Now Norma Knits

299. Mitten Deliciousness

We'll be having big drawings of multiple prizes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of this coming week. Get your donations in and email us at [email protected] to be entered.  There are some really great things left to come, including loads of wonderful sock yarns, cashmere, shop gift certificates, quilts and scarves, books, and a sweater's worth of Rowan Magpie.  It'll all be gone as of this Saturday, so if you want in, get your donations in and let us know!
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There's been frost on the pumpkins in the mornings of late. 

Good timing for having completed my Dimorphous mittens. 

Inside are the soft, smooth, lightweight Trekking (Colorway 110) liner mitts, which can be worn on their own when it's cool enough for a little something-something on the hands, but not super-cold.

Then when it gets colder, put on the second layer, made of beautiful Manos del Uruguay silk-wool blend (mine is Color 3055, a dark moss green), accented with a button that is not only functional, but it also gives it class and panache.

I dreamed of these mittens.  I made the liner, and I knew what I wanted the outer mitt to look like, but I didn't know how to execute it.  I consulted Miriam, who wrote the pattern and brought the idea to fruition.  All this happened -- from my original idea, to the writing and publishing of the pattern, and me finishing my mittens -- in only a few weeks' time.  MimBrilliant!

I can't stop gushing over these mittens.  If you are looking for a wonderful holiday gift item to knit, may I suggest these are it?! They are elegant and yet a little bit funky and playful, practical, fun to knit and fun to wear.  Dave Daniels said they are like Mary-Janes for the hands.  I think he's right! 

They are sure to be a hit with your gift recipients. (Don't worry -- the button does not need to be done and undone every time you put on or take off the mittens.  It is there to help the outer mitt stay on and give it some stability and style, but it is not tight -- the entire two-piece unit slips on and off the hand after the first time you put them on.)  One thing I have also noticed:  The silk in the Manos silk blend gives the mittens more "grab" than an all-wool mitten does.  You know, one reason I don't wear my handknit mittens as much as my purchased leather ones is because woolen mittens can't grab onto door handles or, more importantly, the steering wheel of my car.  These silky mittens have more grab.  I think they're a hit.

I will admit I had a few "gulp" moments in the pattern:  There is a provisional cast-on for the outer mitts, which I had to be reminded how to do (funnily enough, that was the very thing that originally brought me to blogs all those years ago -- and the rest, as they say, is history) and -- gasp -- there is GRAFTING of the bottom of the keyhole opening.  It's a bit fiddly, but it's only three stitches, and it turned out to be easy and good once I pulled up my trusty old Kitchener stitch (also known as grafting) video on the web.  The first grafting I did as a new knitter was the Rogue hood.  Talk about jumping into the deep end. That probably scarred me for life on grafting. And then I had a little trouble with the i-cord bind-off.  My favorite practical resource manual, Nancie Wiseman's Book of Finishing Techniques helped me to remember how to do that.

And I love these mittens.  Did I mention?

Accessorized to the Hilt

Thank you again, Mim!  And thank you also to Jill of Kaleidoscope Yarns.  I originally went into the shop to buy another favorite yarn, Lamb's Pride, but Jill guided me to the Manos silk blend. I wouldn't have even know about that yarn were it not for that encounter. I'm so very happy to have made its acquaintance, and it is absolutely perfect for these mittens.

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Specs

Pattern:  Dimorphous Mittens, by Miriam Felton

Yarns:  1 skein Trekking XXL (color 110), 1 skein Manos Silk Blend (color 3055)

Needles:  US 3 for inner mittens, US 5 for outer mittens

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What's come over me?  All this knitting, and I even Ravelry-documented here.

285. A Mitten Design Announcement

After we were all well breakfasted and caffeinated yesterday, we took Mr. Jefferies for his first outing to Central Park.  He was extremely nervous, but with the dog whisperer along (that would be me) he settled down and had a great time. 

I had to keep on training not the dog, but Ryan, that the dog is a puppy, a baby, that needs to experience things in baby steps.  Ryan would have had him on a leash and walking 39 blocks.  With a load on his back, pulling a sled. 

