life with a chronic disease and a really big yarn stash
Mitt Madness
My son has a beautiful Maine Coon tuxedo cat. The family joke is that she controls the weather.
Here she is, Maya Isabella the Weather Queen. She actually considers herself a princess and demands regular attention from her main subject, my son. Kitty treats now! Come run my drinking water for me! Come pet me now!! Time for me to go outside to catch bugs!! She also takes instant ownership of any knitting left unattended…Bless her heart. Tuesday she sent me a blizzard, the first official blizzard in the Denver area in several years. The wind howled and shook the house overnight and this is what the backyard looked like in the morning. My cats were not amused. I should note that there was almost no snow at Maya’s house!
The cold weather and previous snow storms had already launched me into some serious mitt knitting, but this week’s storm really pushed me into mitt knitting overdrive. Here’s what happened during this week:
I actually finished these mitts before the big snowstorm and took the picture as the first little pellets of snow arrived. These are Sugared Maple MItts (designed by Melissa Schaschwary) knitted in Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK. Love the cashmere!! The knitted texture was really easy to knit and kind of reminds me of the waffle pattern in Henley shirts. These are really comfy mitts. If you yearn for more details here are my notes on Ravelry.The first mitts were so much fun to knit and wear I just cast on and started another pair. This is Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK again, and the purple is actually as intense as in the photo. I have a cousin who can’t get enough purple so I already know where these are going when they are done.My sister let me know that the mitts I gave her for her birthday last year were flawed: the cable just didn’t stay parked on top of her hand the way they should. My first impulse was to tell her to stop being so persnickety, but upon reflection I decided that she may have a point. I made some changes to my generic rib and cable mitt pattern that would allow me to make her mitts that have the thumb moved over to place it under the index finger.Here’s the palm view of the mitts. The gusset has been moved over 4 stitches and starts at the wrist. I’m hoping that if her thumb can move without tugging on the body of the mitt the cable will behave itself. This yarn is Malabrigo Rios which is one of my favorite hand-painted superwash wools. I wrote notes to myself about what I had done and they are here on Ravelry.
I’m still not completely happy with the new mitt design. What would happen if I added more ribbing at the top and bottom of the mitt? What if I changed to a smaller needle to do that ribbing at the top? Should I make the top so long it can be folded back in a little cuff? Hmmm… I have more Rios to play with (well, duh! Yarn Stash Queen here!!) and I’m itching to CO and get started on another pair. I have some more Zen Yarn Garden that wants to be mitts, too. I try to not overthink this compulsion to create mitts. I just knit them up and put the little guys into my mitt bin where they can all hang out together and pretend to be the ultimate cool knitted items.
My box of mitts: last Saturday I took the bin to my scleroderma support group meeting and gave away or sold 11 pairs! I’ll be taking the bin back to the next meeting as several people thought they might want more pairs for Christmas presents. During the week I handed out business cards to more customers who admired the mitts I was wearing and asked how they could get a pair.
Looks like things are picking up in the mitt business. All of a sudden mitts ARE the ultimate cool knitted item. Must be all the snow; it is snowing again this evening and there is ANOTHER snowstorm predicted for Thanksgiving.
I weave, knit and read in Aurora, Colorado where my garden lives. I have 2 sons, a knitting daughter-in-law, a grandson and two exceptionally spoiled kittens. In 2014 I was diagnosed with a serious rare autoimmune disease called systemic sclerosis along with Sjogren's Disease and fibromyalgia.
View all posts by Midnight Knitter
12 thoughts on “Mitt Madness”
You have been productive! That mitt bin did look like money in the bank. If the kitty-empress sends you more snow you’ll be sure to sell lots more.
Maine Coons are a riot. They have tons of fur, even more personality, and have an astonishing vocal range. Maya “talks” in whole sentences. She also likes to play with the mitts as toys if she can get her paws on them…
Maya looks a little scary in the pic, I think I would be inclined to pander her every whim too 😉 Your mitts are gorgeous, no wonder everyone wants them!
Your snow is amazing, great excitement here this morning when we had a little flurry, Josh was out in his pj’s 🙂 That may well be it for the year, we shall see! Have a great weekend. x
Ha! My son adopted her because his cat Daxter needed a companion. Thinking that he needed a pretty outgoing cat to stand up to Daxter he took the kitten that was described as “a firecracker”. Even Mother Nature succumbs to her will.
Oh, I absolutely love the purple ones! I should get knitting some of that too, Sweden is getting cold too, but me and accessorie knitting….. also, I generally lack the yarn in correct weight in my stash… But I should look into it. With my cold rash and all.
I really find mitts useful. When it’s really cold I even pull them on over gloves or mittens. The purple pattern is for DK weight yarn, but I’m thinking of trying a light weight worsted weight yarn next.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
You have been productive! That mitt bin did look like money in the bank. If the kitty-empress sends you more snow you’ll be sure to sell lots more.
That’s the plan. 🙂
When I was setting cryptic crosswords, I once put Maine Coon in a puzzle. Now I know what one looks like. Nice mitts
Maine Coons are a riot. They have tons of fur, even more personality, and have an astonishing vocal range. Maya “talks” in whole sentences. She also likes to play with the mitts as toys if she can get her paws on them…
Maya looks a little scary in the pic, I think I would be inclined to pander her every whim too 😉 Your mitts are gorgeous, no wonder everyone wants them!
Your snow is amazing, great excitement here this morning when we had a little flurry, Josh was out in his pj’s 🙂 That may well be it for the year, we shall see! Have a great weekend. x
Ha! My son adopted her because his cat Daxter needed a companion. Thinking that he needed a pretty outgoing cat to stand up to Daxter he took the kitten that was described as “a firecracker”. Even Mother Nature succumbs to her will.
He certainly looks a firecracker!
I love Maine coon kitties!! They are awesome. I love your mitts, too!
Thanks! Maya thanks you too, although you are just confirming her core belief that yes, she is awesome. 🙂
Oh, I absolutely love the purple ones! I should get knitting some of that too, Sweden is getting cold too, but me and accessorie knitting….. also, I generally lack the yarn in correct weight in my stash… But I should look into it. With my cold rash and all.
I really find mitts useful. When it’s really cold I even pull them on over gloves or mittens. The purple pattern is for DK weight yarn, but I’m thinking of trying a light weight worsted weight yarn next.