Fresh From the Needles Friday: Handspun Mittens
I am a Knitter (and Spinner) hear me roar. Okay so seriously, why have I not been knitting with my hand spun until now? Dudes, this is one of the most satisfying things ever! I do not know what I was expecting when it came to knitting with the hand spun, especially since I know that: knitting = fun times and spinning = fun times, why oh why did I not consider knitting+ spinning= super awesome fun times?
Well I have seen the light and boy is it good. For those not in the know, I finally cast on for a pair of mittens using my own hand spun yarn. I have been spinning for a little over a year and while I am still really a beginner, I seem to have finally found my groove. I have been producing yarn that I think would be awesome to knit with, but I kept holding back, for who knows what reason, because frankly now I can’t even imagine what that could have been.
I feel a little like that scene in the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks, you know the one, where he finally manages to make a fire. I am standing proud, puffing up my chest and speaking with an air of caveman-esque pride. Something to the effect of; “Look, and behold what I have fashioned from my own hands. I make mittens, mittens good. Rawr.” While holding the mittens up for all to see.
I want to go out and dance in the middle of the road, accosting all the neighbors I can find, forcing them allowing them to bask in the glory that is my very own handspun mitten, but I know they already consider me that weird girl who never seems to leave the apartment. And I don’t fancy a trip downtown with the men with the huggy coats.
While still high on the wool fumes I attempted to show the mittens to the cats, who both provided modest looks that bordered on contempt, but could just as easily been a thinly veiled threat of indifference. They are definitely more interested in the wooly goodness in its pre-spun state, though they are probably just jealous because they can’t knit; not having thumbs must be a real downer for the fur beasts. Yeah their lack of interest was born out of pure jealousy.
Ahem, right okay so anyway. Yay mittens!
The stripping wasn’t the same which normally may leave me a tad twitchy but with these no problem. I actually admire the little differences, the subtle striping as it makes its way along each mitten, individualized and personal. I love them. There is something even more satisfying by knowing that not only did I knit these bad boys,but I took the fluffy bits and made the yarn too.
These mittens are just awesome, soft and squishy in all the right places. they fit like a dream and are one of the first pairs of mittens that I actually feel like fit my hands really well (decreasing on the hand is definitely the way to go.) I am in awe of not only my awesome skills (because frankly they are amazing me right now) but also in the fact that I don’t even really mind that I made a pair of wool mittens at the start of summer. I just love them.
P.S. Horace and I will be attending the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend. Feel free to let me know if you will be there. I would love to meet fellow bloggers from the area.
IntrovertedKnitter 
It’s a great feeling when you complete a project – imagine if you’d actually made the wool yourself in the first place. One day I will learn to spin….The mittens are beautiful! x
Congrats on a job well done, from the very beginning to the finished project!!! Have fun this weekend with Horace, also! 🙂
I love your LOOK WHAT I HAVE CREATED moment! That’s awesome! I feel that every time I see my neighbor out walking the dog in the hat I knit from one of the first skeins I spun, dyed and then knit! It’s THE BEST FEELING EVER!
I’ll be there. Ha ha ha!
Yes! A thousand times yes! I’ve got this big ol’ commercial yarn stash and I rarely, if ever, use it. Though the thoughts of pairing my commercial yarn with handspun for weaving projects always intrigues me. The mittens look fantastic, but it was the fundamental shift in thinking that made this post fantastic.
Have fun at IA Sheep & Wool! I am not attending this year, we will catch up another time. I look forward to hearing about your experience there.
Wow, what an awesome first project! (Mine was a felted potholder, not nearly so impressive). Speaking of the men with huggy coats, my daughter saw an episode of Hoarders the other day where the ‘client’ was a knitter. Don’t they realize stash is not hoarding? It’s a totally different thing. Being a fellow knitter, my daughter was appropriately shocked.
Have fun at Iowa Sheep and Wool. I didn’t knit back in the years that I lived in Iowa but it sounds like a blast. We are headed for the Estes Park (CO) Sheep and Wool Market this weekend ourselves.