Anyway, there was plenty of stimulation for a little dog.  On the subway ride home, he totally zonked in his little pink carry-bag.  He's a wicked cute boy.  It was an incredibly lovely day -- the weather was stupendous -- and the only photo I got is this one of my Saturday sky  that I took with my BlackBerry while waiting in the long line for the bathroom.  I couldn't be bothered to haul the big-ass camera -- I didn't need more weight in my carry-on and figured the BlackBerry would suffice in a pinch.  In the end, I'm not so sure about the wisdom of that.

Every photo I tried to get of Mr. J. was blurred.  Puppies move fast and digital cameras -- especially on cell phones -- (or maybe that's just me) move slow.

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AND NOW:

ANNOUNCING the DIMORPHOUS MITTENS design:

I bet you didn't know I was a designer, did you?  Well, I'm not, but I have friends.  Oh, yeah, baby, I have friends.  And I had a dream.  I had a dream of what I wanted my two-layer mittens to look like, but I didn't know how to execute the dream.  Remember back when I bought the Manos silk blend yarn and the buttons?  That is when the idea was born. 

I sketched it out and scanned the sketch.  I sent it to Miriam, who has now completed the design, and she now has it for sale.   

Check.it.OUT!  [We're trying to time our posts so they come up simultaneously, but if you don't see her mitten post yet, it means something has gone awry and it will be up soon.  Don't fret.]

I'm so excited that Mim made my idea come to life and that I can help my friend who is an independent knit designer. When it came time to name the mittens, Miriam consulted me with some ideas.  There were simple names she suggested such as "Norma's Mittens," and she bounced a few other clever ideas off me.

I thought on it for a bit, and I really didn't feel the name needed to be tied to mine.  I suggested that since I'm so heavily involved in science these days, something scientific, and yet still appropriate to the design, might be in order.  That's where I came up with "Dimorphous."   

As for my pair, I'm almost finished my second liner mitt, and when I return home where my green Manos silk is, I will be able to start my outer mitts. Thank you, Miriam, for the wonderful design!  It's exactly what I wanted, what I envisioned, and what I sketched out. 

These are going to be so practical -- the fingering weight liner mitt acts as both a lightweight mitten for early and late in the season, when it's cold enough to need something on the hands, but not a heavy mitten. 

The outer mitten is worn over the liners in the deep of winter when one needs an extra layer of warmth.  The best trick I know to staying warm and toasty in the extreme cold is "layers, layers, layers."

The keyhole opening in the solid-colored Manos silk yarn, which has a lovely sheen and superb insulating abilities, allows the fun and funky colorful Trekking liner mitt to show a little more.  The button adds both style and functionality to keep the cuffless outer mitt on securely. 

Get that pattern and make some!  You know you want to.  Think of what a beautiful and welcome gift a pair of these would make, too! 

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Oh, and by the way, on another topic, I cast off my second sleeve while we were coasting on the runway during our JFK arrival.  Now to start seaming on the way home.  I'm going to have multiple blood tests when I get home.  All this knitting activity might be indicative of a serious health concern. 

263. So, This Is What Happened on Saturday

I finished something which, as you can plainly now see, is not a Trekking sock. It is, however, a fun and wonderful Trekking mitten, and I started the second. (The colorway is 110, I believe.)  This in itself is cause for celebration; am I RIGHT?!

But I also bought some fabulously sensuous, yummy yarn and some little leather buttons.  Anyone have any ideas what I'm planning? 

