February 2021
Hi!
Coming at you are two new weaving patterns! Both in warm and cozy wools to keep you snug in a Canadian winter.
Felted Mittens
Hand woven and felted, these are proper warm mittens for protecting your fingers from the winter chill. My IRL friends know I have Very Serious cold finger issues, so warm hand gear is a major winter, spring, and fall concern for me*. After all — my hand are my most important tool, right? (*also sometimes in the summer. I’m a wimp.)
This weaving pattern is for rigid heddle and 4 harness weavers — there are two distinct mitten styles that are included in this PDF, the yellow mittens (see below) are made on a rigid heddle loom, and the red mittens (above) are suitable for 4 shafts. Both use colour and weave, a fun and creative way of making complex patterns using light and dark threads on otherwise plain threadings.
These mittens are made using Briggs & Little wool, a Canadian classic! Made in New Brunswick, their single-ply yarn Sport melts into a dense and windproof fabric when felted — and if you don’t like the colours I used, Sport comes in 46 different shades, so you can make them in almost infinite colour schemes (I love seeing the colours you choose to weave my patterns, so I’m especially looking forward to this!).
The pattern PDF is available in my webshop and is an instant PDF download (if you don’t see your receipt with a download link, check your spam folder). While the PDF doesn’t include a mitten pattern, it does include links to two free and two paid patterns that you can use. As always I include LOTS of information to make sure your project is a success; in this instance, there’s a whole page on felting and another page full of tips for sewing the mittens.
I hope you enjoy this deep winter project — click the button below to visit my shop to find out the project details.
Free Ledger Scarf Pattern
I’ve also designed a quick and easy rigid heddle/two shaft weaving project for Handknit Yarn Studio. The Ledger Scarf (thanks to Tracy for the name!) uses the lovely and warm Harrisville Shetland in three different colours to make a classic checked scarf.
Shetland is a woolen spun yarn, a term that refers to the way the yarn is made. Some wool yarns are combed so that all the fibres go in the same direction, but woolen spun yarn are like bed head — the fibres go every which way, which lets them trap a lot of air and keep you warm! This project is perfect for beginners, and requires a rigid heddle loom with at least 24” width and a 10 dent reed. Even better, it’s free to download on the Handknit website :)
You can expect my next pattern — which is for those hot summer lake/beach days I am dreaming of —to be published sometime around May or June. Weavers interested in the Sunday Sample will see the first post in March, which is when I hope I will have figured out how it’s all going to work.
Until then, happy weaving,
Amanda