Felted mittens with non-felted cuffs
My LYS had a book about felting on display. The book had a section on children's mittens. It recommended casting on in cotton, knitting a few rounds, switching to wool, making the mittens, felting the mittens, removing the waste cotton and then knitting the cuff into the holes where the cotton had been.
Hmmm. Well...it would work, yes. You COULD do it that way. But...why? What a lot of work.
Try this instead:
Does it work? You bet. Did it hold up? See for yourself. Here are the same mittens after two Wisconsin winters' worth of wear by a boy, now in second grade, who wears these mittens (and no others) through every snowball fight and sledding adventure, every day at recess, after school and every other time he goes outside--and here, we've still got a foot on the ground (although thankfully, it is melting fast). These mittens are getting too small for him now, the bright colors have yellowed and faded, but he's still wearing them.
Bottom line: for ribbing on felted garments, put away that waste cotton & bring on the superwash wool.
PS: Make sure to use a non-fuzzy yarn for the shrinky-parts, or the fuzz will get into the non-shrinking cuffs and make a mess. For further information about this, go to LIVNLETLRN, an illustrated entry on her blog.
PPS: If you want to make these mittens, a pattern is available for sale ($3.25)
You can go to the pattern store on Ravelry
You can go to the pattern page on Ravelry or
you can
--TECHknitter
(you have been reading TECHknitting on: Felted Mittens with Unfelted Cuffs)
Hmmm. Well...it would work, yes. You COULD do it that way. But...why? What a lot of work.
Try this instead:
click picture
Does it work? You bet. Did it hold up? See for yourself. Here are the same mittens after two Wisconsin winters' worth of wear by a boy, now in second grade, who wears these mittens (and no others) through every snowball fight and sledding adventure, every day at recess, after school and every other time he goes outside--and here, we've still got a foot on the ground (although thankfully, it is melting fast). These mittens are getting too small for him now, the bright colors have yellowed and faded, but he's still wearing them.click picture
Bottom line: for ribbing on felted garments, put away that waste cotton & bring on the superwash wool.PS: Make sure to use a non-fuzzy yarn for the shrinky-parts, or the fuzz will get into the non-shrinking cuffs and make a mess. For further information about this, go to LIVNLETLRN, an illustrated entry on her blog.
PPS: If you want to make these mittens, a pattern is available for sale ($3.25)
You can go to the pattern store on Ravelry
You can go to the pattern page on Ravelry or
you can
--TECHknitter
(you have been reading TECHknitting on: Felted Mittens with Unfelted Cuffs)
contents © 2006-2013 by techknitting@hotmail.com
15 Comments:
I have to laugh at myself. I decided I wanted felted mittens but I wanted soft knitted cuffs. I researched and probably came across the same book you did, and I used cotton yarn so that I could pick up stitches for a knitted cuff. I feel like smacking myself on the forehead. I really appreciate the knitterly know-how that you share with us.
Punkin in Oregon
Genius, absolute genius!
Neat!
How cool is that!! What a great idea.
Wow, brilliant. The possibilities that opens up....
I believe that qualifies as an *elegant* solution. Thanks!
What a fantabulous idea. I will have to try it!
This is a gem, and you are a treasure. Truly. Thanks so much.
Clever! And very useful at the same time.
I am working on some felted slippers that close with a button and buttonhole. The buttonhole is worked horizontally but it seems to me it would hold better if it was vertical.
The patterns calls for a button hole worked into the knitting but I am thinking it might be better to cut the buttonhole after the slippers are felted.
I am confused, the buttonhole on a collar stand (like a man's dress shirt)is worked horizonally for better closure hold so I don't know which way would be best. The button called for is 34mm. I think that is around 1 3/8"--just guessing.
Any thoughts on this?
Hi Anon.: I agree that making the buttonhole after felting would work better. Also, I would stitch around the buttonhole in buttonhole stitch. As far as the direction of the buttonhole, the idea is to put the buttonhole lined up to the direction in which you do not want the garment to slip. So, on a man's dress shirt, you do not want one side of the collar higher than the other. Accordingly, you put a horizontal buttonhole on top--the collar can slip between tighter and looser, but not between up and down.
A different example is lower down on the shirt. You want the two pieces of the bands (button band and buttonhole band) to line up and not have one peeking out from under the other, so you put those buttonholes vertical--the shirt can slip up and down a bit between the two sides, but cannot gape and gap (no horizontal slippage).
On a slipper, you must ask yourself which way it would be worse if there was slippage, and align the buttonhole accordingly.
Thanks for writing
--TK
Wonderful idea! I am going to copy this.
EarlyBird
The washed superwash looks much tidier than unwashed, even without blocking. Not the intended lesson, but it's still going to save me frustration.
This is a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing. I've stumbled upon it with great timing too.
One Christmas knit this year is a pair of felted slippers to replace previous ones that were worn out. Was just going to do the same pattern as before (basically giant ankle socks, felted) but was thinking non-felted ribbed cuffs around the ankles would be nice. I've seen mitten patterns where the cuffs were sewn on after felting but your way is so much more efficient.
~AnickaMarie on Ravelry
I have made these, they are great! Thank you. I would love them for adults. Is there a pattern yet? :-)
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