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!  While I was waiting for Norton 360 to download onto the new laptop, something got into me.  I grabbed that ball of Berroco Denim Silk that's been sitting on my desk for -- cripes, what is it, two years???  -- and decided that's ENOUGH OF THAT.  I cast on 36 stitches and started knitting a scarf in Twin Rib.  Nobody will remember (I hardly even do) that this ill-fated yarn was knitted into a Ribby Shell (yes, I see that it was indeed over two years ago!), but I ran out of yarn and it's discontinued and et cetera, et the fuck cetera.  So it's been wound into cakes and has been displayed in a glass pitcher on my front hall table for lo these many months/years/whatever, except for this one cake of it that's been collecting dust on my desk.  It's about time it got knitted up. Good things come to those [yarn cakes] who wait, I guess. The denim silk scarf and the mittens should look good with the CPnoH that I WILL have done by Rhinebeck.  I will, I will, I will.  I will. 

I knitted almost alllll day.  Apparently I have caught the knitting bug again. 

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!  I cooked a meal fit for a queen and king -- 99.9% local, too.  Most of the vegetables were from my garden, of course.  And ohhhh, how delectable they were.  The buttercup squash grown in the compost bin was to die for, as was the vegetable melange of the day:  one perfect zucchini, a few broccoli florets, some Swiss chard, some red onions, and celery, all sauteed in butter.  (The celery was not from my garden, and not local, drat it. Neither was the butter -- it was Costco butter; shame on me.)  The chicken legs were cooked in garlic and ginger butter -- everything local except the ginger and the butter again.  Given how perfect the squash was, I'm down in the dumps that I've only got three more to eat, and they will be savored, every bite.  And given how wonderful the zucchini also was, it's a real shame that the zukes were so retarded in their growth and this one plant only took hold in the last few weeks when I rescued and transplanted it.  Dang. 

AND IF ALL THAT WASN'T ENOUGH:

And I was informed that I am....ahem....a grandmother. (Perish that thought......right now!)

Meet Mr. Jefferies, toy Yorkie, a little guy that I am sure to adore:

ETA:  OK, perhaps I got up on the wrong side of the bed, and I'm about to apologize for my attitude.  But NOT.  The old Harlot's thing about don't come into my living room and start being rude?  Remember it?

Please rest assured that I have harped at my daughter and her boyfriend for two years that they may NOT get a puppy in a pet store.  And they did NOT.  Ryan did the research and he got the puppy from a reputable breeder in New Jersey.  So let me put this to rest right now.  But I must ask the question:  Even if they had, it would be too late now, and why does anyone feel it is appropriate to come to my living room and lecture me about the issue, hm?  Friends or not.  It's even worse coming from friends, because you people should know me well enough to know it's not an issue. Let's just say I have some raw wounds from a recent encounter in my actual living room, so if this sounds like an overreaction, maybe it is, but I'm touchy.  Where have civility and manners gone? 

So shut the fuck up.  OK?  Done?  Cripes.

260. Break Photo -- Actual Knitting Content! w00t!

Believe it or not, knitting.

I absolutely loved your comments yesterday! It's just so much fun to hear what everybody is doing -- or not -- as they can or choose to do.  Love it!

I feel like I explain this so many times that it must get tiresome to some, so I don't link it or explain it each and every time, but I had a question yesterday asking me to explain CART.  Well, here's a link.  And if you care to, and can stand it one more time, click on the work/steno category, where you can read about my CART adventures 'til you're blue in the face. 

LOST

Perhaps the saddest part of my travel debacle is the loss of my beloved liner mittens with cuffs of handspun by Margene.  I called the lost & found at the airport.  They said they didn't have them.  Not taking their word for it, I drove to the airport and looked everyplace I could remember having been.  Then I drove to the restaurant where we had dinner afterwards and looked in the parking lot where we had parked our car.  Of course there was tons of snow that night, and it had all been plowed and salted by the time I returned there, so the chance of me finding them outside was pretty much nil, but I looked anyway.  I went inside the restaurant.  Nada. 

The good news is I still have some of that handspun and I can recreate these mittens.  The remaining handspun had been earmarked for outer mitts to go with these liners, but that's OK.  This is what's called going from Plan A to Plan B.  I can make outer mitts of a coordinating heavier-weight green or brown, perhaps with a little mohair in it for extra warmth or whatever. I'm thinking Lamb's Pride, maybe. I love that yarn, and it is one of those things that is underappreciated, I think. But first, to recreate the liner mitts.  One friend who saw them immediately called them "elegant."  And they were. My guess is that I took them off at one of the counters in the airport to make a purchase or whatever, left them behind, and they're so nice, someone took them.

