Knit Mittens!: 15 Cool Patterns to Keep You Warm [Hardcover]

Knitting is in. Julia Roberts knits, high schoolers are knitting in the cafeteria, urbanites are knitting on the subway, college students are knitting in the dorms, and bookstores are sponsoring knitting groups. Colorful new yarns, the availability of simple patterns, gift giving, stress relief - all are reasons for picking up knitting needles and getting started on a great project. Though knitting is growing in popularity, knitters still want projects that are fast and easy, but ultimately useful and attractive. KNIT MITTENS! is a colorful die-cut book that's small enough to tuck into a knitting bag, backpack, or purse. The book begins with an easy-to-understand, illustrated overview of the basic techniques followed by 15 fun project patterns (with instructions for a range of sizes) bound between sturdy, die-cut board covers. Each pattern includes the following: a close-to-life-size color photo of the completed mitten or hat; a brief introduction to the pattern; materials and equipment lists; gauge information; a color chart; special tips and hints; and a detailed drawing of any unusual techniques involved. Because the rich palette flows through each book, knitters can mix and match hats (in Knit Hats!) and mittens to create unique sets.

Robin Hansen, author of Knit Mittens!, is the first researcher to document traditional knitting in New England. She has written four knitting books: Fox and Geese and Fences, Flying Geese and Partridge Feet, Sunny's Mittens, and Lost and Found Mittens. Her whimsical non-knitting book Whistling with Olives: 54+ Things to Do at Dinner Besides Eating was published in 1996. She has degrees in folklore and folklife. She knits, spins, and farms sheep in West Bath, Maine.

Warm Hands, Warm Heart You won't find mittens like these in the big clothing chains or fancy dress shops, or even in sporting goods stores. Good, warm wool mittens are one of the holdouts from our great-grandmothers' day, something never successfully manufactured either in America or anywhere else in the world. The only way to get great mittens today, as a century ago, is to talk someone into making them for you or to make them yourself. And make them you can - even if you have felt overwhelmed by inscrutable abbreviations or unexplained techniques before. If you can knit at all, I will sit beside you through directions for some of the niftiest mittens on the continent, which you will then own, in body and spirit, and will be able to make again and again for everyone you care about. Most of these mittens have been passed down through generations, but some are new looks at old ideas. They're good, solid mittens - fun, warm, and, for the most part, easy to make. Try them! When you have made a pair, you will wear them, and you will discover just how good some old ideas can be. Getting Started Many handcrafts require a big investment in tools and equipment, along with a hobby room or studio to contain them. And most handcrafts don't travel well, because either the equipment or the materials are messy, big, dangerous, wet, poisonous, or noisy. Knitting is different: Knitting is peaceful and portable, inexpensive and nonpolluting. All you really need in order to knit is knitting needles, yarn, a place to sit, and a willingness to try. Even avid knitters need little more. They may have collections of knitting needles and boxes full of yarn, but when they sit down to knit, it is little more than that - yarn, needles, and the excitement about what is to come. A Cheerful Yarn All of these mittens are knitted with sheep's wool or fibers from another animal - llamas, goats, or rabbits. The two fulled mittens (pages 22 and 46) cannot even be produced with yarn from a plant or synthetic fiber, because they're knitted extra large and rely on the ability of wool to shrink and mat. But that's good: Wool is the warmest fiber in the world, and it's the only fiber that actually keeps you warm when it's wet. When synthetic mittens get wet, they soak and don't easily dry; when wool mittens get damp, the wool pulls together within each fiber and absorbs the wetness. A wool mitten can be quite wet before it actually feels wet. When it is, fling out your arm and shake your hand: Water sprays out in an arc, and the mitten is again damp but toasty. Whatever yarn you buy, make sure you have enough of each color (and dye lot!) for your project. That may sound strange for such small projects, but the adult sizes can easily go into a second skein in single-color mittens, and if you plan to make more than one pair, you may get stuck with half a mitten less than you planned and no way to buy more yarn in a color that matches exactly. Gather your yarn in consultat