My Mink!

Ok, so I'll never wear a mink coat, but why not mink mittens? This yarn is spun from 70% sheared mink, without harming the mink and 30% cashmere (without harming the goats!). The weight is dk, and it looked a little thin when it arrived, but after I washed the skein, it fluffed up a bit. The colors are dyed in the wool (well, mink), so they are very saturated. In fact, with this color, almost too saturated. In bright sunlight, the color is quite pretty, but under artificial light (ie when knitting with it) it seems to swallow up all the light and give nothing back.

The pattern was also a bit of a pain, with all the knit stitches knit through the back loop and a constantly shifting of the pattern from row to row.

But I am very pleased with the end result. The single skein of yarn had more than enough yarn for this pair of mittens, and I wish I had made the cuff a half inch longer (I made the hand shorter than recommended. They are extremely lightweight, the yarn fluffed up nicely as I knit, and I think they will be warm for their weight.

The yarn comes from Great Northern Yarns and the pattern is also theirs. Their customer service is exceptional. I ordered the yarn without the pattern and later saw the "kit" offer and I emailed them to ask if I could get the pattern. They sent it out immediately by US mail and I had it in 2 days.

Amethyst Lady

I am so amazed at how quickly I knit this sweater. I started on January 3, frogged it and started over on 12, and finished it on January 30. This is an all-time record for me.


Also, I like the way it fits and the way it looks. made a lot of modifications to the pattern.

So I decided to try my luck on a second sweater, this one with cables instead of lace. I am modifying the pattern from flat to knit in the round, and hoping for the best.