First I need to finish up a couple of other items and need to work on Ryan's hat.  Both the hat and my mittens will require a trip to the yarn shop.  Too bad.   

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Chappysmom Deb would like your input.  She has written a post about it here. 

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LOST IN A DIFFERENT WAY:

Watched the movie Paris, Je T'aime last night and ohmygod, I did.not.want.it.to.END. I could have watched 18 MORE short films of that ilk. Wonderful little pieces of cinematic art that made me long for Paris again.  Several of the vignettes spoke directly to me  (maybe it's just the hormones), but my true favorite was the last:  14e arrondissement. Sniff.

I may need to rent it, and Chocolat, again immédiatement. 

The Greater Good

And so yes, the answer is I did not go anywhere at all.  The offer from the airline was, with heavy apologies (although it wasn't their fault), to give me a full refund or to rebook me.  All the flights were oversold for the next day, so I thought there would just be too much frustration involved in getting up at the butt-crack of dawn, as Claudia put it, and sitting around hoping to fly standby....and then take my chances about catching a connecting flight to Salt Lake City. It was starting to feel a bit ridiculous, and a nice four-day weekend, plus travel, was becoming mostly PLUS TRAVEL.

I was on the phone with Margene trying to make the decision "refund or rebook -- final answer," and as she so wisely put it, "This is supposed to be FUN, and it can't be fun when there is so much hassle, uncertainty, and worrying." So we're going to do it -- just not right NOW.  We think in the spring. ---------------------- Child's Large Mission Falls 1824 Superwash Wool (denim)
and Cascade 220 Superwash (red)

This is my fourth pair for the Soaring Eagles Project, and (at the very last minute) fulfills the pledge I made. I had lofty ideas that I'd squeak in one more pair while on my flight to SLC, but, well, you know how that turned out.  If I hadn't been having so much fun in the airport, I could have done a pair there, but the laptop and the cell phone and the chatting with my fellow passengers were keeping me too busy.

Sadly, Rachel is far, far short of her goal -- so far short that it seems like it'll be impossible to meet it.  The deadline is Monday, and unless many, many mittens (over 200 pairs) arrive at the very last minute, she will not be able to give her hoped-for Christmas mittens to the children at her school, all of whom are underprivileged.  To add insult to injury, her area has just suffered through a big ice storm. 

This saddens me.  Many of us tried our hardest, but there was not the response this year to the charity knitting plea that we've come to expect.  I posted about this project several times, and so did several of my fellow bloggers, and Carole and Margene chose Soaring Eagles as a favored project in their Knit Unto Others project.  Rachel and I posted about it on Ravelry in the Greater Good group, but I got absolutely no response -- I can't speak for Rachel. I know we are all busy, and believe me, I know from busy, as they say.  But I'd like to think we could do better for others. It saddens me when I see people put so much energy into enhancing their stashes, knitting the three-dozenth pair of socks for themselves, and forming groups on Ravelry or whatever, and then see this paltry showing for someone (Rachel) who is trying in such earnest to help some kids who really need things and really appreciate the thought of receiving a handknit. If only a fraction of that energy were put into knitting one pair of mittens for a needy child, think how much warmer everyone would feel. 

I'll be frank (that's a switch, ha):  I expect the silence to this post to be deafening.  I've gotten used to it whenever I post about charitable knitting.  And now, when I have the chutzpah to pair it with a good dose of sermonizing and holier-than-thou-ing, I probably deserve it.  But I'm feeling a good bit sorry for myself these past couple of days, so I'm just going to leave it on the page and not edit it out.  Or perhaps rather than anticipate silence, I should fear some sort of backlash. Go ahead. Make my day.

I'm gonna go to the gym and see if someone down there wants to be pummeled. I need to punch and kick someonething.

