O Canada!

Olympic Red Mittens-Vancouver 2010
by Rachel Bearse

PRICE: $5.00 CAD

Everyone wants to support their country during the Olympic games. It is exciting to be the host country for the games this year, and Canada-themed winter clothing has become quite popular recently. Here is my contribution to the collection!

Knit a pair of Olympic Red Mittens for yourself and everyone in your family. Made from warm red wool, they will brighten your winter, and show your team spirit. A white maple leaf is knit into one side of the mitten, and the numbers 2010 knit into the other side.

This pattern is sized for a toddler (age 2-5), child (age 6-10), small adult, and large adult. For ease of knitting, all of the instructions are written out, and two full colour charts are provided.

These will be a nice quick knit for anyone who has made mittens before, and a great starter project for those who are eager to try.

Difficulty Level:

Skills required: Cast On, Knit, Purl, Knitting in the round, Increase (M1), Stranded knitting from a chart, K2tog, SSK, kitchener stitch

Needles used:

• 4mm (US 6) and 4.5mm (US 7) needles for Men’s mittens
• 3.5mm (US 4) and 4mm (US 6) needles for Women’s, Children’s and Toddler’s mittens

Yarn

• Red Cascade 220 (100 g 220 yards)
• White Cascade 220 (100 g 220 yards) less than a quarter skein.

Miscellaneous:

• Stitch holder/scrap for thumb stitches
• Darning needle

In the spirit of the season, the proceeds from this pattern will go to the Penguins Can Fly, a YMCA Aquatics Program for children with disabilities and their able bodied siblings where no one “sits on the bench”. Some of the penguins have qualified to compete internationally, but all of them have made friends, developed self-discipline and self confidence.

The pattern is an automatic .pdf download from Ravelry (no Ravelry account required)

PRICE: $5.00 CAD

photo taken at the Olympic Harbour used in the 1976 Montreal Games.

“This pattern, by Canadian knitter Rachel Bearse, has the maple leaf and the 2010 knitted right in with white yarn, as opposed to the applique & decal design on the official red mittens. I have knit myself a pair and I love the hand knit loveliness and special softness that only the loving touch of human fingers can produce.” (www.buyredmittenscanada.ca)

This morning I packed up my bag of tricks and went to visit a friend and show her daughters, and niece how to use kool-aid to dye wool.  I brought along my drop spindle, and several different kinds of fiber as well.

Contents of the bag of tricks:  drop spindle, silk worm inside cocoon, two kinds of dyed roving, undyed roving, fleece (locks/carded/onion dyed), brown Shetland fleece, laceweight alpaca that I spun, sari silk, kool-aid and food colouring.

We started by guessing what this little white thing was.  (It’s a cocoon with a silk worm inside.  If you shake it, it rattles!)

What a brave girl, holding the silk worm from inside the cocoon.

Then we started to experiment with colours.  I am so impressed by the guts that these girls have, mixing colours together that I would have never tried.  They have such an adventurous spirit, and a drive to experiment.

Using microwave safe materials

Add colours

Microwave until the water in the container is clear, or almost clear.  Look at the beautiful and very different results!

I’m inspired to try some of these and other colour combinations!

creating art will most likely make a bit of a mess

The messy fingers are well worth it.  Look at the gorgeous results!

from left to right: orange/purple, green/blue, blue/orange, blue/purple, red/orange, blue/mango(darker green)

While waiting for the microwave to be free, the girls tried their hand at using the drop spindle.  They are both pretty good at it!  It takes lots of focus to keep the spindle spinning, and the fiber drafted to a reasonable thickness.  Next week we’re going to try to use my spinning wheel to spin some of their beautiful dyed roving.

How to use a drop spindle:

-Attach a leader cord (string) to the spindle, and wind it around, and through the cup hook at the top.

-Hold the string, and twist the spindle in your fingers to get it twirling in a counter clockwise direction (my spindle has sheep on it, so we made the sheep go backwards)

-While the spindle is twisting, attach some pre-drafted (pulled until it is thinner) roving to the string.

-When the twist enters the roving, it makes it strong, and stick together more.

-Pinch the roving with one hand to keep the twist from moving up too fast.  Draft more roving with the other hand.

-Release your pinch, and the twist will move up the roving again.

-When the spindle slows, give it a spin with your hand.

-When the spindle touches the ground, wind the string onto the stick of the spindle, through the hook, and start again.

