I had a thought today. my DH was really iffy about me making mittens for the kids since he said how with prolonged snow play, the mittens would get soaked, hands would no longer be warm, etc etc.
Well, my sister makes cloth diapers and says that for the wool soakers she knits, she lanolizes them to make them water / liquid resistant so they don’t leak. I thought it would be a good idea to do this for the mittens.
Has anyone heard of doing this for knitted mittens, and would anyone know how to go about doing it?
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=DarkOrchid]The magic of wool is that it still will keep hands warm regardless of the dampness from playing in the snow.
I think I read somewhere that someone added lanolin to warm-hot water and soaked the soakers in that…not sure though. :shrug:[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
I don’t know anything about lanolizing but I did want to second Yarnlady’s post about the magic of wool.
My kids love their wool mittens in the snow. It takes a long time and a lot of snowballs before they need to change their mittens. It is a good idea to have more than one pair around.
I also wanted to put a plug in for sending the little ones out in wool socks. It keeps their feet so very warm and dry and extends their play time outside.
Thank you both. I will continue making these mittens guilt free then. I think I may make a second pait for giggles and test the lanolizing theory.
I’m using Paton’s Astra on these mittens and while I don’t know the fiber content offhand, they are very thick for a worsted weight and feel pretty warm and sturdy.
Well, speaking from experience with these Canadian winters. I would make your mittens AND buy some of those inexpensive gloves from Walmart or wherever. You know the ones. Those go under the mittens and can be changed if need be. The real problem when playing out in the snow with mittens is that they end up getting heavy and wet. So you’re going to need to knit them two pairs each, so they can change them part way through, as well as change the cheapie pair.
Oh, a tip- warm up their boots before they go outside by putting them upsidedown on the heating vent. And always have hot chocolate ready for them when they come inside.