Progress Shot

Knitting Pair Four for Soaring Eagles
I love my Bryspun needles.  How come no one goes on and on about loving their Bryspuns?  Has no one else discovered these gems?

Enjoying on CD:  The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly
This is the first in the Harry Bosch series.  The reader, Dick Hill, is brilliant.  Brilliant! 

Before I knew this was a long series, I had listened to the last in the series, Echo Park.  While that book was good, this first one is great, and the reader of The Black Echo is far superior to the reader of Echo Park. 

The only problem I've had with it is the version I bought is MP3-CD and would not copy into iTunes/iPod and froze my computer.  It seems to be copy protected.  (why can't there just be a message saying, "This CD is not copyable" when you try to copy it, rather than freezing the computer?  Hm?)   It will also not play in a standard CD player, so that cuts out listening to it in the car.  It's more than slightly annoying that I had to buy an MP3-format CD player, dedicated for this one book.  Talk about an expensive book to listen to! 

When I realized that "Bosch" was a long series, I really wanted to properly listen to the entire series from the start, and the first book seems to be unavailable in standard CD format.  Sheesh.


So I guess this is the wave of the future...yet more equipment to buy. When this first arose as an issue, I did some Googling and found articles online that speculated that car CD players will soon become obsolete.  Isn't that just typical?!

All this took place before I was handed down Abigail's iPod.  Of course, now I can download the books from audiobook sites, but it was all too late, as I had opened the package and tried to play it on the car CD player, etc. etc. etc., et the fuck cetera.


It's always something.

Sigh.

Knitting is so much simpler and more civilized.

Mitten Cuteness and Not-So-Cute Burnout

Cute

Cuter

Cutest

Sized to fit Child's Medium (Age 6-8 years, I'd guess)

These were so fast and fun to make, I bet you could make a pair or two or three before the Soaring Eagles deadline (December 17th), which, through a nice coincidence, would give you more chances to enter Sandy's fabulous drawing. 

There are only 16 stitches to cast on.  Who can't cast on 16 stitches?  You can do that in less time than it takes you to pour the cream in your coffee.  You can knit one row for each sip of your coffee.  You can knit the whole pair in an afternoon.  Or two mittens in two lunch hours.  Come on, do it!

I used this pattern, and modified it slightly to make a child's mitten.  (though small women's mittens are also on the wish list at Soaring Eagles, my mitten was coming out narrower, so I made it proportionally shorter, as well)

Yarn:  Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, way less than one skein.  I'm sure there's enough left on the skein for at least one more pair of these.

Needles:  US size 11 DPN's.  On 11's, I got a gauge of 3 stitches/inch.  I am a fairly tight knitter. 

I followed the pattern exactly, except that I started the end decreases after 3 inches rather than 3 3/4 

Tip:  Believe the pattern about the thumb gusset.  I thought it must not be correct -- it was a method I had never used before and it seemed weird, so I sort of did my own thing (wrong) and therefore the thumb and gusset of the first mitten is a bit wonky.  I believed the pattern for the second mitten, and it made for a much neater gusset. 

I found the 10-stitch thumb to be way too thick and ugly, and had to rip and redo it a couple of times before it looked proportionally right.  I ended up with an 8-stitch thumb.  To clarify:  Put the 6 stitches on needles as directed, then pick up two stitches under the thumb.  I knitted the thumb for 2 inches, then K2 together 4 times.  Cut the yarn and draw it through the remaining 4 stitches. 

Optional:  Make a simple pompom and sew it on.   Et voila!  Warm hands and a sweet gift for a needy child.  Everybody wins.

I admit, with a weekend of marathon mitten-knitting, I am tired of knitting and feel like I never want to see yarn or needles ever again.  But then I look at my little neat and sweet pile of mittens and I love 'em and can't wait to send them out.  I keep picking up the yarn, picking up the needles, and then putting them back down again.  True burnout.   

