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HOW I THRUM
Thrummed mittens have been around for a couple of hundred years in Northern
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Camilla Engman
Yarn and Adrian
Newfoundland and Labrador. The term thrums refers to yarn waste from weaving
looms. According to Robin Hansen’s Favorite Mittens (many thanks for the book,
Jennifer!), these bits could have at one time been knitted into mittens and other
articles for added warmth, but now fleece, roving and, in my case, at least, prepared
top are generally favored.
Carole Knits
Bizilia. Please do
Since people have been knitting these mittens for so long, I really only have one thing
cosmicpluto knits!
not use either
to add, other than my hopefully infectious love of these amazingly warm mittens, and
Do Stuff!
without written
that is my opinion that the more thums, the better, and the closer they are to each
Elliphantom Knits
permission.
other, the better. I like a solid, warm, fuzzy blanket inside my mittens, not a sparse,
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lumpy, sad blanket like some patterns create. Being able to feel the lumps inside is
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about as annoying to me as a wrinkle in my sock or sock fuzz between my toes.
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Obviously, I also tend to go a little crazy with the color, which was not how it was done
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way back when.
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Here’s how I thrum:
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installed it in your mittens. After some wear, the thums will felt together into one soft
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mass. Merino, Corriedale, fine BFL, or anything that’s soft (a fine to medium fine wool)
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wool.* About 2 oz. should do you.
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Hold your hands a few inches apart and pull off a piece about 8 inches long.
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Strip off a thin piece from the side of that chunk.
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Work your way along this strip, attenuating and teasing the wool apart and fluffing it
up. It’s grown in length from the teasing. The more air there is in the wool, the warmer
your hands will be.
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Fold the ends of the thrum to the center and press them in.
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Now, fold the thrum in half, enclosing those pointed ends. This makes everything so
tidy. Some patterns call for the thrum to be the same thickness as the yarn. I don’t go
for that! No harm has yet been caused by my super fat thrums.
Make a whole bunch.
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Now, to knit them in.
When you get to the spot where you’ll add your thrum, bring your yarn over the needle
as usual and put your thrum around the needle, with half above and half below. Pinch
it in place with your left hand. Pull both the yarn and thrum through the stitch.
The thrum and yarn stitch are side by side on the needle.
On the next row, when you come to this thrum/yarn stitch combo, knit them as one.
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Hello Yarn / How I Thrum
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Lovely!
Inside view.
Finished mitten.
Thrums aren’t reserved solely for mittens. You can thrum hats, wrist warmers, and
socks, like my lovely friend Susann makes. Imagine!
Here are two popular patterns of thrum placement:
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This diagonal pattern would be especially attractive on a pointed-tip mitten. You could
line up side decreases with the diagonal line of the thrums.
For yarn, I’d recommend something nicely woolly and worsted weight or thicker. The
woolly yarn will latch onto the thrums, and worsted to chunky weight seems to produce
an ideal fabric for me. I knit the yarn at a slightly tighter gauge that the ball band calls
for. This will help keep the frosty wind out.
If you’re not using a thrum specific pattern, you’ll need to give the pattern some ease,
since those thrums take up a lot of room. An inch or two should do you nicely.
Do you live somewhere cold? Make some!
I heartily recommend Robin Hansen’s Favorite Mittens, skimpy though her thrums
might be, if you are interested in traditional mitten patterns. I never would have
known what a treasure this book is from looking at the cutesy cover.
* To use a lock of wool, you’d fluff it up and attenuate it a bit if it’s short, so that it’s
about 3 inches long. Once it’s folded in half and knit in, you’d have a 1″ long thrum
sticking out of the back of your thrummed fabric. That would make a lovely warm
mitten.
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This entry (permalink) was posted on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 at
2:24 PM by Adrian and categorized in Knitting, Uncategorized.
Comments (37) left to “How I Thrum”
1.
vanessa wrote:
thanks for posting a tutorial! those look really neat. i don’t think i’ll ever
need mittens that warm where i live but they’ll make a fun gift for
someone in more frigid parts one day!
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 2:42 pm | Permalink
2.
Jennifer wrote:
Wow. You make it look so easy.
I wonder if you could thrum a hat…
I’m pretty sure there isn’t ANY wool around here for thrums. Guess I’ll
have to order some next week.