Thanks for the fun morning girls!  You inspire me.

Today I brought the finished Olympic Red Mittens with me to a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) practice tournament.  There were lots of little ones from the W.A.F.F.L.E.S. team eager to try on the small mitts and smile for the camera.

I found several large handed people to try on the adult mittens

The tallest guy I saw all day.

J from Finland

It’s always interesting to see what people will do if you hand them a pair of mittens and ask them to model.

Some pose

and some even do ninja moves

I even found a future Olympian to wear the mitts.  She’s an archer who is on target to get to the Olympics someday soon!

The LEGO tournament was great fun!  Teams of elementary school students (ages 9-14) have been working since September to build and program LEGO robots to accomplish several missions on this playing field.  Students also did a research project, and answer technical questions about their robot and design process.

They showed great sportsmanship and cooperation, and left this practice tournament better prepared for their regional competitions later this winter.  Some lucky children even got to make friends with a big blue bear!

I took a break from the LEGO action to visit a craft sale across the street.  There I met Kristyn from Pleasurecraft (blog) with her little one who also wanted to be a model.

She makes some gorgeous thick handspun yarn in white, pale colours, or bright vibrant combinations.  I wish I could spin like this!

As I write this, Queen’s has just beat Laval in the Mitchell Bowl!  They are heading to the Vanier Cup!!! GO GAELS GO!!  The superfan will soon be on a road trip to Quebec.  I wish I could have been at the game.  Wishing them all the best at the next one!

Last night I was working on finishing the baby 2010 red mittens so I could photograph them this weekend and get my pattern up for sale soon. I got to within an inch of completing this tiny mitten, and ran out of wool.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?  I was probably trying to stretch the one skein too far…a pair of adult mittens AND a pair of baby mittens is asking a bit much.

new stash--SO SOFT!!

So, today after work I headed out to Wool Tyme to get another skein of red wool. Of course, once I get there, I look around, and as usual I end up finding something that is either for sale, or feels soooo nice that a project immediately pops into mind. Next thing I know I’m using their swift and ball winder to pack up my new stash!

swift

ball winder

wound stash

There was a sense of urgency in this errand, as I was meeting friends to watch Twilight, before heading out to wait in line with them in the freezing cold to watch New Moon.  With a double header movie planned, I figured that I could make good headway on my silent auction donation, if I only had the right wool!

The plan:  Blue and White Fox and Geese Mittens, Ladies small/medium.  (Pattern improvised from memory, based on pattern from Fox and Geese and Fences by Robin Hansen)

I cast on as the first movie began.

and knit until the end.

as the credits rolled

Then kept knitting in line at the theatre.

apologies for the blurry picture--it was COLD!

Someone in line wanted to try on the mitten in progress (I think she really just wanted to warm up her hands!)

someone I met in line, trying on my mitten (a.k.a. warming up hands). Note the ticket in hand!

I knit all the way through New Moon…finished one mitten and cast on for the second!

I liked the movie, but think that reading the book first is probably a good idea.  It was fun to watch it in a theatre full of fans who were hooting and hollering at the screen from time to time.  I recommend watching it in the theatre for the ambiance as much as the special effects, and don’t forget to bring your knitting!

Pattern:  Kissing Koi Mittens {Ravelink}

Yarn: Sisu (100% wool, fingering weight)

Size: Small

I am getting ready to mail these mittens to my friend in Japan, but wanted to do a photo shoot before I let them go.  There are few people that I know who have hands that are dainty enough to wear these mittens without them looking comical.  One of these people (CK) agreed to be a mitten model.

Today was cold and rainy and dark….which led to interesting outdoor lighting, avoidance of puddles, and finally a retreat to the warmth indoors.

CK and I had fun, and were quite silly….inventing poses that show off the intricate design and special details of the pattern.

The cuffs are double thickness, and the palm has a simple repeated pattern that is quite striking in such contrasting colours.

Stranded knitting like this leads to a very dense and thick fabric, so these mittens will be not only be a stylish conversation starter, but a very functional garment for winter.

When we moved inside, we met M who decided that she wanted to be a mitten model too!  Watch out….mitten models can be vicious!

no models were harmed in the taking of this picture

Canada’s next top model???  I think she has done this modeling thing before…

Thanks to CK and M for their assistance, and their fun this afternoon.

