Fire Festival KAL 2016-2017

Ella Gordon just announced this winter's knitalong - Fire Festival KAL 2016-2017, where the colours are inspired by Up Helly Aa!

With all the yarn I bought at Shetland Wool Week this year my intention was not to take part in this winter’s KAL. But when I saw my favourite yellow I could not resist, and placed my order… Looking forwards to a colourful KAL!

Photo from the Jamieson & Smith blog

Last year I made a pair of mittens in the Winter Wollies KAL, using seven of the eight colours. The pattern is called "Pysje mæ alt", and is found on Ravelry. 

For the summer KAL I decided to use all the eight colours, and try to make a pattern that would use as much of the yarn as possible. 

The result is the Ringdans  cowl. 

I have an idea for the Fire Festival KAL too. Stay tuned!

The thumb gusset and the mitten geek

Mitten geeks discuss thumb gussets when they meet. To beginner knitters the thumb gusset can be a mystery. In September this year I am very lucky to be able to go to Shetland Wool Week. If you're going too, and are curious about the thumb gusset, you can join one of my 

two classes. 

I'm really looking forwards to meeting other knitters, to seeing wonderful yarn and knitwear, and enjoying the Shetland landscape. This will be my third visit to Shetland Wool Week, and I can't wait.

The first time I went to Shetland, for the Wool Week in 2012, I fell in love with the heathered Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight yarn. The first evening I bought a few balls, and casted on immediately for a pair of wristwarmers.

The small houses just popped up in my head as I was knitting, and when I was planning the gusset class, I decided to use them again. I have made this new pattern specially for this class. It features different thumb gusset constructions, and lots of small houses, where you can play with your colours if you want.

I will also be showing some of the mittens from the Mitten Guild's book, "Eventyrvotter"  (Fairy Tale Mittens). For an additional price the book is included, with a download link to get 14 of the 20 patterns in English.

#nhkmittenkal

Claire of NH Knits podcast was inspired by my Selbu Peace&Love mittens to arrange a colourwork mitten KAL in her Ravelry group. I decided that would be a good opportunity to make a pair of mittens that someone else had designed, and I chose Giraffes at Sunset Mittens by Erica Mount, which had been a favourite pattern since the first time I saw it.

I used yarn from stash, small left overs of different 2ply fingering wool.  I chose a different cuff, just because I wasn’t in the mood for a colourwork cuff. 

For the second mitten, the giraffes walked away, and in came an elephant mom and her babyThe elephant charts are adapted from a chart found on Pinterest, and then I added a tree from the cuff to fill the space above the elephants.

Finished mittens, front...

... and back. 

Lovely the pattern, and it was so fun to knit and "paint" with my different colours. I have not tried them out in the cold, because spring is here, but I suspect they are really warm!

No finishing in February

But I almost finished this pair of mittens, 

and now, on March 6th they're done, 

with all ends woven inn too.

 I actually gave them away in a birthday party on the 24th of February 

- so I had to finish! The pattern is my own, 

En smak av Muhu (A taste of Muhu), 

published in the Swedish online magazine Avmaskat this winter. 

After six months I can self publish it on Ravelry, 

so it will be available in Norwegian and English this autumn. 

But if you read Swedish, the Magazine is good value, 

with seven patterns alltogether. 

And I did start the second sleeve of my Blomekrans sweater, 

so now I just have to transport myself down to the cuff. 

I now I should have been able to finish this in February, 

but as often before, a secret mitten project came in the way. 

Finishing and mending in March, then? 

I will finish the sweater, 

and perhaps some more secret mittens. 

Feel free to join the finishing & mending chat in my Ravelry group!

Kukufrakak  has recently finished a lovely yellow Tuin sweater!

Finishing & mending - January

I have mended the Lillehammer mittens (above) , the stripy, felted mittens (under), and a couple of more. Not a lot of work, but something that has been waiting to be done for ages. 

For February, I hope to finish this sweater.

Good luck to me!

Do you have plans to finish or mend something in February?

Feel free to join in the 2016 finishing&mending thread in my Ravelry group. 

Mystery solved

The last clue was revealed yesterday, 

and what a wonderful delight 

to see all the finished mittens  

popping up in all their glory on Ravelry. 

Thanks to Knitnetty for this pretty pattern, 

and to the super supportive Ravelry group 

I make mittens.

for hosting the MKAL

2016 finishing & mending - monthly resolutions

I have many ufos, and other project in need of repair. My resolution for 2016 is to try to do something about this. One project a month. Please join if you want to support me - or are in need of support yourself! I have made a thread in my Ravelry group for this. 

For January the project is mitten mending. I like to use wool mittens when I go skiing. But skiing is hard on the mittens, and they sometimes need a little darning. 

Mittenmittens

I don't know how many mittens I made in 2015, 

but these were the last pair I finished.

Pattern: Mittenmittens (Vottevotter) by Wenche Roald

Yarn: Handdyed Bluefaced Leicester by Ninapetrina, 

kindly given to me to try. 

It's really lovely and soft!

I used needles 2,5 mm, and got a size small mittens. For the gift box. 

Next pair of mittens will be another pattern from Wenche, a mystery knitting in the I make mittens group on Ravelry. An enchanting mystery! I have test knitted the pattern, so it's not a mystery to me, but truly enchanting! Come on, join the fun!

