Skip to main content

FO Friday: SilverSpun Mitts

I first heard about SilverSpun yarn from the Feel Good Yarn Company over on my pal Allyson's blog. It popped up again as a reward for the Woolly App Kickstarter, and finally I ended up connecting with Laurie, the woman behind it all. She sent me a skein of SilverSpun yarn to try out, and I couldn't wait to cast on!

Since the pure silver that is spun throughout the yarn has therapeutic properties, I thought a pair of fingerless mitts would be a good project. It should also be noted that the silver lends the yarn conductive properties as well, which means that you can knit a pair of gloves and use them to operate any touch-screen device while wearing them! Anyway, I went the fingerless mitt route and made the Dalkey Mitts from Carol Feller's Contemporary Irish Knits. This is the first project in my never-ending quest to see how many projects I can make from books already on my shelf, might I add!

There were several pleasant surprises about this yarn: first, I was happy to see that the silver didn't add any sparkle to the yarn - I know that was popular for a nanosecond in 2012/13, and I've bought a few skeins of sparkly yarn here and there, but overall, I like to leave the bling out of my knitting. Another surprise was how easy it was to knit with: the fiber content is 87% combed cotton, 11% silver and 2% lycra. Most cottons feel a bit tough and hurt my hands to work with, but the cotton was very soft and lofty and I'm guessing the little bit of lycra is the magic ingredient to an easy-to-knit-with yarn. Finally, I was surprised at how warm the mitts are! My living room is quite drafty, and these little mitts did wonders to ward off frozen hand syndrome.

I have just a little bit of yarn left over, and I may use it to knit the fingertips in a pair of gloves to take advantage of the conductive properties (that is, if I can get up the gumption to actually make a pair of gloves).

In other news, I knit a swatch for my next 30 Day Sweater. I'm not sure if I'll actually make it in a month, but it sure would be nice to have a new sweater to wear this season! I'm using The Fibre Company's Canopy Fingering (swatched here in Sumac, but I also have a few skeins of Wild Ginger which I'll be using for a contrast color) and it's blocking on my new blocking mats from Knitter's Pride. I have a few sketches for what I'd like this sweater to become - I'll be using the framework to create my own custom sweater this time around!

Thanks for stopping by this week - for FO Friday inspiration, visit the Tami's Amis blog.


Have a crafty weekend! 

Labels:

Comments

  1. Minding My Own StitchesJanuary 10, 2014 at 10:48 AM

    Silver Spun yarn sounds very interesting. Cute gloves too.

    A thirty-day sweater?! Wow. I clicked through your link but I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Your swatched yarn looks lovely. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Easy DIY: Beaded Vintage Snowflake Ornament Kits from Solid Oak Inc.

I was really excited to step outside of my comfort zone and try something new as part of my "Christmas in July" theme this month. The kind folks at Solid Oak Inc offered me a chance to review one of their Nostalgic Christmas beaded crystal ornament kits I couldn't resist. My tree is already full of ornaments I've inherited or been gifted from other family members and friends,  so these pretty crystal beaded ornaments will fit right in I think! I was super impressed with  this compact little kit , which includes everything needed to create three gorgeous vintage-style ornaments - just add a pair of round nose pliers (I found mine on Amazon for less than ten bucks).  The instructions had some fabulous tips for newbies like me; for example, it recommended sorting the beads and laying them out in order on a towel or beading mat to prevent them from rolling away. That may seem obvious, but I was totally ready to start beading on my kitchen table without a
1 comment
Read more

What If I Didn't Add Heels?

Last weekend, I finished the first sock with my Waterlilies yarn , and just for yuks, I tried it on even though it was basically just a tube sock. Much to my surprise, it fit really well, even without a heel. Who knew? So, that got me thinking: what if I just didn't add the heels?  I never thought a tube sock would actually fit nicely, but I genuinely like the fit, so...why spend time to add the heels? As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.... Let's say I decide not to add heels once the second sock is done - there will still be placeholder yarn for the afterthought heels, as you can see above, so should I leave it in and just weave in the ends? Or should I remove it, put the live stitches back on needles and at least graft them together using more of the Waterlilies yarn? I plan on mulling all of this over as I knit the second sock, and I'd love to hear your opinions of what you think would look best (or if you think this whole "n
3 comments
Read more

Overdyeing A Finished Knit

Even after just a few years of knitting or crocheting, you're bound to have some finished projects lying around that never get worn or used. After 10+ years of crafting, I have more than just "some" or "a few"....and with my ongoing quest to declutter my house this year, I've become obsessed with going through these forlorn projects and making some Big Decisions. Sometimes, they are perfectly fine and just need a new and loving home. Other projects may have not turned out quite right: there might have been some mistakes in the knitting that I thought I could live with, or the yarn was gorgeous but not well-matched to the pattern, or my  taste has drastically changed since I finished making the project...in any case, why on earth did I keep knitting?! Who knows, but I don't feel good about gifting anything that falls into this category to someone else. These projects have been relegated to the "frog pile" (or should I say, frog pond?), to b
Post a Comment
Read more