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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
There's a chill in the air... time to knit some mittens!
It's been cool the last few days here in Colorado. 70s in the daytime, 50s at night. Last night actually dipped down to 49. I'm hoping for a late frost, though, because I still have a lot of canning to do and I'm not ready for my tomoatoes to die. 90s are predicted for September, so there's hope that summer's not over yet. Fall is so unpredictable here, it's impossible to guess. Sometimes it can be 85 one day, and snow the next!
Regardless, winter is on the way. But I'm still not ready to knit large, wool sweaters, shawls, or afghans! So this month I'm featuring mittens. There are always people who are cold in the winter. The homeless and the poor, adults and children, in the US and around the world. Regardless of what charity knitting causes you support, mittens are a great contribution at this time of year.
According to an article on Forbes.com, "The nation's poverty rate was essentially unchanged last year, the first year it hasn't increased since before President Bush took office. The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that 37 million Americans were living under the poverty line last year - about 12.6 percent of the population."
That's pretty embarassing for the "world's greatest nation," isn't it? Poverty hasn't declined since Clinton was sitting in the Oval Office. Although there's a lot of talk about a recoving economy in the US, the only ones who are "recovering" are those who are already rich and phoney corporate "persons." New jobs have been created, but many of those are low wage retail and service jobs, which are not an equivalent replacement of the high-tech and union manufacturing jobs that have been sent over seas.
Those of us who live from paycheck to paycheck are still scraping by as best we can, and unfortunately that means that many people are what is considered "working poor," not homeless but still not making enough to keep their kids' bellies full or hands warm.
According to Sylvia A. Allegretto of the Economic Policy Institute, "The U.S [leads] the 16 developed countries in child poverty." She says, "The contrast between the great wealth in the United States and such appallingly high child poverty rates is quite stark. The United States needs to make a strong commitment to reduce child poverty."
In the long term, we need to make our votes count to get people who really care about the common man and the poor into office so our government can stop catering to the rich at the expense of the poor. But in the meantime...
a weekend's worth of knitting can
bring a smile to a mother's face
and a bit of warmth to her child's chilly fingers.
Guest columnist Ann from Pennsylvania
Are you ready?
MITTENS! MITTENS! MITTENS! MITTENS! MITTENS! MITTENS! MITTENS! MITTENS!
It gets cold in the winter, and little kids (and big ones, too) need
warm hands! Warm hands for walking to school, warm hands for doing
chores, warm hands for playing outside.
This is a GRAND OPPORTUNITY to use up odd bits of yarn and fleece and try out new patterns.
What shall we make? Mittens and gloves! Sizes for toddlers through large teens. Plain or fancy. Stripes, checks, flowered with little animal faces embroidered on. The only restriction is that they must be WARM!
Where to direct the finished mittens? Is there a place in your area where children from low-income families gather? A Head Start unit, school, or daycare? What about an after-school program or a Boys and Girls Club?
If no local kids come readily to mind, and you'd still like to make
mittens, hop on over to
http://sheepshots.blogspot.com and check out the
June 11 or
July 24 archived entry. Ann is gathering mittens for the Cheyenne River
(Lakota Sioux) Reservation, located in Eagle Butte, SD. Contact Ann at
amcmanus@ptd.net for the mailing address. Even though the contest is over,
mittens are still needed. 
There are lots of mitten patterns in magazines, books, and on the Internet (Google is your friend). Links to two good ones: http://users.adelphia.net/~mariella46/Child%20sideways%20mittens.htm (the pink ones pictured, knitted flat in garter stitch) and http://lovetoknitandsew.blogspot.com/2006/06/mindless-mittens-pattern.html#comments (the blue ones pictured, knitted in the round in stockinette stitch).
Both are ripe for embellishment.
Pattern: Kid's Felt & Fur Mittens
I love felting and I love knitting mittens. For a few years, I made at
least 2 pairs of mittens every month and gave them away as gifts and
donated them to charities and for silent auctions to raise money for
several different causes. Now I've switched to jam for my gift giving,
but mittens are still better for charity donations. Making mittens is
quite addicting. Once you get started, you'll be looking for new
patterns everywhere. (I've gathered an embarassingly large collection of
mitten books over the past few years!)
This pair, made on large needles with fewer than 40 sts, can be made in one evening while watching TV. It's great practice using double-pointed needles, and they go a lot more quickly than socks! If you've never made mittens before, felted mittens are great for learning because any mistakes you might make will disappear when you throw the mittens in the washing machine to shrink.
