good-natured ribbing

I’m so excited that my knit mitt kit finally arrived! It took a while because it came from Estonia! My pal, Siret, is from the island Hiiumaa. It was worth the wait. Look at the beautiful things she sent me.

This kit includes a lovely fabric bag with a nice long strap suitable for wearing cross-shoulder. It has a nice big pocket on the inside, too. Somehow, she managed to exactly match the color of my living room walls (a color I love). There are three balls of yarn, dark green and yellow; a book of Estonian mittens – Kirikindad Patterned Mittens II (reconstructions of mittens based on the collection of the Estonia National Museum), some needles, a giant chocolate bar, and some postcards. To top it all off, there was a separate little package with a pretty shawl(!!!) with a crochet and bead flower shawl pin. It will be perfect for keeping the chill off!

Some wonderful milk chocolate. You can see that Ava started to get in to the corner before I took the picture. She smell is and exclaimed “Mom! I think this is chocolate!!” Very perceptive child.

The inside of the book.

I’m not sure what technique is used here, but it is really pretty. I figured after the recent tube top picture, I should stop modeling for a while ;)

Love the bag!

Thanks so much Siret! I love everything.

I’m at work and my Mitt Kit is at my house.

I can’t wait to get home!!!
And thanks to my husband for sending the excruciating teaser.

After $85 and a new set of sparkplugs, I was finally able to return home yesterday. And my reward…my Knit Mitt Kit had arrived, yay! I’m so pleased with it. The bag is just adorable and I’m really excited to make the pattern she sent. It’s for some very cute pirate mittens. And there was chocolate in there too, which I’ve hidden away from my sneaky, chocolate-fiend mother, so hopefully there will be some left for me when I get home from work today. Many thanks go out to my swap buddy, Jan. Thank-you, thank-you, I love it!

And now, for some pictures. Here’s one of the bag with a small furry creature in it, for scale:

Here is a close up of the interior of the bag, just because the pattern is so cool and to show off the handy pockets and nice decorative strap:

Here is the full kit, including needles, markers, black and cream yarn, wool detergent, chocolates (!), pirate mitten pattern, and a cute sheep card:

I even managed to find a good use for the box the kit came in. Yay mittens!

Well I finally decided to check the mail today and I had a notice from the post office that they were unable to deliver a package. A package??? Did I order yarn that I forgot about???? I usually have my stuff shipped to work…wait for it…..MITT KITT! Must be! I sent my pal both US and Canadian addresses. I rushed to the post office, picked up a tidy package wrapped in brown paper and promptly tore it to pieces in the car in the parking lot.
THIS is what I got… (sorry! The file size too big for the blog and I am too lazy to take new pictures or modify the ones I have!)

For immediate gratification, here is my cat attempting to filch some yarn! CAUGHT!!

The bag is BEAUTIFUL…it has awesome colours, 2 inside pockets AND a zipper pouch (which by the way, contained delicious CHOCOLATE!). The pattern is for felted mittens with cables, and my pal put some “local” stuff into it. The pattern is Canadian and the yarn is an east coast staple for felting. My pal turns out to be from Nova Scotia…so cool! Anyway, I LOVE my kit, and wanted to start right away on the mittens, but instead I ate the chocolate! That is why I was so prompt in taking pictures…I wanted to demolish that chocolate bar and wind that yarn!!!

Anyway, the KMKS was a success! I had a great time doing it and ended up with two super pals! Thanks so much, Valerie!

This is a little delayed, but my mitt kit was completed, sent, and received by my pal!

So I went with my quirky idea of knitting a bag that would look like the project it would tote around. I started knitting with some Lopi and just shaped as I went along. I used a lot of purple and some other earthy colours because that is what my pal liked. Here’s what happened…

I think it turned out rather well. This is also the first time I’ve ever done colour work in the round, and it affected the way it felted. Because where the “argyle” diamonds were was thicker with yarn, it seemed to felt more, and shrink slightly faster. This caused me to have to hand felt the purple sections further to make it turn out more uniform.

I might mention that Beth was less than supportive when I told her the mitten/bag idea. She immediately went out and found a *hilarious* picture (recall: this post). Well, to humour her…

I sent the bag, stuffed with yarn, Godiva chocolate, two sets of needles, Burt’s Bees hand balm, embroidery needle, a little badge, and the pattern to Eunny’s Annemoi Mittens. My pal received it 2 days later and sent a lovely email thanking me for the kit. She loved it! I’m glad I got such a nice pal! Thanks, Shelley!

I’m just waiting on my kit now. Who knows where it was sent from, so I just have to be patient. More to come…

Although the bag has been completed for a little over a week, I just finished packing everything together tonight.

My pal lives in PEI and expressed interest in super-warm mitts. She also said that she likes green and purple and jewel tones. For the project bag, I used Berroco UltraAlpaca (50% wool, 50% alpaca) and this pattern I came across using Knitting Pattern Central. I really love the way it turned out. The texture, the shape, everything. I may have to make one for myself!

