Mitten love

Today's post is my Thrummed Mittens! As you can see, Amanda LOVES them, to the point of attempting to make out with them.

Yes, they are that great.

The yarn is Frog Tree Merino Worsted Melange, in a pretty heathery purple color. It's the same yarn I used to make myself a hat and matching handwarmers. It's really nice yarn. I think it's very versatile and soft and a great weight and it comes in pretty colors and all that.

So they're great mittens to begin with. But I made an addition that makes them...

The Perfect Mittens.

Back a few years ago (like two) one of my college roommates and I took a spinning class. We got drop spindles, a bunch of fiber and a three-hour session at this lady's house. It was a good time (my roommate was a textiles major and I was a knitter, so we had a pretty good base knowledge of fiber to start with) and I went on my merry way after class was over, confident in the knowledge that I was crap at spinning and would probably never do anything with that bag o' fiber.

This was before I learned of the existence of thrummed mittens. See, with thrummed mittens, you rip up the fiber into bitty pieces and knit them INTO the fabric, leaving tufts on the inside of the mitten, which will then felt and create an uber-mitten, impervious to cold and snow.

I used silk-wool roving for my thrums. Yummm. When I finish the second mitten, you'll get more of an in-depth review on the whys and hows of thrummed mittens.