I don't know if you've noticed this (although if you've seen my
Pinterest, you've probably guessed) but I'm a rampant knitter. I have been known to spend most of my free time knitting. Friends and family often receive scarves, fingerless gloves, and mounds of dishcloths for birthdays and Christmas. I have hundreds of patterns for sweaters, scarves, shawls, blankets, mittens, and mire, just waiting for me to test them out. I also have many more patterns that I've knit, some of which I return to over and over again. I can't tell you how many basket weave dishcloths I've made. And socks! I can't forget the socks. I was so addicted to knitting them when I first discovered that I could make them, that I made at least a dozen pairs before I moved on to something else. The same thing happened with the mitts. My sister said she'd like a pair because it's cold at work, and I ended up making her 10 pairs, so that she could match them to her outfits, right? The most recent pair look like smores in color blocking. I made several pairs for Bean, too.
At the moment, I'm completely addicted to
knits from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I have an
Arwen inspired sweater on my needles right now and I recently knitted a
Leaves of Lorien dishcloth. And I'm absolutely obsessed with the mitts and scarves worn by the dwarves in the Hobbit movies. There are some fantastic patterns on Ravelry, many of which I've pinned on my
Hobbit Crafts board. There are also a few amazing kits from
Stansborough Yarn Company. One is for
Bofur's mitts and one for his
scarf. They can be ordered directly from Stansborough, or from
Weta, the production company behind the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Stansborough provided all of the wool yarns used for both knit and woven accessories in the films. They also sell finished
woven replicas of the scarves and cloaks for on the films. This New Zealand based company even created a special line of yarn that can be purchased to create you own Hobbity accessories. The yarn line, called
Mythral or Mithril, is available in 5 colors: Kokako, Rata, Manuka, Takahe, and Kakariki. The grey color, Kokako, was used for Gandalf's hat and mitts. The wool comes from a specific breed of sheep, th he Stansborough Grey, of which there is only one flock in the world, and they live in New Zealand. As a result, the yarn can seem a bit pricey, but I'd still love to try it. You can order the yarn indirectly from Stansborough, or from the one US distributor:
Yarn Sisters. A single skein at Yarn Sisters is $16.00 plus shipping. I think I may just have to order some to make a pair of dwarven mitts to wear this winter.
