Whew!

And I mean that in more ways than one.  Despite sweating out the worry of having not enough mohair locks to finish thrumming these mittens, they are finished.  Just in time for the frigid cold we are living in the northeast.  Whew! on both counts.

First, the thrums.  I might never, ever do this again.  I am sure I want to knit thrummed mittens again, but I am pretty sure I don't want to do it with mohair locks.  It seemed like such a good idea at the time.  There were just too many issues with the locks.  First up:  The actual product.  As I said before, when I bought these I pulled a few out, they looked good and long, so I scooped up a bunch, had it weighed and bought it.  As I started knitting I found TONS of second cuts, lots of veggie matter, grass and dirt.  (Picking out what I could I tried really hard to believe that it was dirt and not poop.  Work with me here.)  I can't remember who I purchased these from, but clearly it is a ruse to get you to buy unusable fiber.  Dye it pretty and put it out there for suckers like me.  That all left a lot of unusable fiber and I was adding in pieces that were too short with longer pieces, but in vain because of problem number two:  Mohair locks are like fine, shiny, slippery silk.  I hesitate to even show the photos because the thrums look really bad.  I get them all pulled in and perfect looking and in seconds they slide out to an uneven mess.  I'm really hoping that the matting and felting that will happen with wear will help take care of that. 

Next, I haven't a single bit of usable mohair left.  I kept feeling like the woman, who when pulled over for speeding tells the policeman that she is running out of gas and trying to get to the gas station before that happens.  That was me with these mittens.  I kept knitting and knitting, in a race with the mohair.  What would happen first?  Would I run out of mohair?  Would I finish the mittens?  Would my fingers fall off?  In fear I started skimping a little on the thrums of the second mitten.  Hysterically, because that is how I morph when I am maniacally panicked and knitting away, I found that I must have thought I was skimping because the second mitten seems to be fuller than the first.  Go figure.  And did my fingers fall off?  It was a close call.  More and more I realize that knitting on smaller needles works for me.  Knitting aran weight yarn on size seven needles while wrangling that fly-away slippery mohair into usable thrums really hurt.  Oh, and the static!  A spray bottle filled with water and a few drops of baby oil helped a little.  This really was a project.  I am looking forward to making these again, but with roving that is nice and sticky and clean and smooth.  I have two skeins of this yarn left and I might just get the same color in a roving and make them again.

• Pattern: Thrummed Mittens by Jennifer Appleby (raverly link) in Interweave Knits, Winter 2006
• Yarn: Rowan Magpie Tweed from stash (leftovers from this sweater)
• Needles: sizes 6 and 7
• Cast On: January 26, 2010
• Bound Off: January 29, 2010

Do I like anything about them?  All I have to do is put my hand inside them to answer that.  Oh, YES!  YES!  They feel like heaven for the hands.  I'm wearing them around the house to get them felted inside.  Well, okay not yet.  I tried, but I can't get a single thing done while I have them on.  You should have seen me trying to type this post!  I made only two modifications to the pattern, I knitted an extra row before the final decrease at the top because there were thrums in the previous round and they would have been lost in decreases and I knit the thrums with the yarn in each stitch.  This pattern has you knitting the thrum alone and carrying the yarn behind the stitch.  I don't know why I didn't do it this way, I just felt like it should be.  So it is.

And because everybody seems to like these photos:

They look like an emerald wooly mammoth.

2010.  Fourteen.  On the SMACK!down scorecard these count for using stash yarn and stash fiber.  Only one skein of the yarn, though.  I have two skeins left.  If only I thought I would wear a hat.  Maybe a headband......

Comments

[Vicki]

Hm. I made two pairs of thrummed mittens for certain people about the house... I wonder where they've ended up! It is most definitely thrummed mitten weather here.now!

[Vicki]

Heh. Yeah. And yours are lovely for all the trouble you had... I hope, too, that they felt and bit and you're happier with them.
; )

[Ruth]

They may have been a pain, but the end result is wonderful.

[Geri]

Talk about high anxiety! The end result is some lovely thrummed mittens in time for the big chill!

[Paula]

I think it was a really good idea to knit the thrums with the main yarn. This way if a thrum works loose (heaven forbid!) there will still be a stitch in its place.

[margene]

You are the one person I know who would persevere to the end and have a lovely finished mitten. They must feel like heaven.

[Karen]

Your mittens are lovely and totally worth all they put you through. Looking at this weeks weather report I'd say you'll get to wear them quite a bit.

[Nora]

I felt every bit of your anxiety in your description! I'm glad they're done - they look fantastic!

[Suzanne]

They look great!