I guess lining felted bags is becoming my “thing” – I can’t bear to make one without a lining anymore. It is quite easy and adds so much. It was pretty risky getting a fabric with similar colors and a pattern, but I think it worked out well. If my pal doesn’t like it, she can always remove it! Though it is extremely hairy and ugly on the inside – I did a lot of trimming on the public side.

Although I decided pretty early that I wanted to send the pattern for the thrummed mittens from the Winter 06 IK, it took me a long time to select the yarn. I finally found this lovely worsted weight wool – Classic Elite Renaissance. It isn’t quite jewel tones, but close. I wanted a multi-color yarn and white roving instead of plain yarn and multi-colored roving. At one point I thought of Kool-Aid dying some of my roving but that urge quickly passed!

And finally, here are the goods. The kit includes the bag, the yarn, the roving, the pattern, a set of Brittany needles, a cute measuring tape (that I found at a toy store during Christmas shopping!), some Chibi darning needles (my new favorite thing), and a role of awesome raspberry cream cookies from IKEA. I hope my pal likes it!!!

The pre- and post- felting pictures are here.

Just a quick post to show the (almost) completed bag that will be used to contain the mitten kit I’ll be putting together for my pal. Here is the pre- and post-felting comparison.

I have already trimmed the fur on the bag quite a bit but I still need to do more. It is also likely that I will add a liner, too. As you can see, the stripes are no longer bold – the colors really blended together. Once the kit is all ready to go, I’ll add some more and nicer photos!

Are you allergic to any fibers? No

What are your favorite colors? Earth-tones, like taupe, brown, burnt orangy colors, or sea-tones like blue, gray, muted green.

Are you a new mitt knitter? Yes – I’ve been meaning to start some fingerless mitts (the Fetching pattern from Knitty.com), but I haven’t yet, so I am technically a mitten newbie.

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? I like tweeds, heathers, and multicolored yarns.

What fibers do you prefer in mitten yarn? It can get brutally cold in Michigan, so something warm and protective would be lovely — probably a wool or wool blend of some sort.

Where do you usually knit mittens? I haven’t done so yet, but I typically knit at home, plopped on the couch.

How do you usually carry/store small projects? Often in the bag from the LYS where I bought the yarn.

What are your favorite mitten patterns? I don’t have any favorites, feel free to surprise me.

What are your favorite mitten knitting techniques? I’ve not made any mittens, but a general knitting technique I like is knitting cables. I’ve done some cabled scarves and I’m in the middle of a cable sweater.

What new techniques would you like to try? I’ve not done any color work on past projects, so mittens might be a good little project to get my feet wet on that. I especially like items that have a little skully on them (a skull and crossbones…yes, like a pirate). :-)

What are your favorite needles for knitting mittens? Well, I’m not a big fan of tiny, tiny needles, so if I can use anything above a US 6, that’s fine by me.

What are some of your favorite yarns? Tahki New Tweed, cashmerino of any kind, Rowan’s all season cotton, Noro Blossom and Kureyon.

What yarn do you totally covet? Noro Transitions – so pretty, so expensive.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? Probably I would make a long cardigan sweater (like mid-thigh length, sweater-jacket) with some nice cables using either some obscenely expensive cashmere or a soft and subtle hand-painted yarn (ooh, with some silk in it….mmmm).

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? I like bamboo needles best for straight. For circular, I either use bamboo or an Addi turbo.

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Well, according to the “What kind of yarn are you” quiz, I’m mohair. But I don’t know about that…I think I’m probably rather tweedy and chunky.

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Ooh, no candy — I overdid it at Halloween. Well, maybe a little bit of chocolate would be nice…

What’s your favorite animal? I have many, but I especially like big, fluffy dogs, llamas, tigers, and bears. Ooh, and geckos.

Would you prefer super warm mittens or something more like fingerless mitts? Super-warm mittens…like I said, it’s cold here.

If you were a color what color would you be? Hmm, I don’t know. I’d probably be a Jcrew color, like graphite or java or ivy or ecru…

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? Super-vivid pics of frogs, like the ones I have decorating my bathroom.

Do you have a wishlist? I love to read, so my Amazon wish list is about a mile long. And I like big slouchy bags — I’m an over-packer by nature, so even my purse is stuff full of…well, stuff! I’m also a big fan of cuff bracelets in rustic-looking metals. It’s my weakness, really.

Anything else you’d like to share with the group today? Can’t wait to start on some mittens! yay!

Here is my Mitt swap Q&A for my secret pal – who seems to be in Estonia, judging by the email address. How exciting. I can’t wait to get going with my projects!

What are your favorite colors? This is a really hard question for me! Green is generally my favorite color, but when it comes to yarn and knitted items, I have really wide ranging tastes.

