The felting frenzy continues at my house with another pair of felted mittens that are earmarked for my mother for Christmas, or maybe her birthday in October so she has them before the weather gets really cold. I used this same pattern as I did for the pink pair with a few modifications: I cast on only 38 stitches instead of 44 and made the child size for the inner cuff instead of the adult which seemed like it would be too loose. My hopes were that having fewer stitches would prevent the belling out that happened on the cuff of my first pair, but alas it did not. The purl rows I think are to blame and if I were to make a yet another pair I would omit them. The yarn used for this set was leftover from a sweater I made my mom about 2 years ago and I have been meaning to make matching mittens for her ever since. It's Jamieson's Soft Shetland, which, you guessed it, is 100% Shetland wool. It felted quite differently from the Lamb's Pride used for the pink mittens. It ended up being not as thick making it easier to bend your hand and less clumsy, and oddly lots of fiber came off loose in the washer during the felting, which unfortunately clogged our washing machine. Thus, if you felt yourself putting your items into a tied pillowcase would be a safeguard against this happening, which I knew but didn't heed - sigh. The mittens were very fuzzy when I took them out of the washer so I gave them a judicious trimming for the smooth look you see above.
This marks the end of the all the felting I think. Now, I'm onto making a matching hat for the mittens as I still have more yarn leftover. This is the pattern I'm using (the less slouchy version), but I will be knitting it with some mods that I used previously for this hat. Namely, I'm lining the brim with angora yarn so it's double thick over the ears and then continuing with only the Shetland yarn for the crown. I figured the hat should be just as warm as the mittens don't you think?
Now, I haven't forgotten about casting on for my sweater vest that I'm really excited about, but I'm equally as excited to finish my Christmas gifts by the end of Summer. It's a bit of a push pull between the two. But, I think the Christmas gifts are winning.
Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.
They look wonderful, very cosy :)
ReplyDeleteThey are gorgeous, I think they should be birthday - give them before the cold!
ReplyDeleteThey'd be perfect for winter. Nice and warm.
ReplyDeleteThose are really sweet! I have never done any felting before but eventually I'm sure I will!
ReplyDeleteCute! But I would suspect the bell shape is more due to the different yarns than the garter, which I would suspect is the case right at the cuff edge. Where they all the same yarn brand? Sometimes the different yarn felts at a different rate. But I like the bell shape, it might help when the wearer has coat sleeves, they would better fit under the bell shape.
ReplyDeleteOooh...lining the hat with angora sounds amazing! How soft. How warm!!!
ReplyDeleteLovely! Do you put a resist inside the mittens to stop them felting closed in the machine?
ReplyDelete