Beautiful Sunday to you!

The wind and rain is relentless out there today!  This wooden house is occasionally shaken with such force by the driving wind off the Atlantic.  All of the snow and ice is gone, replaced by a fog that looks like steam curling and rising from the earth and waterways.   I’ll be going out later, through the fields with the dogs and probably wearing a large rain parka.

It’s really the perfect day to nestle inside for a little bit, listen to some music and share with you the latest mittens that I have made!  The pattern is my recent Blackberry Folk Mitten Pattern.  The pattern was specifically designed for Wool like Briggs and Little Heritage or MacAusland’s 2 ply.  These are hardy 100 % worsted weight wool.  It’s a very rustic type of wool that comes in a wide range of colours and hails from the maritime provinces.  I really love working with local material.  There are a number of things that give me an immediate sense of rootedness to the earth – my rock collection, plants and seeds, herbal teas and rustic wool!

Léttlopi is the lighter lopi (the word for Icelandic Wool – or to be more specific, wool from the breed of Icelandic Sheep) opposed to the traditional much heavier Alafoss lopi wool.   When I first started my obsessive knitting journey (it was a little tamer when I was doing my undergrad), I was in Reykjavik and packed basically my whole suitcase with the wool!  I distinctly remember it was like $2.00 for a ball in Iceland back in 2013!  I remember sitting in a hostel in Vik and a girl was talking to us about how wool was cheaper to buy than candy! So you can imagine, may have gone a little wild >.<   This beautiful trip to Iceland reignited a deep love for Icelandic wool.  When I was little in the 90’s, I remember the feel and smell of Icelandic wool, the warmth but mostly… the smell and the itch (one of which I loved… the other not so much)!  Léttlopi is a very happy in between, softer and lighter than the heavier alafoss wool.  I love the way it knits up both on its own but especially  the interplay of colour.   I find it blends so perfectly! Anyway, I decided to follow my pattern for Blackberry Mittens (Size Medium) but replace it with my beloved Léttlopi!

I really love the result!  I decided to use 3 colours instead of just the 2.  As you can see, I filled the motifs with White Lopi rather than have the distinct contrast of the grey coming through to achieve a more subtle look (see the below photo for reference).  The colours I chose are :

Straw – 1418

White – 0051

Grey Heather – 0057

Perhaps it’s because I chose to use 3 colours, but these mittens in Léttlopi do knit up smaller in width than the Briggs & Little.   One way of remedying this is to go up one size for your needles. If you would like them close fitting, I would stick to the original pattern but definitely change needles for the size small.  Other than that, I do think they work perfectly wool.  If you find them a little bumpy, wash your knit once they have been all woven in and give them a good blocking.

This particular pair of mittens will be available in the shop!  Since I’m currently in Nova Scotia,  I will wait to put up my latest knits until I’m back on the Island (crossing my fingers I can make the ferry back before it closes for the winter!).  All of my shipping supplies, etc. are on the Island so I’ll post more on instagram when they will be up!

Blessings for these long nights (and in the Southern Hemisphere for your long Days!)!  Let’s be grateful for the small things as the year draws to a close ❤

**

And now that the night is here (I wrote the above in the early hours!), although the day was windy, it was SO mild.   I spent the better half of the light hours outdoors, feeling the mist on my skin and peaking around stones and trees.  Now that the night is here, I have Christmas presents to make 😀

A favourite Medieval winter song for you ❤  There is a really in depth and interesting blog post about this song here if you’re interested in early music!