A note from Kathleen: I've invited Anne Merrow, editor of our eMag SpinKnit, here today to share her mitten knitting story and how she overcame a terrible loss: misplacing her treasured knitting notions! Enjoy.
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| Meet the Carvers and their flock, knit the Columbia Mittens, and
discover the
secrets of silk in SpinKnit Winter 2011. (Photo by Anita Osterhaug)
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Northern Colorado is expecting our third snowstorm of the season, and every
year I'm unprepared for the first morning of scraping ice and snow off the car.
After the first snowstorm, I decided it was time to knit myself some mittens.
Looking through my stash for a quick solution to my cold-hand problem, I found
a few ounces of soft, wooly Columbia two-ply yarn from Imperial Yarns that I'd
dyed bright turquoise. (Columbia is one of my favorite breeds to spin, but with
storm clouds on the horizon, the mulespun yarn was perfect.)
Summer Sunshine for Winter Woolens
Imperial Stock Ranch, located in the high desert of Oregon, has been breeding
and raising Columbia sheep for over a century. In the past decade, a combination
of economics and passion for maintaining the locally grown wool tradition led
the ranch's owners to create their own yarn line.
Under the hot sun of early August, Jeanne Carver introduced me to the flock of
several hundred head (including some irresistible bottle lambs who rested in
the shade of the ranch's historic homestead). Standing in the shearing barn,
Jeanne pointed out the stalls through which the ranch's sheep have passed much
the same way every spring for over a hundred years. Jeanne calls her wool
"sunshine yarn," reminding me of its transformation from solar energy to the
grass that nourishes the ranch's sheep and their fleece. With winter upon me, I need some of that sunshine!
Cold Hands, Warm Knits
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Star Athena's Columbia Mitten pattern was the
perfect solution to my winter chill. (Photo by Joe Coca) |
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Oregon designer Star Athena, who loves to work with locally produced wool,
designed an irresistible pair of mittens for the Winter
2011
SpinKnit. When both hands are
pressed together, a simple but clever cable pattern that wraps around each hand
appears as a complete motif. The mittens are interesting to knit and quick to
complete.
The cables did present one challenge, however. Sometime in the last year I lost
all of my knitting notions and supplies. (Pause for wistful sigh... The notions
were a near-perfect collection gathered over a decade of knitting, supplemented
by some cherished hand-me-downs from my Grandmother.) I've tried to restock my
knitting supplies, but somehow I haven't found the right replacement for my
cable needle.
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| My version of the Columbia
Mittens will keep my hands warm in this week's icy temperatures! Photo
by Anne
Merrow |
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The cable pattern moves in crosses of two over two stitches, so
while I worked on the mittens I worked without a cable needle; when the
stitches felt especially snug I used a handy tapestry needle, stitch marker... or
paper clip. My methods may not have been elegant, but my finished mittens are
lovely to my eye.
Meet the Carvers and their flock, knit the Columbia Mittens, and discover the
secrets of silk in
SpinKnit Winter 2011.
Download it today for the Mac, PC, or
iPad!
