Mitten Knittin Weekend

   This year when out Christmas shopping I lost one of my mittens!

  It was a bummer because this was the first (and only) pair of mittens I had made.  But the positive side of it being something I made, was that once the holiday craziness was over I finally found time to make a replacement.  This past weekend the weather was cold so it was a great time to cuddle up on the couch and get some knitting done.  I use the  basic mitten pattern for the book "Knitting for Peace" by Betty Christiansen.  This is a neat book over all.  It gives patterns and ideas for where you can send knitted items to donate to those in need.  The projects are all easy to do and the history of the programs where you can donate to are very interesting. 

Once I got started I really started enjoying the process.  I love knitting in the round...hats, mittens, bags. It is so pleasing to watch your project grow quickly.  So after finishing my replacement mitten I decided to knit a second pair to give to Brett.  Her favorite color is red and I happen to have some cool flecked red yarn so yay! it worked out perfect.  

I will openly admit that as much as I enjoy hand felting, the flowers on my first pair of mittens are there to hide mistakes.  I made the originals two years ago so my knitting has improved a lot.  But to keep the pair matching I pulled out my roving and added the detailing on.  I use a variety of tools and methods to add felted details to my work.

*The top item in a bristle pad that you place under the piece you are felting to give the needle a place to safely go (not in to you fingers Ouch!)                                                                 

*The second item in this picture is a felting needle with 3 needles and a safety lock on it.  This is great for working with kids.  When you are not using the needle you can lock the plastic guard to keep fingers away.  And it makes things go so quickly when you can use 3 needles at once.                         *And the bottom item is the traditional single felting needle.

                                                           Here is my felting process:

I made 6 small felt balls in each color I used to make the flowers

I use the single needle to attach the balls loosely to the mitten.
Sometimes is you don't attach with the single needle smaller items
get caught on the needle of the other tool. When attaching
larger amounts of roving I skip this step and go straight to
the multi needle tool.

You can use the single needle to attach but I like to use my
multi needle tool to speed up the process

Little something I started doing when I can't use my bristle pad to felt things.
 I roll up some fleece and put it in the item I want to felt.

TaDa!! 1 1/2 pairs of mittens in one weekend!