Halland Mittens

LATVIAN MITTENS

As you can probably tell I love to knit mittens. By far the most gorgeous mittens I've ever seen are Latvian mittens. Apparently Latvians share my obsession with mittens - they have mitten poetry, wedding mittens, funeral mittens, etc. And exactly why would anyone need wedding mittens? Do they get married outside in winter?? This wonderful web site discusses the history of mittens in Latvia with some nice photos. I guess there was even a tradition of giving a pair of mittens to the blacksmith when you had your horse shod for the first time!

HERE is a photo of Saartje's Latvian mittens. And HERE is a photo of Geane Helfrich's Latvian mittens. And if you want to buy some gorgeous Latvian wool mittens for less than the price of buying wool to make them, check out the crafts section of the Baltic Shop.

I have the Latvian Mitten book by Lizbeth Upitis but have never made any of her beautiful designs. In the meantime, here are the Halland mittens from Folk Mittens in Nature Spun worsted with a few changes.



Robin asked on my tag board about the difference between Cascade 220 and Nature Spun worsted. Nature Spun Worsted is cheaper and *can* pill a lot. On the Norgeknit mailing list we've discussed pilling and Nature Spun. I've had experiences either way with it - sometimes it pills more and sometimes less than other yarns. The Halland mittens in Nature Spun worsted are definitely pilling. Cascade 220 comes in such gorgeous colors but I don't know how well it wears.

When thinking of my efforts at stash control I realized I am not as good about using up unspun fibers. A few months ago I did some Kool Aid dyeing and I have some red and orange merino top ready to spin pictured above. Not to mention this wonderful stuff below. It is a selection of all different colors of dyed Ashford wool from Halcyon Yarn that I've had for several years. I plan to spin each color up and Navajo ply it. Perhaps if I choose a knitting project using it I'd get it done faster?







I do spin more in warmer weather and it has been snowy and cold lately. But I think I'd get more done if I designated a particular time of day or particular event (like watching rented movies) that will coincide with spinning. A friend of mine recently learned needle felting so I was happy to give her the rest of my raw fleeces. I don't really like working with raw fleeces anymore as carding is too tough on my wrists.



In the unspun category I have the pictured fibers, the alpaca, some llama top, kid mohair, and a few dribbles of silk and hemp. I also have some cotton sliver, both white and some natural colors but I'm not adept enough at spinning cotton yet. Plus I have a Rubbermaid container full of collected pet fur I should probably use or get rid of before our next move.



And I forgot to mention I have two grab bags of Cascade 220 I purchased from One Fine Yarn in my worsted yarn container. Great colors - I used some hot pink, orange, lime greeen and blue to make some of Anna Zilboorg's fingertip-up gauntlet mittens. Didn't manage to get a photo before I gave them away so I guess I should make another pair.

I know most knitters feel otherwise but I'm not comfortable with a gargantuan stash of yarn. I currently have four large 54 quart Rubbermaid containers and one smaller container of yarn which is too much.



Container number one is for worsted yarns which I don't knit with much anymore, mainly a mishmash and a small collection of Classic Elite Tapestry. I'm mainly keeping this container of yarns if I ever teach knitting to kids.



Number two has a large quantity of Nylamb - an old Brunswick fingering weight sock yarn that is quite soft and lovely. In fact, I have enough Nylamb in a dark green color to make either Nova Scotia or Cape Cod in Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters book. I just haven't decided which one yet.



Container number three contains my sport weight yarns - mainly Nature Spun in as many colors as possible and a bag of some Norwegian sport weight wool in bright colors purchased from Elann.



Container number four contains my sock and fingering weight yarns. I have a bag of Stahl Baby Merino also purchased from Elann several years ago, a good quantity of Wildfoote for socks, a big bag of Pingouin Laine sock yarn from Elann in relatively boring colors and some odds and ends like fingering weight cotton for dishcloths.



And the smaller container holds my DK weight yarns. I'm trying to build up my collection of Emu Superwash DK from Elann in as many colors as possible and I also have some Country Garden DK in colors from Smiley's Yarns that don't really turn me on. I also have a sweater's worth of Tiur for a future project - the Dale of Norway Kashmir sweater. And I have a few baskets of leftovers and handspun which I'll use to make more Spontaneous Scarves.



My recent efforts at stash busting have made me realize I work better with less yarn and less clutter. I do prefer quiet and order to total chaos on the yarn front plus it really helps with all the moving we do. One of my goals is to reduce my total stash to just those four containers.



I have my knitting books organized by subject and my patterns are filed the same way. Straight needles are kept in an old tin, circular needles are kept in pencil cases and here's a photo of my double pointed needles, crochet hooks and cable needles organized nicely in a circular solution container. Before I purchased this dpn container I used pencil cases but the dpns kept poking through.