . then cherish them for being a reminder of how fortunate you are today . . . right now . . . in this quickly changing world. 

I think Hermanna may be on to something.

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber. 

Mittens . . . Mittens . . . I'm Still Knittin' Mittens!

Brrrr . . . .maybe this is why I am mitten crazy! 
It's down right chilly in the Boston area! 
It was 4 degrees at my house this morning.
 Mitten weather!

After knitting a couple of pairs of mittens, I have become kind of obsessed.

The first couple of pairs I did were 'okay' . . . but I wasn't really happy with the way the thumbs came out.
I had to do a little 'creative weaving' where I picked up stitches to join the thumb to the hand. They were also generic mittens . . . meaning either mitten could go on either hand.





The obsession kicked in and I began pulling out all my patterns and looking through all kinds of books. I'm starting to take pieces from each one and combine them together in my search for 'the perfect pattern'.

In my last pattern scouring, I found a classic pattern, but this one is 'hand-specific'. I gave it a try with some royal blue yarn in my stash . . . and since I still have a supply of fleece . . . they are of course fleece-lined. 

This time when I went to work the thumb, I picked up more stitches than the pattern called for. (Then on the next row I just decreased down to the amount called for.

I also did the mock cable over 2 stitches instead of 3 (MUCH easier!!). 

Perhaps the next pair will reach that near perfection status. I'll let you know if they do. In fact, I'll give you 'the perfect pattern' when I achieve it.



Until the next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.