# Warmer Mittens



## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

A few months ago I knitted and felted my first mittens for my sons. I was thrilled that they were so easy and turned out so nice. The boys love them, but one son still has cold fingers. They're like ice even though it's not been all that cold lately. Any suggestions for something that might keep him warmer? I used worsted weight yarn from Knit Picks --- Wool of the Andes 100% Peruvian Highland wool. I was thinking of the following ideas for making warmer mittens, but not really sure. If you have other ideas, please let me know. 

Use a different yarn/fiber, but something that can still be felted -- suggestions on fiber, please?
Use bulky weight yarn, or use two strands next time before felting.
Make him some thrummed mittens. If you think this is the way to go, please suggest what fiber to use and maybe give me some ideas on where to get it.
He won't keep mittens on if they so bulky he can't move his hands at all. He may not like thrummed mittens, but if they're warm, it may work. We have some big leather sheepskin mittens I put over his felted ones. Even though they keep him warm, he takes them off because he can't even wiggle his wrists in them. 

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

Jenny


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## BetsyK in Mich (May 14, 2002)

Maybe if you made liners out of polar fleece for the mittens that would be less bulky than the sheep skin lined mittens. A couple layers is better than one. Also if his hands sweat that will make his fingers cold, maybe the polar fleece or a cotton liner would help with that. Just some ideas.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I just thrummed my mittens and the difference is amazing.

I knitted the mitts from a dorset X hampshire wool so it is not prone to felting.

The mitts were tea dyed so a nice soft tan color. My winter coat is a teal/turquoise so when I went to thrum the mitts, I chose a teal/turqoise roving (I think it was from the Sheep Shed). I stripped it down to about 1/4" wide, threaded it on a needle and made small stitches around the finger part of the mitts, each stitch at least 1" apart. Turned it inside out and cut the fiber mid way between the stitches. Turned it right side out and again small stitches at least 1" apart in between the original stitches. Again, turned inside out and cut the fiber mid way between the stitches.

I know some folks will knit the thrummed fiber in and other folks will use a crochet hook to place individual thrumms. I've done both and was looking for a faster way to do it. This worked.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I've made "stuffed" mittens, which are like the thrummed, but I use a crochet hook on the wrong side to put in tufts of roving. Soft, very nice, and will conform to the hand. You could thrum or stuff the top part of the mitten, from the knuckles up and see how that works.


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## MorrisonCorner (Jul 27, 2004)

It has been my observation as an absolutely obsessed mitten knitter that thicker yarn does not make a warmer mitten. My warmest mittens are sport weight Icelandic, two color, mittens on a size 2 or 3. They'll felt around the wearer's hand.

If you want to make a wicked warm mitten do a K2 P2 cuff as you usually would (for a woman's medium, in Icelandic sport, this is about 60 st on a size 3 for me). Cuff for 2.5 inches. Now stockingette (K round) 5 rows. K2 tog M1 for the next row.. this creates a turning row. Now start a two color pattern in stockingette stitch. The cuff you've created is tucked up inside the mitten, creating a double cuff around the wrist. You wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it really does.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I agree that Thurmmed mittens work well. My kids had them when they were little here in northern MN and they would come in with wet mittens and steaming hands. Here's a link for them http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2004/09/15/mitten_what_mitten.html If you search on Google you will find many patterns.


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

Thank you. My son will be forever grateful, too! I have some questions for some of you.

Until I can get some roving, I'll use your suggestion, BetsyK to make some polar fleece liners. I have some that will work, and I think the felted mittens I made for him are big enough for that.

*Cyndi*, I love your idea for thrumming. I first read about it in a thread here, then found the yarn harlot site with her thrummed mittens. I haven't tried it yet, but it looked like knitting them in would be slow, at least for me. I was considering using a crochet hook, as Maura suggested. Your way sounds faster, which is what I want right now. Would you mind posting a picture of your mittens? Since you kind of sewed in the thrums (is that what they're called?), then I suppose they wouldn't have the little /\, would they? Yours sound beautiful, and very warm. I'd love to see a picture! 

Also, what kind of roving would you use so that it won't felt? Or is that going to happen, no matter what? You mentioned knitting your mittens from dorset X hampshire wool, so I take it that some wool doesn't felt particularly well. Right? Good for some things. Not so good if I were using it for a hat or something I expected to felt down to size. I can just see my little boys in that.

*MorrisonCorner*, thank you for the cuff instructions. After getting mittens for my son squared away, I was thinking of trying some gloves for my husband. He doesn't like mittens unless it's super cold and he's snow machining. I want to make him something he'll wear, and those extra cuffs might help with gloves, too. What kind of yarn do you suggest. Just plain wool like I used for the felted mittens, or should I try some other fiber, like something with silk, alpaca or something like that? He does wear a scarf. Maybe I'll do that instead of gloves.

Marchwind, thanks for the story about your kids. That's encouraging. Their mittens get so wet when they're out playing in the snow. The snow we get around here is usually wet and sticky. I'm happy to now have two excuses to get some roving. I want to learn to spin, and my sons really need some warm mittens. Hooray! I asked on my drop spindle thread about tutorials for learning about roving and different fibers. If anyone has suggestions on websites or threads here, please let me know.

Thanks again,

Jenny


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## shepmom (May 29, 2003)

Not familiar with thrummed.

