Author: Talena Winters

Warm Hands for the Win!

Mittens can do so much more than warm hands—such as delight the eye and warm the heart. Pictured: Pale yellow The Honey Tree mittens.

Winter hit northern Alberta yesterday morning. I woke up to find my lawn covered in inches of snow, with more huge, fluffy flakes coming down fast. Within minutes, my thoughts had turned toward hot cocoa, Christmas decorating (yes, I know, it’s only late October—don’t throw things), and handwarmers.

Well, for a crafter, knitting handwarmers is kind of a logical next thought after Christmas decorations, isn’t it?

If you have some hands to warm up this winter, here are some great ideas for making knitted mittens, gloves, fingerless mittens, convertible glittens, fingerless gloves… you get the idea. All of these knitting patterns come in sizes from wee to adult large, so you can outfit hands of every age.

Title card that reads: 5 Knitting Patterns for Fast and Easy Hand Warmers. Warm Hands for the Win! Patterns shown, going clockwise from top left: The Honey Tree, Just Plain Gloves, Revolution Mittens, and Twisted Rope Fingerless Mittens.

Just Plain Gloves

Get Just Plain Gloves (Multi-Pattern Bundle)

As a boy mom, I’ve knit a lot of gloves. I mean, half of those are because they lost them, not outgrew them, but the things we do for our kids, right?

One of my favourite things about the Just Plain Gloves pattern is that you can layer them up. (Here in the north, surviving winter is about layers.) You can use just the shell on its own, or you can make a fingering-weight liner for extra warmth. And if you want to be super-versatile, just make a shell in both fingering weight and either the worsted or bulky weights—then you’ll be able to pick exactly how many layers you need for the weather, and how thick those layers should be.

The bonus? This pattern is low vision accessible, so even more knitters can help keep hands warm this winter. (See the accessibility statement in the pattern listing for details.)

Mix’n’Match Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens (Convertible) Sets

Once upon a time, I had the brilliant idea to create a pattern set where you could choose your own finishing options. Each hand covering would be the same up to the thumb gusset, but from there, you could choose any type of finger finishing option you wanted to suit your personal style and needs.

(I was a big fan of choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid, can you tell?)

I used a simple two-stitch cable for the cuff (and included instructions for cuffs of different lengths), then a variation of the same cable over four stitches for the hand back. The finger finishing options would let you mix and match between fingerless mittens or gloves, regular mittens or gloves, or flip-top mittens or gloves (glittens). PLUS! I included a plain fingering-weight liner glove pattern so you could line these babies for extra warmth.

The first set I made with this idea was the Mermaids & Dragons set. I loved these so much, that then I created the Honey Tree set. For extra versatility, these two sets use the same yarn and measurements, so you can even mix-and-match the cable options between them if you want!

Your biggest dilemma with these two pattern bundles will be choosing which configuration to make first. 😄

Mermaids & Dragons and The Honey Tree

Get Mermaids & Dragons Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens Set (Multi-Pattern Bundle)

The Honey Tree Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens Set

Get The Honey Tree Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens Set (Multi-Pattern Bundle)

Revolution Mittens

Get Revolution Mittens

Can I say how much I adore the look of brioche knitting? I mean, just look at those squishy vertical stripes! All that squishiness makes for extra-thick, extra-warm fabric, too. Which is why I designed these mittens for all sizes, with both long- and short-cuff versions (depending how much snow you need to keep out of your sleeves).

This pattern breaks down the stitches so you can finish these mittens like a pro, which means it’s a great project to start with, even if you’ve never knit brioche before!

Fingerless Mittens

If you live in a climate that hasn’t hit full-on snow-pocalypse like mine has (okay, that was yesterday, but I’m not going to see grass until April sometime, so allow me my moment of drama), you might be leaning more toward fingerless typing or texting gloves to keep your digits warm.