More mittens from the fairy forest

I suppose you remember Soria Moria, the mystery mittens?

We, the knitters in the Mitten Guild, test knitted mittens all the mittens, and here are the mittens I knitted, designed by some of the others

Blueberry Land

Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Suitors of Mrs Fox

And here all the seven mittens from the e-book. 

A few days ago, we published the second e-book, "More mittens from the fairy forest", but as the first e-book, it is published first in Norwegian, and later in English. You can find all the patterns here.

Sleeping Beauty Mittens

These are my second pair in the Mitten Guild's e-book with mittens from the Fairy Forest.

Photo 1 and 2 by Ann Myhre

Again, you might have seen these before, but the pattern is now available in English, so I'm sharing the mitten fun on my English blog too. Ravelry page here.

Fairy Tale Flowers Mittens

You might have seen these on my Norwegian blog, or on Ravelry, but since we now have published the e-book in English, I thought I'd share my mittens in the book here too. You find the pattern page on Ravelry here.

Fairy tale Mittens in English

Vottelauget (The Mitten Guild) has now published the e-book Mittens from the fairy forest in English. You can read more here, and see all the patterns on Ravelry. A Christmas gift for you or a friend, maybe?

What has torirot been up to lately?

I have finished one of the three wips I want to finish 

in the #WIPCrackAway KAL

(I have also finished the pattern, in Norwegian, 

and found test knitters, 

one of them has already finished her sweater.)

I have been to Shetland Wool Week, which was great, and I hope to tell you more later. It's just that this last week has been busy, with the publishing of our Mitten E-book - Votter fra eventyrskogen (Fairy tale mittens). The book is beeing translated to English, I will let you know when it's available! In the meantime, you can have a look at the patterns on Ravelry, and on our (Norwegian) blog.

#septmysmit

While wating for tomorrow's clue, you can have a look at all the projects on Instagram that are tagged with #septmysmit. If you're on Instagram, and use that hashtag on your project photos, you can win one of my other patterns. I will draw a winner on October 1st. 

#operationmittensbecausewinteriscoming

Here's my cuff - that was clue #1 in the mystery knitalong. There are at the moment 183 projects on Ravelry. 

You can see some on Instagram too - feel free to tag yours, #operationmittensbecausewinteriscoming or use the KAL-tag, septmysmit14. Here's what's been happening on Twitter (not so much).

Many have finished their clues #2 also. Clue #3 is coming in 5 days, on September 12th.

Mystery time is near

Autumn is a good time for mitten knitting. (As you all know, the whole year is a good time for mitten knitting!) And this autumn, you can join a mystery knitalong on Ravelry, in the wonderfully nice and supportive "I make mittens"-group, who have hosted my two previous mystery knitalongs. In July 2013 we made "En gåte på en måte" (A riddle, in a way), and in January 2014 the mystery mittens were inspired by the book "The secret garden". The knitalongs were both great fun, and I hope this one will be as well.

How to join?
When purchasing the pattern, you get details about yarn, sizing etc. Then, on September 1st you'll get the first clue, and over the next weeks, you'll get four more clues. It's not compulsory to join the discussion in the group, but that's at least half of the fun, so I'd go visit if I were you.

This time, the pattern costs 15 nkr, which is appr. 2.50 USD. However, the pattern will be part of a future mitten e-book, and if you buy the e-book later, you will get this sum deducted from the e-book price. Stay tuned for more information on that...

Latifolia & Twist Collective Fall 2014

Here's the first version of Latifolia hat and mittens - in the photo I sent with my submission to Twist collective.

When I designed this set, I was thinking of the paper decorations we made as kids - with black and white paper, cutting out motifs in black, then gluing them to the white paper to get a mirrored motif. Makes sense?

The yarn here is Dale Cotinga, a blend of merino and alpaca.

Here's the sample I made from the yarn Twist collective chose, O-Wool's Legacy DK, 100% merino, which is also a nice yarn, a little thinner than the Dale Cotinga (as I suggested, to get a nicer drape for the hat). I like the colour they chose for me too!

Here's me wearing the sample, before sending it off to the US. You can see some snow in the background, but I did not really need hat and mittens that day..

© Twist Collective

And here's the main photo on Twist Collective's page.

It's a fabulous issue, see the patterns on Ravelry, or on Twist Collective. I find it impossible to choose a favourite.

Mittens are perfect summer knitting!

Ineke joined my workshop in Breidag, Amersfoort in March, and has just finished her Blomekrans mittens. Aren't they lovely? And such beautiful photograpy. Thanks for letting me share them, Ineke!

Ineke also shared the mittens in my Ravelry group. Feel free to come visit and share your projects you too, if you are on Ravelry. 

Mittens are perfect summer knitting. A small project that won't be big and warm in your lap. 

Last July the Mystery KAL in the "I make mittens" group on Ravelry, confirmed that people do knit mittens in summer. 

I think people knit mittens all the time! This year there will be a Mystery KAL in September. More on that later.

#Rainbowfebruary

Pinneguri has inspired me to knit in rainbow colours in February, as a political statement during the Olympics. You can join too, in her Ravelry group.

The pattern is my own, Blomekrans mittens. Project details here.