Saturday 9 January 2010

Kint It - 1940s Womens Mittens

After knitting up some gloves for my co-worker Alan - The 1940s Men's Mittens which he loves by the way!! I decided to knit myself a pair of mittens and they have been well timed as we have recently had some of the worst snow in 30 years over the last few days and getting to and from work has been fun at best no trains to speak of only buses, England seems to have come to a standstill lots of lucky people have got to stay at home no such luck for me! Thankfully I had just finished these in time and they have been a real help especially in our cold office.

~ 1940s Women's Mittens~

The Pattern comes from the same vintage Knitting Pattern Book as Alan's gloves which was published around the time of WWII.

Ingredients:
4 ply wool
No.12UK/2.75mm/2UK
No.13UK/2.25mm/1USA
Click to Make Bigger
For mine I used double knit wool - I was stash busting and simply did not have any 4ply, it did mean that it was a hard job to knit up on the small needles but definitely  worth the pain as the end result was that they came out a little bigger and as my hands are not, let say petite, they fit me just fine.

1940's Free Knitting Pattern Finished  Red and Brown stripe

Only other amendment I made was that I knitted an extra 2 rows of rib on all fingers and thumbs, as I have alien-like digits, so needed a bit more length there.

I really like the result they look quite vintage with a bit of a modern edge, plus they are as warm as toast when you are typing away at your PC and no purple nose which just has to be a bonus!

Stay Warm!
Wendy x

Sunday 3 January 2010

Happy New Year - Mistley

Happy New Year! Well, Christmas is well and truly over, though the tin of chocs is still there and still as tempting as ever- you tell yourself diet will resume once back at work and you kind of believe it will.

As we were both truly bored of staying indoors and starting to get very bored of each other we decided to go out for the day with our cameras, and it was the perfect excuse for me to try out my new Canon macro lens that the boyfriend bought me as a very generous Christmas present.

We set out with the intention of going to South End on Sea. But due to forgetting the Sat nav and the boyfriends conviction he knew where he was going, we did not end up there. Instead, we ended up in a lovely little Village called Mistley which lies on the banks of the river Stour in Essex.

Mistley is quite literally swamped with swans. I have never seen so many in one place I must confess to being a bit scared of swans and did not enjoy the fact, that as soon as I stepped from the car I was surrounded by inquisitive little beaks all hoping for food from my bag and not my camera. After acclimatising to the attention I managed to relax enough to get some good shots especially those of a signet who posed for me beautifully before getting bored and wandering off.             


The most amusing part of the day was as we were leaving, a young swan decided he wanted to cross the road in front of us and well quite frankly who would stop him! He hopped off the pavement and strolled casually out across the road with not a care in the world and gracefully sauntered off to join his friends!

The results of a very bored passenger stuck in a traffic jam on the M11.

Wendy x

Friday 1 January 2010

Knit It - 1940s Men's Mittens

My first knitting project of the year are these lovely 1940s mittens, I made them for my work college Alan, as he is always complaining about the cold in our office, so I thought that I would make him these to keep his hands warm whilst still enabling him to type away merrily. 

The pattern comes from Knitted Garments for All published around the time of WWII. 


~1940s Men's Mittens ~


The original pattern is below using Double Knit wool/yarn and Size 10UK / 3.25mm/ 3 USA needles.
1940's FREE Knitting Pattern - Mens Mittens
Click to make Bigger

I added a blue and green stripe to mine as Alan gave me the wool from his late mum's stash to give it a more personal touch!!
1940's ww2 Knitted Mens Mittens with blue and green stripes

I hope he likes them!

Wendy x