I will encourage my friend in Japan to take photos as well when the mail arrives.  This may not be the last you see of these mittens!

I’m debating making a pair for myself.  They are such a fun pattern to knit, and such a stunning piece of wearable art.

Wednesday is Cantabile choir night for me.  It has been for ages.  I sing with the women’s choir, and we are currently getting ready for our December concert, which will be fantastic.  Anyone in Kingston should go get tickets at the Grand Theatre Box Office.

I’ve come home after a great rehearsal with music still rolling around in my mind.  I checked online to see if any of our current repertoire is listed.

Here are two I found….Click the photos to take a listen! (Theses are other choirs singing the songs that we are now learning)

Photo links to youtube Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre

Photo links to youtube See Amid The Winter Snow by John Goss

We are learning the music separately from the men’s choir, and it is always such a glorious feeling to join the choirs together and make a more powerful and rich sound.  For me, the holidays are not complete without these songs, and singing them with such a great group of people.  Hope you can join in, at least in spirit!

A project that once was secret can now be revealed!

A Hat for Ella

Material:  Handspun Recycled Sari Silk

Pattern:  Improvised top down baby hat

A friend had a baby recently, and I wanted to make something special for her.  I had recently purchased some spinning fiber from Paradise Fibers, including some recycled sari silk spinning fiber.  This fiber is generally the left overs cut from looms used to weave saris (silk garments worn by women in India).  The sale of this fiber helps women in India and Nepal.

I have seen yarn for sale that is made of sari silk, but generally that is pink or red.  I was so excited to get a grab bag of colours so I could pick and choose and blend colours as I chose.

Before spinning from this material you need to separate the clumps and knots.  I used scissors to cut the twine and knots that were holding the silk together.  I spun half a bobbin’s worth because my project was small.

I cast on several stitches and knit in the round increasing quickly at first to keep the crown of the hat flat.  I knit the body of the hat in ribbing to give it the stretch it needed.

The hat was completely improvised.  I was sort of in zen mode when I was doing this entire project, so I didn’t stop to take notes.  This project seemed almost to make itself–don’t you love it when that happens?  I think it must have been the lovely colours of the silk.

I packed up the hat, mailed it off to my friend, and heard very recently that it arrived, and that it is a big success!  It turns out that my friend also has a similar adult-sized hat made from recycled sari silk.  I can’t wait to see matchy pictures of mother and baby.

I had never used this kind of silk before.  I had such fun experimenting with colour combinations, and creating the pattern.  It is important sometimes to dive right in to the creative process and let it take over.  Sometimes the results will astound you!

I’ve been working on red mittens since Saturday. Today I drafted a child version of the pattern!

Remember the one mitten?

In my knitting history, I’ve improvised many designs, but I’ve never attempted to write down the instructions in a way that anyone else could follow. My usual method involves a recipe card, and cryptic scrawling, a bit of a graph for patterns, a few numbers for size. This works well provided I finish mitten 2, or sock 2 soon after completing the first one. Otherwise it becomes an exercise in deconstructing the first mitten/sock, and hoping that in the end it really doesn’t matter if it’s an exact matched set, because, well that’s just proof that it’s hand made, and a guarantee that all of my results are unique!

and then there were two

Drafting up this red mitten pattern has challenged me to slow down, and be deliberate about how I am knitting. It’s easy enough to know how to do something, but the wording of it is a challenge that I’ve been working through these past few days.

An issue I’ve never really dealt with is sizing. My usual theory is to knit the garment, and find the person that it will fit. I’ve done enough knitting, that now I’m pretty good at guessing what needles go well with what yarn.

I’m not so keen on knitting swatches, so it’s been interesting!

I knit a mitten, and found out that it would fit a large hand. Then I altered the stitch count, and changed the needle size so it will make a mitten to fit a smaller hand. It is hard to imagine the math required to develop a child’s mitten, so after a little careful estimation, I cast on, and just went for it. These are the results! 

Cute eh?

I have been quite creative today, but that creativity will remain secret since some projects will be holiday gifts, and I don’t want to spoil any surprises.

In the mean time, I’ll show some creativity of another year when I learned how to make self striping yarn. That’s the yarn that became popular about 5 years ago that makes stripes and patterns without the knitter changing colours, or paying attention to a chart.

It was something I had always wondered about….how could they design sock wool so that it would make such regular stripes, and patterns. I did a little internet research, and found out how it is done!