Honestly, I use these all winter long for typing, as my office is in the draftiest, coldest corner of my living room, and my fingers can turn to solid blocks of ice after only a few hours—not so conducive for typing. In fact, I’m wearing the Secret Garden Fingerless Mittens right now!

Besides the fingerless mitten and glove options in the two mix-and-match sets I mentioned above, here are two other patterns that might tickle your fancy—and keep fingers free for tickling other things.

Twisted Rope Fingerless Mittens

Get Twisted Rope Fingerless Mittens

Secret Garden Fingerless Mittens

Get Secret Garden Fingerless Mittens

Whether you’re a beginner looking for a simple yet stylish design or an experienced knitter seeking a challenge, one of these patterns should delight your sensibilities. So go ahead, grab some luxurious yarn, choose a design that speaks to your soul, and cast on to start warming up hands and hearts today.

I hope you enjoyed this round-up of mitten and glove handknitting patterns from my shop. I’ll have even more designs coming (or coming back) soon, so be sure to subscribe to my blog through the link below, or join my newsletter list to be notified about future releases.

Happy knitting!

October 23, 2023
Projects-in-Progress

It’s taken me a while to find my groove this fall, but it’s coming along. I’ve been experimenting, revising patterns, working on new designs, and still managed to launch a major project in my author business. Could definitely be worse!

Here are a few things I’ve been up to:

Unnamed Sleeveless Turtleneck

Image description: A flat lay of a dark green cabled sweater front on the needles with rows of ascending cables on either side of a centre staghorn cable. Near the project on a white surface is a white mug full of black coffee and a peach-and-fuscia orchid in a white pot, as well as a small ball of hand-wound yarn. The entire scene smells like coffee and sunshine and hope.

I’m trying to expand my design horizons by creating a cabled sleeveless turtleneck design. There have been some “one step forward, two steps back” moments, for sure. But it’s still coming along. I’m still trying to decide on a name. Any suggestions?

Lady of the Lake Wrap

Image description: A small porcelain statue of a blond mermaid with a green tail sits on a white desk next to a knitting project on the needles with parallel rows of cables in variegated green, teal, and blue yarn. The yarn cake sits behind the mermaid next to a white knitting mug that reads “Slow progress is still progress”. Light streams over everything, and the air smells like autumn leaves and sunshine.

This has been an ongoing project for many years now—partly because it’s in a fine gauge, so it’s taking forever to knit; partly because I get bored of it easily; and partly because it actually requires a significant amount of my attention every other row, which makes it less ideal for TV watching.

However, it’s going to be sooo pretty when it’s done.

Pre-Socks

Image description: A moody shot of two skeins of hand-painted yarn on a white desk between a small-leafed plant and nickel-plated knitting needles. The colourways are shades of purple for the Mad|Tosh yarn, colourway “Wilted”, and autumnal shades of red brown, grey, and gold for the Earl Grey Fiber Company one. A chill wind rattles the rafters, and the lighting warns of cooler days ahead.

A couple days ago, I finally wound these skeins into balls, but not before taking some lovely last shots of them. I’ve had socks on the mind a lot lately, partly because I’ve been revising the Jill and the Bean Socks pattern (which, since it’s actually a unisex design, I’ve renamed to Beanstalk Socks), and partly because I want to make something out of these lovely skeins. Oh, and also because Winter is Coming.

Revision-in-Progress

Image description: A close-up of a cuff-down Beanstalk Sock in progress on nickel-plated double-pointed needles. The sock is knit in tweedy cream-coloured yarn, and it has an all-over scallop-like texture with an elongated chain cable cutting diagonally across it. White chocolate with cinnamon wafts through the air.

I’ve been working on a revision for the Jill and the Bean Socks pattern (currently unavailable), and while I’m at it, I’m adding two more sizes. It’s been more of a challenge than I expected to add the sizes, but the pattern is going to be so much more flexible now.

Also, I’m renaming it to Beanstalk Socks, since it will look great for any gender.

