the winter wind

 The autumn wind, and the winter wind - have come and gone

And still the days, those lonely days - go on and on

And guess who sighs his lullabies - through nights that never end

My fickle friend, the summer wind

Frank Sinatra / Summer Wind lyrics

Ah, yes. The winter wind is coming. It's still August, but the realist in me hasn't forgotten what December and January are like here in Minnesota. (Not to mention March and April.) So I started a pair of mittens for myself. This pattern comes from a wonderful fiber artist in Finland. Her blog is called Made by Myself and this pattern is titled Chevalier Mittens. 

The girl has a way with cables and design. Just the header on her blog will prove my point. This particular pattern is a free download, so have at it. None of us knitters should suffer from cold hands this winter. 

One cool thing about the pattern is that when you download it you get the Finnish and the English version. I can't read Finnish, but I like studying the language. The chart with the cable pattern is the same for both the Finnish and the English version. It's nice to know knitting can break some language/culture barriers. 

(Perhaps all diplomats should take up knitting.) 

Hey! Check out the yarn I'm using for these mittens. It comes from Winterwind Farm located in Battle Lake, MN, home of our friend, Sandy, and her flock of CVM romeldale sheep and angora goats. This yarn is a blend of CVM romeldale wool and mohair. It's soft and pliant, perfect for these cable mittens.

Hopefully, I'll be sharing my finished mittens in a few days. Currently, our farm is getting more than its fair share of rain. (Remember our drought woes a little over a month ago?) Well, over the past thirty-six hours we have gotten over five inches of rain. 

Five inches! 

Nothing I can do but keep dry - stay inside and knit!