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 2:55 pm | Permalink
3.
Noelle wrote:
Best tutorial on thrummed mittens I’ve seen! Yay thank you!
http://www.helloyarn.com/wp/?p=425
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Hello Yarn / How I Thrum
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Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 3:15 pm | Permalink
4.
jess wrote:
[Hm, did it not post my comment? weird, it didn’t throw an error or tell me
it was hold for moderation or anything… sorry if this shows up twice!
]
The mittens look great! I have been yearning to knit thrummed mittens
(or really, thrummed anything) for a while now. I should really get on it!
I did have a question though — approximately how much fiber (in weight)
do you use for a pair of say, Adrian-sized mitts? (assuming your amounts
of thrums per mitten above).
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 3:16 pm | Permalink
5.
Amy wrote:
Like Vanessa, I probably won’t need thrummed mittens here, except
maybe if we lose power in an ice storm! However, it looks like a lot of fun,
I may have to put some together for my friends who inhabit the more
northern parts of the globe.
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 3:22 pm | Permalink
6.
Chelee wrote:
Mystery solved! Thanks for the tutorial, very helpful.
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 3:30 pm | Permalink
7.
Lori wrote:
You always read my mind! I’ve had thrummed mittens on my mind for a
while now!
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 4:52 pm | Permalink
8.
maryse wrote:
thanks for the tutorial. there’s been talk of teaching thrumming at
“graceful stitches” — we even carry the wool for the thrums.
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 6:29 pm | Permalink
9.
Dave wrote:
Very nice, and I could use thrummed mitts, being in Canada and all. The
kits will be available when?
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 6:41 pm | Permalink
10.
Adam wrote:
Great tutorial, it’s super helpful! Sadly, I’ll have to wait until next winter
for my thrummed mittens, since it’s been in the 60s here for the past
week.
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 7:19 pm | Permalink
11.
Max Daniels wrote:
This is one of those ideas that just really make me admire us humans! So
smart and simple. And the color of Mark’s mittens makes me swoon.
Beautiful!
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 8:10 pm | Permalink
12.
elizabeth wrote:
They look really neat, but is there really room for a hand in there?
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 8:46 pm | Permalink
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Hello Yarn / How I Thrum
13.
Page 8 of 10
scout wrote:
You rock. That’s all.
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 9:59 pm | Permalink
14.
pamela wynne wrote:
yes! thrumming demystified! this is tremendous!
Posted on 23-Feb-07 at 3:13 am | Permalink
15.
Kate wrote:
I just picked up some thrummed mitten kits from Amy at Spunky… one
mitten down, one to go! thanks for the help!
Also, made your “hello baby” bonnet— still deciding on “ears? no ears?” —
what a great fast pattern!
kate
Posted on 23-Feb-07 at 9:52 am | Permalink
16.
Arleta wrote:
That’s so cool! You really do make it look easy!
Posted on 23-Feb-07 at 10:51 am | Permalink
17.
Monica wrote:
Nice tutorial. Pretty bucket o’ fiber!
Posted on 23-Feb-07 at 11:13 am | Permalink
18.
Heidi wrote:
Thanks so much for posting your tutorial! I have tried making mittens like
this before with my angora rabbits fur but they didn’t turn out that good. I
am going to try this again using your instructions! I can’t wait to try.
Posted on 23-Feb-07 at 11:32 am | Permalink
19.
Norma wrote:
This is interesting….When I make thrums, when I come back the next row,
I have to knit the thrum/yarn combo through the back loop, or I don’t get
the nice “heart” or “v” shapes — I just get a blob. My first two or three
pairs were just blobs — nice blobs (I called them gems), but blobs
nonetheless — until someone told me the ktbl trick. But you don’t seem to
do that. How is that so?
Posted on 24-Feb-07 at 5:07 pm | Permalink
20.
Moiface wrote:
Thanks so much for this post! I’ve always wanted to know how to make
these mittens so that I could alter the pattern by adding more warmth on
the inside (and to avoid the lumpiness you speak of) but I have been
putting it off. I really like your use of color with the thrums also!
-Moiface
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 5:09 pm | Permalink
21.
carrie wrote:
I am so glad you posted this! Thank you thank you thank you. I just don’t
have time to get to a thrummed mitten class, and your directions are so
lovely! I’m casting on a pair for a Christmas gift (for me!)
