Latvian Mittens and Pecan Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

At our house we made a great feast. Unfortunately, we did not think to take a picture of our most beautiful turkey yet! If you look at the front cover of the November Bon Appetit, you can see what our turkey looked like. Really, we are getting good at turkey baking.

I did snap a picture of the remaining pecan pie. Also, a great improvement from last year. This year I made two recipe changes and one technique change. First, I made it without corn syrup, and toasted the pecans before chopping them and adding them to the pie. The technique change came from a cooking show I saw. It recommended putting the pecans in the pie shell first, and then adding the filling and then into the oven to bake. I do think my pie from last year, where I sprinkled the pecans on top of the pie filling before baking looked better. However, this pie is the best tasting pecan pie I have ever made.

Next year should be better than ever. 

I got a bit of knitting time in and made a little progress past the thumb.

 

I have found that the space between the lining and the outer mitten is a great place to store my needle number 5. 

Jo

My own Latvian Mitten Pattern!

Before I began knitting my mittens I spent hours looking over all the beautiful pictures of completed mittens in Latvian Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis. There are over 90 pictures of completed mittens and the patterns for each one. Really, how can anyone decide on one? But, I was excited to get started and decided on 10b Kurzeme (a region in Latvia), it is graph 105. Each picture has a little reference to a graph number in the back of the book. 

Graph 105 is a grid filled in with three colors. I am using navy blue, tan and white. The graph is only 14 squares wide and then repeats itself all around the mitten. I started by doing some math first. My total number of stitches must be divisible by 14 (70 stitches for me) if I want a concentric circle of pattern.

The top part of the mitten is also a repeating pattern. This pattern has a 12 row repeating pattern. 

I still need to take the time to figure out what happened.

The mitten pattern that was developing before my eyes did not match the picture I had selected in the book. If you notice the columns in the honeycomb pattern I will show you what is different. In the original picture there is navy knitting around each tan and white honeycomb. In my pattern every other column is connected by tan through the whole column. Meanwhile, the other column is not connected. I am not too concerned about this as it appears that I have created a new pattern that is consistent!!

I also hit a landmark. I am at the thumb of my left mitten!!

Now it is time to go prepare my turkey for baking in the morning:)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Jo

Making progress on the Left Latvian Mitten

Here is a picture of my progress so far.

 

First I made the liner. This went easily, because it is all the same color. However, I was using size 0 needles so it was a bit slow!! 

Next I started the outer mitten by picking up stitches from liner and working up the outside.  I will need to be careful as I think my knitting is a bit tight!

The pattern that is emerging on the needles is going to be repeated to the top of the mitten.

I think these will be the warmest mittens I have ever worn.  It's Friday, that means lots of knitting time in the next few days!!

 

Another pair of Latvian Mittens

Here is a picture of my progress on a pair of Latvian mittens for me. I created a pair of plain navy mittens which are now becoming the liner of my beautiful new mittens. 

 As I began to knit the outer mitten I noticed that the braiding is not as neat as my pattern makes it look. I can see the purl bump between the two parts of the braid, and I'm not liking the look. I must be missing something!

Also, I made a pair of mittens last year for my daughter and the braid seems to look just fine.

Hard to tell from this, but it does seem to be more of the finish I was looking for.

Jo

A pair of Latvian Mittens!

Here are the new pair from a variety of angles... Even with kid #5 modeling them.

Ta daa!

The 2nd Latvian Mitten is on it's way!

Well, here is the latest "play-by-play" of mitten number 2.

I'm not sure the fringe is much better on this one. I have decided that I will not put fringe on the next pair. (Yes, there will be more pairs knitted:)

I have to say my yarn management was a bit out of control. I think I was getting a bit of an attitude because my first mitten looks really good!!

So, to bring me back to knitting reality, I dealt with quite a mess. And only myself to blame:)

What a mess!  So lesson learned...Slow Down!! 

I did enjoy not having to watch the graph in my pattern book for each stitch. On the first mitten I was thinking...

OK knit one red

OK now knit one white

OK now knit two red

all the way through the pattern.

On mitten number two, my confidence was up, and I could think...

OK knit two white, one purple, one white, one purple, and back to two white, repeat all the way around.

That felt good!

 

Finally, I was done with one color. No more pink and a bit less mess.

And here they are side by side...

Almost a pair.

And more to come. I will share my shopping experience with my gift card as soon as I go shopping:) I sure hope I can get out soon!!

One Latvian Mitten!!

Here it is...

I am so proud of myself!

There are many little errors. I am excited to see how much better the left mitten will be.

OK, off to the Yarn Quest 2011!!

The Real Latvian Mitten has begun!

I did it! I made it past the fringe, which looks great! Definitely an improvement over the first try. Then I did the cool braid, and made it up to the beginning of the thumb opening.

I am enjoying the process again! Now that I am successfully past the fringe. That was a bit stressful! Now I have to find a few more moments of quiet to figure out the thumb opening. Mittens sure would be simpler if we did not have to accommodate our opposable thumbs! However, living without them would be much more difficult than figuring out how to knit around them:)

The only part that I am going to need to work on as I continue with Latvian Mittens is the tension with the yarn. The X pattern part of the mitten is a bit tighter than the rest of the mitten. However, remember this...

I love this knitting bag, but seemed to have a tension problem here too. Although, I do think I am improving:)

I let kid #5 pick the color scheme for these mittens since she will be wearing them. And yes, I think I will finish this pair before the snow melts! I am not sure if they are "true" Latvian mittens since I totally varied the colors from the original pattern. They are still going to look awesome:)

Start of the Sampler Latvian Mitten

OK, so here it is...

s

my first attempt at a Latvian Mitten.

What I love, love, love, is the braided rows. I think they look fantastic, and bring a sense of wonder to the mitten. 

I also enjoyed the fact that once I got started I made quick progress.

What I am not so proud of is the fringe. It just isn't flowing with the rest of the mitten.

So, I am going to rip this out and start again, for the last time:)

In my Latvian Mittens book by Lizbeth Upitis, I would like to quote from Chapter Three,  Section 4, Correct Your Mistakes. 

If you discover an error in your knitting, rip it out and knit again. Rudolfs Blaumanis (1863-1908), a Latvian classical author, wrote a play entitled, "The Prodigal Son" The erring son regrets his worthless life and laments:

Why cannot one do with a spoiled life the same as a spoiled mitten -- rip it out and start again from the beginning.

Lizbeth goes on to say, "SO..RIP! It is a soul purifying experience."

Lent seems to be a good a time as any to purify my soul! So here I go...