I have to make the mate to the denim blue one with red-and-blue-striped cuffs to finish the 4th pair of mittens for my pledge.  Or will I simply make another super-bulky pair instead, or just buy a pair?  Stay tuned.  Maybe I'll feel like knitting again tomorrow, but at the moment, I think I just need a break.

Man Magnet

This top, when worn to Bikram yoga class, is very modest.  It covers the abdomen, people!  I might as well be wearing a nun's habit. 

Wear it to the regular gym, though, and it turns out to be a testosterone magnet.  I learned this yesterday, when I wore it to work out.  That my husband was in the same gym, working out along with me, mattered not one whit.  It was raining men, all tripping over themselves (and him) to give me more unsolicited attention than I could handle. 

"Can I show you this technique?" 

"Do you need me to show you how to use this machine?" 

"How about I spot you, there?" 

"Here, can I wipe you down?  You're sweating awfully hard." 

"Can I lift that weight for you?"

"Shall I put that back for you?"

"Would you like some water?"

"Have you seen the DVD of my last ultimate fighter match?"  (He owns the gym.  I know, right? Much cuter in person, btw.  Not that I care.)

"Will we be seeing you in at 6 a.m. from now on?"

"How about a foot rub?"  (that one I made up)

So I decided I was going to rethink whether I was going to wear this top to the muscle-y testosterone gym any more.  I am a feminist, after all -- confident, strong, independent, and unaffected by all that crap.  Unsolicited male attention can be idiotic and a right royal pain in the ass.  I'm here for one purpose and one purpose only, guys:  to GET FIT.  Bugger the hell off.   

On the other hand.........there is this:  On a dreary Saturday afternoon, a 48-year-old woman got more unsolicited male attention than she could handle.  So....while I'm cogitating long and hard on whether I'll be wearing this top to the muscle-y testosterone gym any more, I've rinsed it out and hung it up to dry, so it'll be ready to wear tomorrow.

Oh, and by the way, it's a matched pair. 

Mittens. I mean mittens. Focus on my eyes, not my chest, people. 

Child's Medium, Knitted for Soaring Eagles Project
Mission Falls 1824 wool (black) and Louet Gems (the blue multi) dyed by Pippi (That skein is going FAR.  There's still more left!)

Meanwhile, growing a bit tired of knitting worsted-weight mittens, I've found a skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in my stash, and it is already on its way to becoming the next pair of Soaring Eagles mittens, using this pattern.  Wicked fast, wicked cool.

Not A Pair Of Mittens

...but one-half of two pairs. 

No mitten monogamy going on here, but thanks to Episode 58 of Cast On, (which was well worth listening to if only for the very.last.word, and I think you know what I mean...Thank you, Brenda, heh), two episodes of Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me, and two or three of This American Life online over the course of last evening and this morning (suddenly I'm addicted to podcasts), I have found some focus and managed to complete the mitten on the left, start a mate to the one on the right, and bite the bullet and rip out the bulky blue one that I hated because of a botched kitchener job on the finger end.  I started ripping out the end, thinking I'd just redo it, but I realized the whole thing was bugging me.  I had followed a bulky mitten pattern I found online, but the two strands of worsted-weight yarn was not a good substitute for a single bulky weight strand.  I decided I just couldn't bring myself to knit its mate.  I didn't even reclaim the yarn, since it was two strands and I found it nearly impossible to try to wind it up in a ball. It's in the wastebasket -- dead to me. 

Now I've got a stiff neck and a stiff lower back and beginning to get sore hands and a headache, so I'm off to the gym to work it out in a little bit.  But first I have to eat something, as I seem to have forgotten that detail in all the coffee-and-podcast-fueled mitten-knitting frenzy.  I got my eye on the ball (the deadline for Soaring Eagles Project is December 17th),  and the carrot is the upcoming trip to Utah.  Mangled metaphors notwithstanding, ahhh, it's a good feeling. 

THIS JUST IN:  Do you need some enticement for knitting mittens for the Soaring Eagles Project?  Sandy is offering some.  Go see.