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Sunday, February 22, 2015

Cold hands, warm heart.


My hands are always cold, and if I had a dollar for every time somebody said to me,
 "Cold hands, warm heart."
 I'd be a rich woman!


We're into week 2 or 3 of a subzero cold spell.  It's been bitterly cold so long I can't be sure.
It's too cold to paint in the kitchen, so I've been keeping my hands busy
and warm by knitting wool mittens.


I started this pair before Christmas, but set them aside
to concentrate on the holiday season.



 These mittens fit my hands perfectly, so I knit up another pair in gray.
You can find the free pattern "Norwegian Mittens for Mimi"
 by Anna Mazzarella here.






I only knit one mitten in the pattern shown above.   My hands are long and narrow,
and this pattern knits up short and wide.  It was a very labor intensive pattern,
so unless I find myself with absolutely nothing to do (will never happen)
I'm not going to waste my time knitting the other one.
Do you see the fleur de lis pattern on the palm side?



You can find a free pattern for the Fair Isle heart at The Counted Sheep.
  It would make a nice sachet filled with dried lavender,
 but the only thing growing in our back yard right now is snow,
 so I filled mine with fiberfill and hung it from my armoire door latch.

It's cold outside, but at least the sun is shining to brighten up our house.




The mittens above are knit from a vintage pattern out of the same
wool roving I used for my snowball garland.  Because of the
inconsistency in the thickness of the yarn, the mittens have a nice
homespun look.  They are knit on size 10 needles, so each
mitten takes just a few hours to knit as opposed to the Norwegian
mittens which take me weeks (or months) to finish.

In fact, I finished one during our drive to Minneapolis just the other day.
I tried on the second mitten for size, but something wasn't right.


I don't like to look ahead at the last chapter of a book, but it would serve me well
to read through the entire pattern before I start the second mitten.


If you're happy and you know it clap your.......right hands?


The cold weather isn't leaving us any time soon, so I guess I've got
plenty of time to work on two left mittens.

(The pattern can be found at Free Vintage Knitting.)

Keep calm and knit on.
Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:
Share Your Cup Thursday  Have a Daily Cup of Mrs.Olson
Tweak it Tuesday   Cozy Little House
Sundays at Home   Thoughts from Alice

35 comments:

  1. I had some gloves, but think I lost one. Guess I had better find more. It's cold here!
    Brenda

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  2. Vickie - I have always admired anyone with the patience to knit and/or crochet. I do neither. My Mom did beautiful crochet and tried teaching me. I didn't really enjoy it and she could always whip out anything I wanted, so I didn't pursue it. Now that she's gone, I wish I'd tried harder.

    Your mittens are just beautiful.

    Judy

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  3. WOW...they are awesome! Love the patterns on your mittens! Impressed!
    warmly,
    deb

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  4. Those are adorable! The patterns are so Swedish looking. Have a wonderful week.

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  5. Oh that ending made me laugh! These are just beautiful! You are so talented, Vickie!

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  6. I've been kniitting up a storm like you...cause it darn bitter cold here too. Love you mittens, and I just found two skeins of roving yarn at GW for 99 cents each. Never heard of the vintage patterns so thanks so much for the website link. Love the heart too.

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  7. Is the pattern the Ladies Mocked Stitch Cable Mittens Pattern?

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  8. I love to knit. I do not love to knit mittens. Thumbless mittens I might be able to be convinced to try.

    It's frigid here too. I know we have almost another week of it until we warm up to the 30's. I'm counting the days!

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  9. you are so talented, vickie! love the fleur de lis design:) i've tried knitting--what a mess! ha! stay warm!

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  10. Those two right mittens and the one chubs are funny. Seems like every time I sewed, I would inevitably sew a sleeve or zipper inside out. All of those look so nice and cozy, though. I love mittens, and I'm like you - long, thin hands. 25 days until it's officially spring, but who's counting, right?

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  11. The mittens are just lovely. Yes you'd better get the left ones going...it's been a long cold February, hasn't it. Last week the kids in our area ( Western PA ) only had school one day.

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  12. LOL....two right hands? Oh, that is so something I would have done.

    You are right! Those ARE detailed. How on earth did you have the patience to make all of those Fleur de Lis'? WOWZERS!!! Your mittens are wonderful and that heart...well, steals mine.

    Stay warm! You could always come here for a visit!