WARNING: This project takes ALL day, your ENTIRE apartment, and gets quite messy. It is a lot of fun though.

To start with, you need yarn with a significant wool content (it accepts kool-aid/natural dyes better). If you are dyeing with chemical dyes, check to see what fibers they will work best with. I chose to use all my freezer burned frozen fruit, and other things I could find in my kitchen. Some substances work better than others. Think of what leaves a nasty stain on clothes, and it will probably be a good dye.

Step 1: Gather materials

Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Cranberries, Blackberries, Red Cabbage, Onion, Red Onion, Curry, Green Tea, Black Tea, and 100% wool from Brigs and Little (1 ply)

Step 2: Make a LARGE skein of yarn. This will be larger than any other skein imaginable. I used my entire apartment!

It took a long time to wrap yarn around all of the chairs I own, and then to tie extra strings around the skein in many places to keep it from getting tangled.

Step 3: Unhook the large skein (tied in many places so it’s not tangled), and soak it in water with vinegar and alum and cream of tartar (which makes the wool accept the dye better–I’m still not exactly sure why). Gather several mason jars, and make a water bath in a pot on the stove. The salt is to set the colour in the end.

Step 4: Take a 1-2 meter section of the very large skein, and put it in a mason jar with water and the dye. Turn the stove on. Make sure to keep an eye on the water level in the pot. don’t let it boil dry. Each 1-2 meter section will represent a stripe of color in the finished garment (socks in this case).

Step 5: It gets a bit messy dealing with the wool that is being dyed, and the wool that has been dyed, since it is all in one very large skein. Make sure the wool doesn’t burn on the stove element. Make sure that there is always water in the pot. Make sure you have some bleach to clean your stove and counter when you are done!

Keep going until all portions of the wool are dyed.

Step 6: Rinse the skein in cool salt water (to set the colour)

Step 7: Hang the yarn to dry.

This wool was knit up into socks, but I didn’t get a good picture before they ended up in the wash. It is interesting to me how they change colour when washed with laundry detergent. I think it has something to do with the pH, and the universal indicator properties of some of these fruit pigments. The colours are now more on the brown/yellow side.

I did a similar project with kool-aid, and some handspun white yarn as well.

Hanging to dry in the bathroom.

wound into a skein

If you plan it properly and start knitting the sock at the same point in the colour sequence, you’ll get a matched pair (which is important to some people!)

after two years of wear, the colours have faded a little.

I wish you luck if you try this! Let me know how it turns out.

This morning my family got suited up to cheer on the Queen’s Golden Gaels in the Yates Cup game. My brother has been a super-fan for years, dressing up in costume with another good friend of his.

superfans!

We arrived at the game a full hour early, and sat in the best seats in the bleachers. Little did I know that in playoff games, this is the ONLY time that you sit!

mystery mitten with the Queen's bands

Here’s the cuff of a mystery mitten made from the lovely red yarn I got last night at Wool-Tyme. It is quite a pre-game show….the band, and the bagpipes, the highland dancers, the cheerleaders, the dance team….and a loud cheering crowd (over 6000 people!). Yes….if you look very carefully there is a blue person close to the field. Some guys were shirtless and painted in red, gold, and blue. These two below are the superfans. They have been building their costumes for 7 years!

the superfans!

Part of my brother’s costume includes socks I made for him.

superfan socks

They lead cheers from the stands, hush the crowd when needed, and even sometimes get a chance to participate in the silly games and contests that happen between quarters. One superfan got to wear a sumo suit, but I didn’t get a good picture of that!

superfan

The game was a good one, the score was close until the very end. I don’t really understand the sport, but the enthusiasm and positive energy in the crowd made me feel like screaming along with everyone else. After each touchdown we linked arms and sang “Oil Thigh” (video from a different game). We stood for a good 4 hours, but that didn’t stop me from knitting! This is a sneak peek at a pattern that I am getting ready in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. I’ll make it available soon, I promise!

Queen’s won the game and, for the first time since 1978, are the holders of the Yates Cup. Look at the crowd rushing the field! Stay tuned for next week’s game against Laval. Keep your eyes peeled for the superfan, and the crazy knitter sitting near him.

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midnight update:  Mitten 1 is done!  Mitten 2 is started…stay tuned for full photo shoot and fun pattern details soon!

red 2010 mitten

red 2010 mitten