Adventures in thrumming....

More years ago than I care to admit (or actually....remember), I was intrigued by a kit from Mary

The beginning of the second pair of mittens.....

Maxim for a pair of thrummed mittens.  Last fall, the kit magically rose to the top of the stash.   Finally, late in December after all the gift knitting was done, I got to it.

Thrumming is a technique from Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada.   A thrum is a bit of twisted wool knit into the mitten at random intervals.   When the mittens have been worn a bit, the thrums felt and form a soft inner layer to a mitten.

The directions on how to put in a thrum in the kit were not giving me what I wanted to see.  The wonderful world of the internet helped me find a way to do the thrum that made more sense to me and with which I was much more successful.

Even with the new instructions, I miscalculated how much roving should be in a thrum.   I ripped out the first mitten multiple times...at least five.  Though my interest began to flag, I pressed on.

Of course, I ran out of roving.  Depth of Field to the rescue!  As the thrums were made from undyed wool, I could match the shade despite the number of years the kit had rested in the stash.

This pair of mittens was test driven in a real Minnesota cold spell.   I can attest to the warmth of the

The completed second pair out in the wild.

thrummed mittens in a sub zero windchill.   I was really glad I had them.

With the thrumming technique fresh in my mind, I did a second pair.   This pair went much more smoothly.  I used much smaller thrums and did a better job of twisting them.   On my prior roving run to Depth of Field, I had gotten the roving for a second pair.  I tried to remember how much had come in the kit.....and how much more I had to buy to finish the first pair.  What I had guesstimated was short by one thumb and about half the mitten.   Back to Depth....and these were done in a flash.  

The second pair of mittens did turn out much better than the first.  Both mittens will be worn a lot by me.  As the cold is bothering me more this year, I am very grateful for them.