Are you a new mitt knitter? How long have you been knitting mittens? I’ve only made a couple pairs of mittens so far. They were all this year.

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? It all depends on the project, but overall, I guess prefer multicolored.

What fibers do you prefer in mitten yarn? Wool, alpaca… anything warm!

Where do you usually knit mittens? Either at home (in the knitting chair) or at work during knitting lunches.

How do you usually carry/store small projects? I have a few different small bags to keep my projects in. I tend to have lots of small projects on the go at once so I need a lot of project bags!

What are your favorite mitten patterns? Gosh, I haven’t made enough to have a favorite. So far, I’ve liked them all!

What are your favorite mitten knitting techniques? See above.

What new techniques would you like to try? I am in the process of making my first two colored/fair isle mittens and really like it. I would really like to try some more of this style. I am also sort of interested in trying gloves.

What are your favorite needles for knitting mittens? Double pointed, bamboo.

What are some of your favorite yarns? There are so may wonderful yarns that I can’t pick favorites. Every time I go to a yarn store, I have a different favorite!

What yarn do you totally covet? 100% cashmere.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? No specific pattern, but it would definitely be a long cabled cardigan/sweater.

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? If I can, I prefer to use circulars. I love my Denise interchangeable needles but besides those, I have a strong preference for bamboo. I’ve never used rosewood but would like it.

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Tweedy handspun merino.

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? I love caramels and anything gummi – but not together.

What’s your favorite animal? Anything with spinnable fur!

Would you prefer super warm mittens or something more like fingerless mitts? I would prefer warm mitts over fingerless (I have enough of those).

If you were a color what color would you be? I have no idea. I asked Ava and she said I’d be blue.

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? The country side in autumn with colorful leaves on the trees and covering the ground.

Do you have a wishlist? Of course! There are tons of things I want to make (lots of sweaters, socks, bags, etc). And there are a bunch of knitting books I want. There are way too many of these to keep a list of – however, I keep printouts of future projects in my project binder (NERD!). Non-knitting items include lots of shoes… and ice cream :)

Anything else you’d like to share with the group today? I have no fiber allergies. I am really open to a lot of different projects and love to be surprised.

Well I joined the KMKS with Beth and I’m very excited to get going. I’ve already been in contact with both my “pals” — Anonymous Annie will be knitting for me, and I will be knitting for “Shelley”. Anyway, here are my answers to the “get-to-know-you” questionnaire:

Are you allergic to any fibers?
nope

What are your favorite colors?
black, grey, purple, green, orange

Are you a new mitt knitter? How long have you been knitting mittens?
Newbie. Just started 2 months ago.

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?
No preference.

What fibers do you prefer in mitten yarn?
Soft and Warm!

Where do you usually knit mittens?
At work, at home, with friends.

How do you usually carry/store small projects?
Inside the bag the yarn purchase came in, jammed in a tote.
The tote reads: “Will knit for tattoos” ( From Natalie Dee)

What are your favorite mitten patterns?
The ones I “design” myself.

What are your favorite mitten knitting techniques?
I like 4×1 rib, cables, and the afterthought thumb.

What new techniques would you like to try?
Gusset thumb, colour work (knitting with two colours in nordic style or intarsia in the round).

What are your favorite needles for knitting mittens?
Bamboo DPNs (preferrably size 5 or bigger).

What are some of your favorite yarns?
I try new yarn all the time, so they’re all my favourite.

What yarn do you totally covet?
Soft alpacas and cashmeres.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?
I would design my own long sweater coat out of baby alpaca. It would have cables and look quite victorian.

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?
I love knitting on circulars, but I don’t know how to do mittens that way (there’s a way to do socks that way, so I’m sure it could translate to mittens). I love bamboo needles (or any kind of wood).

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?
Probably Noro Koreyon…colourful and irritable.

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?
I love sour candy. SweeTarts, sour gummies, anything to make my mouth pucker!

What’s your favorite animal?
Liger.
Or if you didn’t see that movie, a cat I guess, because I have one, and he would be very hurt if I didn’t mention him.

Would you prefer super warm mittens or something more like fingerless mitts?
Warm, warm, warm. I broke my hand a year ago, and cold makes it ache!

If you were a color what color would you be?
I might say black. With pink sparkles.

Others might say orange.

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?
I love a weeping willow tree and deep, red flowers.

Do you have a wishlist?
My wishlist mostly contains Fluevog shoes, William Blake art, and expensive yarn.

Anything else you’d like to share with the group today
I hold Detroit Pistons season tickets, I am an excellent chess player, and I am a librarian by profession.

Here is another swap I’m going to sign up for: Knit Mitt Kit Swap

You have to knit a fun bag and put the mitten fixin’s inside. Anyone else want to join? Hurry, you have to sign up by Friday.