accidental feminist

Wool and knitting are primarily for the purpose of warmth and winter and as such, it is only natural to bathe ones entire body in woolly insulation when living in Chicago during the winter. It’s been .25 score since I was last in the windy city, but I remember the bone-chilling cold as if it were only yesterday. With these memories in mind, and in anticipation of a November visit with the Klein family, I decided to knit gifts for the lovely youngest Klein ladies–the gift of frostbite free noses.

This pattern is from the Knit Wit by Amy Singer. While this book has a lot of cute ideas, it is not a great reference guide. The nose warmers require wrapping stitches, which I’d never learned how to do properly and this book was no help. Instead, I found myself consulting ‘ole trusty, the stitch ‘n bitch. The nose warmers were great because they are a small enough project to give some solid stitch wrapping practice with room to mess up and start over. Also, I used worsted weight wool with tiny (size 2) needles, and it worked fine, but I would strongly suggest a pliable needle made out of bamboo.

Loosely, here is how to make them:

Tools:
1 skein of nice, thin yarn
appropriately sized double pointed needles

Warmer:
Cast on 20 stitches and purl one row.
Then knit until one stitch remains on right needle, wrap the stitch and turn.
Purl until one stitch remains on right needles, wrap the stitch and turn.
Continue until there are 8 wrapped stitches on each side and 4 live (unwrapped) stitches.
Knit to first wrapped stitch and knit together the wrap and it’s stitch. Repeat until all wrapped stitches are unwrapped and then bind off.

Tie:
Combine whatever 3 yarn colors you want into braided strands or appropriate length and sew onto sides

Tassel:Grab several colors of yarn and wrap around your fingers several times. Tie together the loops, cut, and affix to nose warmer.