My apologies if I’ve misled anyone in the last post – it turns out that french canadians don’t know their birds. What we quebecois call an “outarde” is actually a “Bernache du Canada”.

Anyhow… I’m actually blogging today because Alison called on Friday to ask if I had forgotten something. I did – I meant to tell you that information on thumbs would be forthcoming and plum forgot. I’m only going to tell you where to place the thumb openings today – the actual thumbs will follow very, very soon.

The thumbs for these mittens could be worked as after-thought additions, but using waste yarn means that there will be fewer ends to weave in, so let’s go that route. While the charts uploaded the other day indicate thumb placements, these are merely suggestions – you can place these wherever you please.

To demonstrate, I’ve drawn the silhouette of my future mitten. If your gauge is different from mine, measure it at this point in order to determine how big your mitten will be once it’s completed given the number of rows in the pattern. Once done, place your hand on top of the paper pattern  about 1/2″ from the top in order to establish where the thumb opening should be.

Voilà – you can now measure the distance between the base of the mitten and the base of the thumb. Multiply this measurement with your row tension to the inch and round out to the nearest row number. Once you reach that row, work to the thumb placement as usual then drop your yarn – add some waste yarn and knit the correct number of stitches in waste yarn. Slip those stitches back to the left hand needle, knit over them once more and you’re done. Later, we’ll remove the waste yarn in order to knit the thumb but that will follow in another post. And I promise to fix the charts, too!

Brainstorming for this pair of mittens was fun – I entertained loonies (thanks, Ben), beavers, inukshuks, and maple leaves before finally settling on something a little more abstract. Finally, Canada geese won the day. When I was little, I spent a few years in an arctic village in the north of Quebec called Povungnituk where I recall seeing outardes** tracks in the snow. Thinking back on those days, I ended up with geese tracks on the palms and a sprinkling of snowflakes on the front of each mitten.
I also changed the blank charts slightly and added 2 stitches to each size, so as to better accommodate the odd number of stitches on each palm – 64 (68, 72) sts should now be cast on. That should be fine, since I’ll be lining them and it’s preferable to have a little more leeway. I’m also planning on adding braids before and after the checkerboard cuff – either Folk Knitting in Estonia or Latvian Mittens will serve as a reference.
Please note that there are two charts for each size – left and right. Just one of the little luxuries of publishing online…
Small Medium Large
*From “The Sweater”, but amended for gender: if you aren’t familiar with the story and short film, grab your knitting and watch the latter on the National Film Board of Canada’s website here. While there, check out “The Cat Came Back”, “The Big Snit” and “The Log Driver’s Waltz”, amongst others.

** French for ‘Canada Geese’.

No, I haven’t forgotten my Team Montreal pledge… but between the pattern writing and the emails, I’m behind again (yes, Mars: this is another post about how busy I am). They’ll be ready soon, I promise!

I returned from Philadelphia last night – I find it amazing that a trip which would take perhaps 7 and a half hours by car takes nearly 3 hours more by plane. It was supposed to take  4 hours less but my flights always seem to be delayed or cancelled if I don’t leave at the break of dawn.

Fortunately, all that waiting around means I was able to complete my blank mitten charts. I’m not sure where the design will take me yet so I began by drafting blank templates in Illustrator and, while I was at it, I drafted two additional sizes so others could design their own mittens and perhaps take on a stranded colour challenge for the Olympics. I’ve deliberately chosen a firm tension for these and added a little extra ease so that may be lined or worn over thinner layers (such as the inner mittens from  the most recent Twist Collective).

My gauge using 2.5 mm needles – which are really between size 1 and 2 US – is 8 sts and 9 rnds to an inch. As it stands, the charts here will result in mittens measuring approximately 7 1/4 (8, 8 3/4)” around by 8 1/2 (8 3/4, 9 1/4)” long when taking into account 62 (66, 70) stitches cast on and 76 (79, 82) rounds worked. If you decide to make these your olympic challenge, consider knitting a swatch first to find your tension in order to determine which chart you ought to use for your design – you may find a size smaller or larger is needed even if you’ve always considered your hands to be another size entirely.

Now that I have a canvas, I’m ready to begin filling in my design. Before I do, I’ll sketch out a few ideas. I’ll be back in a couple of days with some options – until then, I hope a few of you will find these charts useful.

Small

Medium

Large

I know, I know – two blog posts in two days?!? What is the world coming to?

When I think of Olympics and knitting, I immediately think of colour work. And since I happen to have yarn especially well suited to this technique *and* since the Olympics are taking place in Canada, it seems only logical that I would participate in some way. I can’t think of a better project for the occasion than a pair of mittens and you can trust me that these will be a challenge to complete with my current schedule.

First, I need to select two colours. Being Canadian, red is an obvious choice. But what about the contrast colour? White (bottom) is crisp and faithful to our flag, but champagne (right) softer and has a vintage feel, while oatmeal (left) takes it further to an antique look. However, silver (top) could also work – especially if the design ends up being more graphic.

(February 10th update – The poll is closed! Here are the results:
Champagne -44.6% (74 votes)
Oatmeal - 34.3% (57 votes)
Silver – 15.1% (25 votes)
White – 6% (10 votes)
total votes: 166)

Once my calculations are complete, I’ll be uploading a blank mitten chart here which may be used as a starting point for further mitten designs. I’ll announce it both here and on twitter once it’s ready.

I’m still too busy to *really* post, but I should probably tell you that I’ll out and about in public next Saturday from noon until 3 pm at Loop in Philadelphia:

https://www.loopyarn.com/

I’ll have garments from the first issue and might hint at what you can expect this spring. I hope to see you there!

Finally found time to generate a list of mini skein winners; here they are:

connie, Emily, jwalk, Clumsy Knitter, Victoria, Southern Gal, Tami, bellamoden, kelly-ann, Nancy J., Lori in Michigan, Steph, Louise, Julia, May, Lisa E., Joan, Kathleen, Linda, Lynn, Ina, Gaye, Gina, Sharilyn and Donna.

If your name is on this list, check your inbox for my message. If by chance you haven’t, plase email your mailing address to info AT stdenisyarns DOT com. Thanks!

Lately, it seems every trip is preceded by a sewing session: booth elements for the Tnna booth and a case for my last local workshop. This time, I sat at the sewing machine once more so as to have my very own logo bag for Rhinebeck:

Why do I need a logo bag? So I’ll be easier to find. You see, Marcel and I have been busy winding and twisting a few hundred mini skeins in preparation for the festival. I plan on giving most of them away that weekend – if you see me and my big orange bag, come over for your skein.

You may have noticed I said ‘most’ – as I realize not everybody will be able to attend Rhinebeck, leave me a comment before Wednesday October 14th if you’d like a mini skein mailed to you. I’ll choose 25 (in the US or Canada) at random shortly thereafter.

Then head over to the Downtown Knit Collective’s new location for a chance to meet the amazingly talented Robin Melanson who will be talking about Nordique. There will be a door prize, too: a magazine and 8 balls of silver, enough to make the cover shawl. I wish I could be there but since I can’t, I’ll be hanging out with the owls on Monkland.