Just adding something to consider if temps are really frigid in your area. Thermal insulating liner inside the wool mittens. I'm thinking along the lines of the items I have seen in Cabela's catalog.


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

I have some polar fleece, so I just made him a pair of liners. So far, so good. Not perfect, but they'll do until I can get some fleece. It's hard enough to keep up with two mittens, so I'm sure it'll be a miracle if we manage to find each mitten and each liner each day for the next month or so.  If the thrummed ones don't keep him warm enough, I might resort to the thermal liners you mentioned. 

Thanks,

Jenny


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I don't have a picture of my mittens, but I do have a pic of some thrummed mittens I traded for that I got the idea from



















There isn't a V stitch, but the stitches are far enough apart, that unless someone is really looking, you can't tell.

With my mitts, the dorset X hampshire wont' felt, but the thrumming will.


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

Thank you for posting the pics. Those are beautiful! And they look so wonderfully warm. My sons would love them. I was just checking on buying some roving when I decided to check in here. 

Today it was 10 below zero, and my boys stayed outside for two hours without asking to come in. When they did come in, their fingers were actually toasty warm. Those polar fleece liners I made for one of them to wear under the felted mittens really make a huge difference. But, he keeps losing them. When I get the roving I'll make thrummed mittens. 

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Jenny


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Jenny, how timely, yesterday's Daily Knitting news letter has an article on thurmmed mittens. Here is the web link to the article. BTW this is a great newsletter with a ton of info. You may want to sign up, it's free.

http://whatcounts.com/dm?id=7E1412D691C419C1C87273C5B2D1827461117C9B805475E6


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

Thank you. Great timing. I just subscribed to the newsletter (like I need one more!) 

Jenny


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## ozarkcat (Sep 8, 2004)

Don't know if it would work for the thrumming or if you'd want to do this for the next pair you make for him, but angora's something like 8x warmer than wool, which is why it's hard to find straight angora yarn rather than a blend. I'm trying to get some time to spin up some from our bunnies to make my mom some mittens, who has Raynauld's (sp?)syndrome & lives in northern MN.


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

Those will be such beautiful and warm mittens for your mom! I'm sure she'll love them. When I was a teenager I had a beautiful angora rabbit sweater. I definitely think that I'll use something besides plain wool for the next mittens and socks. Kids grow fast, so I'm sure I'll make several pair of mittens each year for them. Lots of time to experiment. 

Thank you,

Jenny


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## Ozarkquilter46 (Jun 5, 2002)

If you want really warm mittens mix wool, angora, llama and dog wool. They can be thin and be very very warm


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

Ozarkquilter46 said:


> If you want really warm mittens mix wool, angora, llama and dog wool. They can be thin and be very very warm


Now that's a really FUN thought! I was thinking of ordering fairly small amounts of different things to try. But then I knew I'd have trouble deciding what to use first. Do you make really thin yarn out of each, then ply them together? I used to know a woman who spun the hair from her dogs, then blended it somehow to make hats. I wish I'd paid more attention and asked more questions when we were neighbors.

Thank you,

Jenny


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## Ozarkquilter46 (Jun 5, 2002)

just card fibers together. Dog wool is the warmest wool on the planet. If you try and make somthing out of it alone you can't wear it. It would just be way to warm, Even up in Alaska it would be to warm. I have a red australian shepherd and I have brushed her out a few times and saved the wool. I am going to blend the red aussie, black llama, white angora and gray jacob. I am going to make mittens a bit to big for me then felt them lightly to do my farm chorse in. I hate my hands freezing when taking care of my angoras in there hutches in the winter.


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

OK, now I'm getting it (I think). Lots to learn about working with different fibers. But, no matter what, it'll be fun and will work for something. 

I had no idea that dog wool was so warm. Makes sense. Our dogs can stay outside in temps 40 below. Temperatures in other parts of Alaska get much colder, but dogs still do fine. For that kind of weather, the only thing I've found so far to keep my fingers warm if I have to be outside very long is my pair of mittens made from moose hide and black bear. They're huge. I wear them over other mittens or gloves, and they come almost to my elbows. But, for just the "everyday cold", they're too much. Your suggestion sounds wonderful! And very enjoyable! Our neighbor has a dog that looks to be at least part Australian Shepherd. I'll brush her out this summer and save the fur. She'll probably like the attention. Her hair usually gets so matted. Our dogs are part black lab and part Chesapeake Bay Retriever, so their fur is a bit short, and they don't shed all that much. My cat, on the other hand . . .  

Well, just rambling now. Thank you very much for taking the time to offer those wonderful suggestions.

Jenny


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Did you see the video in the Knitting Daily email the other day? It was a video on Thurmming mittens, so timely!


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## akhomesteader (Jan 5, 2006)

Yes, that video was very helpful. The instructions I'd found on another site made it sound a little more complicated than it really is, but the video really simplified it.

Is there a rule of thumb, so to speak, on how much bigger to make mittens if they're to be thrummed? They have a pattern for sale, but if memory serves me, there are some freebies online.

Thanks,

Jenny


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I didn't make mine any bigger than usual. The fleece will mash down and eventually felt (if you used a fiber that felts). To be honest I never though of making the mitten bigger, it was never a problem.


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