The Whitman Cap that I talked about in a previous post has been finished:
I love the snowflake design and the knitted on I-cord edging was fun to do once I got the hang of it. It's a little big for my head and the ear flaps come down below my chin, which is not where I expected them! However, I love the fact that the back of the hat comes down so low on the back of my neck. While mulling over the fitting issues, I wondered if another hat underneath it would be a good idea and, low and behold, it turns out that the hat I made with that wonderful Handmaiden yarn is perfect underneath it. Made me smile. Putting the pink-ish Handmaiden hat with the indigo blues of the Whitman Cap looks a little funky, but I think they are going to keep me very warm, which is my primary goal.
In keeping with the spirit of being warm, I embarked on an attempt at what I call "fleece stuffed mittens". Other people seem to commonly call them "thrummed mittens" but, as a weaver, in my mind thrums are the ends of your weaving web, not bits of fleece, so I don't like that term. This is another "make it up as you go along" pattern. This essentially means that I will end up with a mis-matched pair for my first attempt because I am making pattern changes now that I've knitted the first one. Which isn't to say that the first one isn't wear-able, the pattern just needs a little tweaking to make it more comfortable for me. Here are some shots of the first mitten in progress:
As I'm sure you can imagine from seeing the photos, they are VERY thick mittens! The thumb gets "stuffed" or "thrummed" just like the body. Eventually, with wear and use, the fleece inside should mat/felt and make them warm sturdy for working outdoors in winter. I'm actually knitting these as a prototype to develop the pattern so I can knit a pair for someone who asked me for mittens a while ago. Her hands get painfully cold in winter like mine do, and when she was talking to me about it I immediately thought of this kind of mitten for her, it's just taken me a while to finally have the time to get the prototype made. Once I get the second mitten to my mis-matched pair done, I'll start on hers. Unfortunately, she'll get them just in time for spring! She will, however have them for next winter. I guess we just do the best we can.
