Carol commented on my last post and had a wonderful idea: share your scariest  knitting “boo boo’s” with other knitters in a funfest of HORRORS…ooo-oo-oo-oo-ooo-oooooooo!!! She and her knitting group brought their UFO’s (read: never to be FOs) and laughed themselves silly. Knitting Night of Horrors — scary ;). But in a fun way.
I went to the Knitters Guild meeting tonight. The guest speaker was Inger Fredholm, Swedish knitting designer. She has an exhibit starting this weekend at the Swedish American Institute in Minneapolis. I signed up for her European Lace class on Friday afternoon. She is a lovely woman and appears to be very talented. I am really looking forward to the class and the reception/exhibit opening that follows. Her book is called “Knitting with a Smile.” She had them for sale at the meeting, but I’ll get 20% off on Friday so I decided to wait. More on her, the book and the class later.
As you may remember, the mitten exchange was also this evening. MANY of the knitters (most of the knitters) expressed the same level of frustration that I felt in trying to make their mittens. One woman did not finish her mittens, did not come to the meeting and sent the unfinished mittens with a note saying she would never come back (?). We figured she became part of the Knitter Protection Program for people too embarrassed by their knitting problems to be seen knitting in public again :(.
I received a gorgeous pair of mittens in the yarn I submitted — Rowan Tapestry. The knitter (and I am sorry that I do not know her name) also expressed frustration with the yarn I gave her — she said it was thin and rather too soft. It is DK weight I think and is very soft. It is a fairly new yarn and I had never knit with it before so I didn’t really know how it would knit up. She lightly felted them and I LOVE them! They were my favorite mittens of the night and I am very happy with them.
So, now, as promised, here are pictures of “the infamous mittens.” I’m sure you will just say to yourself, “Oh.” There is nothing special or un-special about them. They are plain old, seen ’em before, whatever !? mittens.
A close up of the “embellishment:”
The mittens aren’t that special but I fell in love with pompoms! I made these little cuties with the following new tool:
They are beautiful AND easy, just like it says on the package.  I may go crazy for pom poms or pom pons or pompoms (your choice). My husband could not see the attraction, but I told him they are so out that they’re in.  Â
So, there you go – I am now off the hook and feelin’ fine, never to do a mitten exchange again.  If you ever hear me say even in jest that I want to participate in a mitten exchange, please call the Knitter Protection Program without delay!! ;)Â
Â
I finished both mittens last night and did an embellishment that I think took the mitts to the next level (of Dante’s Inferno?!?). They are done, and now I can move on to other knitting. I plan on working on Oregon this afternoon, as it has been neglected terribly the last few weeks. I am so close to the armhole steek that it is a shame not to press onward.  I will post some pics soon. We have not had any long posts or pictures in a while!
 to Sterling today :).
I finished one mitten last night. It’s not cute at all, but the key point is — it’s a mitten! I should be able to finish the other one today or early tomorrow and will maybe have time to embellish it a little bit to “cuten” it up. If not, the person will have a very nice pair of mittens to use next time she has to change a tire! ;) I’ll post a picture, but after the Mitten Exchange.
October 14th through October 21st is National Knitting Week. I’m sure I don’t have to encourage any of you to celebrate with needles and yarn. Have a great week!
Well, THAT didn’t work either! I tried two different patterns from the Folk Mittens book — very cute patterns, but……It’s like Goldilocks and the Three Bears — the first was too small, the second too big. And I was knitting at 9 sts per inch on the things so they were going nowhere fast! I am trying another idea. It seems to be working, so I’ll have something to bring to the MKG meeting and something to post. Unbelievable, really. I spent $15 on the yarn for my mittens, and another $35 on mitten books and extra yarn for the other person’s mittens (that includes my instructor discount!). Not to mention the 50 hours of unproductive knitting time.
I think I’ll pass on the Mitten Exchange next year. 🙁
Our knitting companion Deb apparently made the local news during their coverage of Knit Out last Sunday. She has graciously agreed to sign autographs this Thursday at Panera’s before she heads to Hollywood to join the likes of Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson and other knitting celebs as they sip spring water, gossip, and knit $500 scarves.
Well, I’m giving it one more try! “Brenda” recommended a mitten book (thanks for your suggestion), which I did not find at my LYS. Instead I bought the classic “Folk Mittens” by Marcia Lewandowski. I’m trying a pattern from there and we’ll see how it goes. I did not want to knit a stranded mitten, but that is what I am doing. If they turn out, I’ll post a picture :).
Thanks to all who commented about my dilemma. Obviously I’ll have to decide what to do and pretty quickly! I doubt that I will post a picture, though, unless something very drastic changes in the near future.Â
I do want to say in the yarn owner’s defense: the yarn itself is not intrinsically ugly, it’s just that I cannot make anything attractive come off my needles using the yarn.
Your comments did help me sort out the issues, and I think I’ll end up going forward with the yarn and try to make the best of it. Thanks!!
Even though I’ve been knitting a long time, there are a number of things I had never knitted until recently. For instance, the socks I entered in the fair this year were the first I ever made. When I was asked to design a hat for Simply Shetland 2, I had never made one before. The common items that people typically knit have not been part of my repertoire! My knitting preference has always been sweaters. Â
Okay. I’ve never made a pair of mittens — I’ve knitted several pairs of gloves, but not mittens. I’ve never had the desire to make mittens, even when my daughters were small. So what’s the big deal?
I am part of the Mitten Exchange at the Knitters Guild. I took yarn from an anonymous someone to make mittens and someone has my yarn and is making me mittens. The mittens I am making are absolutely hideous.  I would not wear them to change a tire. They are UGLY! Part of it is the yarn and part of it is me. I’ll own up to my share of the problem, but that does not change the reality of the situation — they are UGLY!  I have spent hours and hours trying to make them look good, but they just don’t. So I am thinking of buying replacement yarn and giving it to the person with a note of apology. OR, could I replace her yarn and give her mittens out of different yarn?  I don’t know what else to do. They are embarrassing!!
It’s not like I haven’t had my share of failed knitting projects — I’ve had quite a few. But in those cases, I just stuffed them in a bag to be tossed out at a later date. In this case, I have made a commitment to someone else. Someone out there is expecting a special pair of mittens next week.
What would you do? Should I buy more yarn and/or make her mittens out of something else?
Powered by WordPress