Sizes
Child's 4 (6, 8, 10)
Approx 7 1/2 (9, 9 1/2, 10)" long and 3 1/4 (3 1/2, 4, 4 1/2)" wide before felting
Approx 6 1/2 (7 1/2, 8, 9)" long and 2 3/4 (3, 3 1/2, 4)" wide after felting
Exact size is determined by felting process.
Needles
Size 10 U.S. double pointed needles, or size to obtain gauge
Size 8 U.S. double pointed needles for cuffs
Yarn
MC (wool): Approx 200 yards of worsted weight yarn will make 2 or more pairs of mittens, depending on size. You must use wool yarn or a blend of wool and mohair or alpaca. Do not use synthetic or "superwash" wool yarn or your mittens will not felt!
CC (fur): Approx 80 yards of faux fur yarn will be enough to make the cuffs on several pairs of mittens.
I used Plymouth Galway Worsted (100% Wool - Worsted Weight, 5 sts = 1"/US8 needle / 210 yds/100g ball) and Furlauro (100% Nylon, 3.5 sts = 1"/US 10.5 needle / 82 yds/50g ball).
Gauge
Approx 3 1/2 to 4 sts = 1 inch over stockinette stitch (knit every round) before felting. Exacxt gauge is not critical. Make sure your stitches are loose and airy. If your knitting is too tight, your mittens won't felt as quickly.
Instructions
With smaller needles and one strand of wool and one strand of fur held tog, CO 20 (24, 28, 32) sts. Arrange sts evenly on 3 dpns. Join, being careful not to twist sts, to knit in the round. Use the yarn tail from the CO to keep track of the beginning of the round.
Cuff Ribbing
Round 1: (K1, P1) around.
Continue in K1, P1 ribbing as est until cuff measures 1 3/4 (2 1/4, 2 1/2, 3) inches.
Cut fur yarn.
Work 3 more rounds of ribbing.
Change to larger needles and St st (knit every round). On first round, increase 4 sts evenly around. 24 (28, 32, 36) sts.
Thumb Gore
Increase round: P1, inc 1, k1, inc 1, p1, knit to end of round.
Next round: P1, knit to next purl, p1, knit to end of round.
Repeat the last 2 rounds until you have 7 (7, 9, 11) sts between the purls.
Work even until piece measures 3 1/2 (4 1/2, 4 3/4, 5) inches from CO edge.
On next round, put the sts between the purls on hold. CO 1 st over gap at thumb. Join and knit to end of round. 24 (28, 32, 36) sts.
Hand
Knit every round until piece measures 5 3/4 (7 1/4, 8, 8 1/2) inches from CO edge.
Finger Tips
Arrange sts evenly on 3 needles with 8 (9, 10, 12) sts on each needle.
Decrease round: On each needle, K2tog, knit to last 2 sts on needle, k2tog.
Knit 2 rounds even.
Repeat the last 3 rounds until fewer than 10 sts remain.
Cut yarn, thread tail through remaining sts, pull tight, and fasten off.
Thumb
Place thumb sts on 2 dpn. PU 3 sts from CO edge at top of thumb hole, using a third needle. 10 (10, 12, 14) sts.
Knit even until thumb measures 1 1/2 (1 3/4, 2 1/4, 2 1/2) inches.
K2tog around. 5 (5, 6, 7) sts rem.
Cut yarn, thread tail through remaining sts, pull tight, and fasten off.
Finishing
Weave in ends, closing up any holes around the base of the thumb.
Felt (see felting lesson for instructions).
Monday, August 28, 2006
Fun, free mitten patterns on the web
These pictures need no text to explain what they are! Click on each photo or link below it for the free pattern on the web....
From Lion Brand, with some great info on knitting mittens. Unfortunately, you need to register to get the pattern, but it is free.
Knitting Traditions offers this Lovikka Mitten pattern for children in two sizes as a thank you for their Internet visitors.
These L & R mittens was designed to help those of us who are sometimes directionally challenged. The pattern price is $5.00, and $3.00 will be donated to Miriam's Kitchen in DC. Miriam's Kitchen provides food, counselling, clothing, support and even art classes for homeless people living in DC.
These pirate mittens from Hello Yarn are just plain cool.
For any little kid, these mouse-mittens from MagKnits are the ultimate!
Boo! These are peek-a-boo mittens. The tops fold down so you can use your fingers. From craftster.org.