    Becky

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  13. Wow, your knitting is incredible! What beautiful mittens (even two right ones). My hands are always cold, too, even in the house.

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  14. I love the colors you used for those mittens. They look so Norwegian. You're lucky to be able to make your own mittens. Hope they're keeping your hands warm!

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  15. It sounds like you are in the deep freeze up there. I'm so impressed with your knitting abilities, and I think your mittens are charming. My daughter's hands are always cold, too, and she also has a warm heart. :) I love your little knitted heart hanging from your armoire. What a pretty picture, and those hydrangeas are gorgeous. It must make the cold more tolerable to see the sun shining on such pretty flowers and be reminded that spring will come again!

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  16. They look so cozy! I love the thick nubby wool you found to knit with, the mittens and the garland both have a thick plush look. So pretty!
    Stay warm.

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  17. You make me wish I could knit. Those are adorable. I need them today.

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  18. You made me laugh, because I could see myself doing the same thing! lol

    They look really cute and cozy though :)

    xo

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  19. Oops, well at least it wasn't two right hands of the complicated patterns, and that single gorgeous glove could make a great Christmas decoration. Your knitting skills are amazing. I knitted at college and even made a jumper to wear but as it was art college the imperfections in my knitting didn't matter, I don't think I'd have the patience for it now.
    Your post has made me shiver somewhat but we haven't had any snow at all here, so I should think myself lucky !

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  20. Your mittens are lovely and exactly what us with cold hands need! I chuckled when I saw your two right mittens, because it's exactly the kind of thing that would happen to me!

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  21. ll these beautiful mittens are making me desire to knit again. I love that heart too! Thanks for sharing all the links to the patterns.

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  22. Beautiful, impressive mittens! Funny about the two rights. There must be a joke there about two rights don't make a wrong or something. It's cold here, too. I usually enjoy winter, but I'm getting eager for a thaw (but not the mud which will follow when the snow melts - ugh).

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  23. These are gorgeous, my favorite is the gray and white. Love that cute heart too.

    Cindy

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  24. Vickie,
    very cute mittens, (is there anything you can't do)! You know I have no patience to do that sort of things, the only thing I manage to do is cross stitch and not the ones you have to change threads every other stitch!! My hands are always cold, I have to have gloves, have a pair in each of my jacket pockets!
    Rebecca

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  25. Hi Vickie, you are so talented. What a pretty little heart. I love your mittens and the Norwegian designs. My dear friend from Norway, who lives in Houston, but on a job transfer with her hubby in Eygpt at the moment, designs these pattern too and has a store on Etsy where she sells her patterns as digital downloads. My hands are always cold too and I have heard that saying many times too.
    Have a nice evening and stay warm.
    Hugs, CM

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  26. these are so adorable. Honestly, I don't know how you do all the needlework you do. My hand/brain coordination is zilch. LOVE them. red or gray!

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  27. Super super cute! I love your Norwegian mittens. You are one clever lady.

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  28. Your mittens are so cute. You never cease to amaze me with all your talents and skills!!
    Mary Alice

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  29. Vickie, you are such a fabulous knitter! I love these Nordic mittens and the little heart is so sweet!! ha, ha, you have long skinny hands and I have short chubby ones. Yesterday in church I put my hands in hubbies so he could see how cold they were. His were as hot as a oven. Ah, love that! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  30. Cute mittens. Knitting and crocheting are two things I absolutely cannot do, but you do it beautifully. Stay warm.

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  31. Vickie these are so cute. I wish I would have paid attention when my grandma tried to teach me to knit and crochet. Just never took a liking to it. Now I wish I had.
    Have a great week end.
    Kris

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  32. Hi Vickie, What a sweet post!! I love those white vintage style design mittens~~~so reminds me of the sweet, days gone by era! Wish I lived closer to you...You could have a knitting class...I'd be there!! Blessings~~~Roxie

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  33. Lovely pieces and that little red and white heart is adorable! Years ago I did the two right mittens thing too. I had to knit like crazy to finish the left for my father-in-law for Christmas that year. He has always wanted me to knit him socks but although my sister and sister-in-law make really nice ones, I have yet to attempt socks.

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  34. Vicki, your knitting is just sooo beautiful! You're really, REALLY good at it! It must be so difficult to knit those intricate little patterns, and into mittens yet! I have a very hard time just holding a knitting needle in each hand! xoxo

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