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 1:36 pm | Permalink
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Hello Yarn / How I Thrum
22.
Page 9 of 10
Charm wrote:
I saw an article somewhere on thrummed mittens but the tutorial didn’t
really inspire me. Your post, however, makes me want to try thrummed
mittens! Thank you for the great post!
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 4:18 pm | Permalink
23.
Jackie wrote:
I love your color choices! Great tutorial too, I wish it had been around
when I first tried my thrum mittens (2nd time worked much better
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 10:33 pm | Permalink
24.
Carol wrote:
You do the best tutorials! Thanks for the thrum lesson!
Posted on 27-Feb-07 at 12:13 pm | Permalink
25.
Kristin wrote:
Fantastic tutorial! Thanks for the great information =)
Posted on 27-Feb-07 at 8:48 pm | Permalink
26.
jenna wrote:
Thanks for the thrum advice! When I saw your mittens on the previous
post I remembered that this was supposed to be one of my projects this
winter! Of course, there’s no rush in western NY State—even though it’s
almost March, we’ve got plenty of winter left!
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 12:21 pm | Permalink
27.
teki wrote:
Did you have “The Little Drummer (thrummer) Boy” playing thru your
head while making these? pah, thrum pa pa pum, mittens look very nice
and toasty!
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 6:29 pm | Permalink
28.
frecklegirl jess wrote:
I am totally doing this… Casey doesn’t ever ask for knits but he was very
intrigued by the thrummed mittens he saw somewhere.
I love the pic of the thrums in the bucket. I wanna put my hand in there.
Posted on 03-Mar-07 at 6:10 pm | Permalink
29.
Romi wrote:
How *completely* cool! Thank you for this!
Posted on 04-Mar-07 at 12:08 am | Permalink
30.
Deborah wrote:
Hi Adrian,
Now I know what to do with all that blue-faced Leicester I love to buy in
your store. One question: How long are those needles you are knitting
with? Are you using the 2 needle in the round technique here?
Deborah
Posted on 05-Mar-07 at 7:14 pm | Permalink
31.
Faith wrote:
This is such an impressive post! I love the tutorial and have already
enthusiastically referred other knitters to it.
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Hello Yarn / How I Thrum
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Posted on 08-Mar-07 at 1:26 am | Permalink
32.
Lisa wrote:
Thanks for the really great tutorial. I’ve never seen the thrums prepared
that way and I will have to give it a try, as they look much more fluffy
than other thrummed mitts. Thanks!
Posted on 08-Mar-07 at 9:36 am | Permalink
33.
M.Gutschmann wrote:
Thank you so much.I can’t believe that I have never heard of
thrumming.Mittens would be so warm. sincerely Mary
Posted on 19-Apr-07 at 8:18 pm | Permalink
34.
Lori wrote:
thank you! mystery solved. now i must force myself to finish this second
sock so i can cast on some yummy mittens. i just LOVE how colorful your
thrums are.
Posted on 26-Aug-07 at 10:33 am | Permalink
35.
michelle wrote:
Thanks so much Adrian, I was just attempting a pattern that totally
confused me on how to do this…i appreciate you clearing it up.
Posted on 08-Oct-07 at 9:52 pm | Permalink
36.
carine wrote:
thanks so muhc…..i finally found good instructions!!!!!!
Posted on 31-Dec-07 at 5:43 am | Permalink
37.
Grace wrote:
Thanks for the great how-to for thrummed mittens!! (the owner of the
shop where I bought the roving wool didn’t know as much as I did about
thrummed mittens!!!!!!! UGH!)I heard of them and just had to make some
as I have Raynaud’s and am hoping these will be an answer for me!!!!I
have looked for hrs. online for something to show me what the piece of
fiber looks like and showing the inside with the mass of fiber as it is, is a
GREAT help to me. I made a mitten earlier this evening and I carried the
fiber along the inside as you do for fairisle even though I felt that wasn’t
correct, but didn’t know any better, so continued - (it did look the same as
pictures I had seen on the outside so I continued.) I can’t thank you
enough!!!!!!
Posted on 01-Feb-08 at 2:22 am | Permalink
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