talkin' handspun mitts

Can we dwell a little on my so-called Rhinebeck mitts? They waved at the blogsphere from the Yarn Harlot's reportage last week. (scroll down, we're just under Pamela Wynne/Flint Knits and her well styled scarf).  I showed them in the last post but they deserve their own stage. Truly, they do.  I mean, I have been churning out some knits, catching up with yarn accumulated in my travels.  I've been feathering my nest for winter. Yeah, I know this means accumulating wealth. Knitted wealth. 

Handspun knitted wealth.  I adore handspun yarn, but I do not spin. When I was photographing Shear Spirit, I was all up close and personal with fleeces and spinning, from one coast to another. Alpaca, mohair, cashmere, wool. But, nope.  Did not infect me with the spinning bug at all. I caught the fever for knitting with it, though.

  

For wearing it, too. The fingerless mitts are the Malabrigo Hand Thingies, modified to a tighter gauge and with longer hand portions. I cast on 72 stitches to get the right circumference (hate tight gloves) and knit till I liked the length,in the worsted weight handspun skein I won at the Shepherds Harvest silent auction. Details on that here. (scroll down--why do I always link to the bottom of posts???)

My bulkier weight handspun from that same  acquisition became the Kremlin hat by Annie Modesitt. I went for the poetics of knitting with yarn  from a Minnesota fiber festival, to wear at a new York one. I bumped into Annie at Shepherds Harvest as well as in New Hampshire last month, so it's all destiny.  

Or something like that. This pattern's fun to knit: short row wedges, knit flat, then joined and the brim is knit in the round. Perfect for this crazy bumpy multicolored handspun. The mitts, too, were so pleasing to make  that when I finished the pair, I knit a spare one.  But then I had enough yarn left for a fourth,  which meant a full second pair. Greedy!

I couldn't say no to Ariana when she said she wanted them, could I? BEST NIECE EVER . She worked all last weekend with me shooting. Plus, she's a knitter & maker.

All photo credits of me & my knits:  Ariana McLean. The photo of Ariana? That's a portrait of her in mitts. If you've taken a class from me, you know I'd say that it's not a photo of mitts, right?