That’s it for me right now… but that feels like a lot, lol.

What types of projects are drawing your eye lately and why?

October 20, 2023
A Pattern Revision Saga

The original Mary Lennox Tam was made for my friend’s daughter when I first started publishing my designs. She was also kind enough to model it for me.

As part of my store update, I’m re-editing every single one of my designs. And for designs like the Mary Lennox Tam that were made with yarns that are now discontinued, I’m finding new yarns and testing them again.

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A post shared by Talena Winters | My Secret Wish Knitting (@mysecretwishknitting)

Video description: Video shows a stack of circular tams from above on a wooden table. The top one is dark red with ridges of garter around a centre that looks like it has spokes of knit running through it. There’s a pompom in the centre.

A hand reaches in and removes the red hat to reveal a green one of the same size (without a pompom), and then removes the green one to reveal a turquoise one that’s a little larger with a dark red pompom. The camera zooms in on the pompom, then zooms out.

The top hat in this video is made with the original yarn I designed it with in 2011… which has been discontinued since 2012. (Bernat Chunky.) No big deal. There have to be plenty of new yarns to choose from, right?

Except there don’t seem to be a lot of modern yarns that knit up to this gauge. (15 stitches in 4 inches on size 6.0 mm needles.) I’ve pored over yarnsub.com to no avail. Almost everything else in that gauge is also discontinued. (Was this a yarn weight that had a decade and is now to be no more?)

Attempt #1 at finding a substitute was with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky (the green one). Although my swatch wasn’t far off, so I thought, I made it in the biggest size, and it’s the same size or smaller than the original size medium red sample.

Then I tried Knit Picks Biggo (turquoise), and the angels sang… not only was it the perfect gauge, it also has many of the same qualities as the original, and it’s actually softer.

With glee, I went to type up the revision… and discovered that Biggo was discontinued sometime last year. *Cue screaming…

So, now I’m about to start attempt number three at finding a substitute. At this point, I’m thinking of redesigning the pattern for a different yarn weight. Like worsted, since there’s a lot more consistency between yarns in that weight, and I’m almost guaranteed to be able to find a substitute for anything that gets discontinued ever again. (The original inspiration hat that the character Mary Lennox wore in the 1993 movie The Secret Garden was in worsted anyway.) Or I could use an available bulky-weight yarn and adjust needle sizes.

Which solution do you think is best?

(I’ve been working on this revision since before I started building this new store. Time to make a decision!)

July 27, 2023
Welcome to My Secret Wish Knitting!

Hi, I’m Talena Winters! I’m beyond excited to begin this new chapter in the life of My Secret Wish Knitting. Thank you for coming, thank you for reading, and thank you for being part of this journey.

First, a little about how we got this far.

My History in Design

As it says on my About page, I’ve been knitting and crocheting for a long time. When I was five, my grandmother taught me to do both as a means of keeping me entertained while she babysat me. I struggled with knitting, never completing a project. However, I managed to finish a few small crochet items.

At age nine, my mother taught me to sew, and I fell in love. As a tall girl growing up in the eighties and nineties in rural Alberta, Canada whose primary source of clothing was hand-me-downs, learning to sew not only allowed me to create new clothes for myself, but also to wear clothes that fit my lanky frame. I soon began designing my own, and eventually designed and made my own wedding dress. That love affair with garment construction has never stopped.

Young and in love. The embroidery on the wedding dress waistband took forever! (P.S. Still in love with this guy. He’s my Prince Charming.)

By the time I got married, I had picked up the crochet hook again to make several blankets as wedding and baby gifts for my friends. The long time frame it took me to complete those projects left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth about crochet for many years.

However, hand knitting was just beginning its fashion renewal, and I drooled over all the gorgeous chunky-knit sweaters and fabulous maxi scarves. So I went to Michaels’, bought some chunky acrylic yarn and needles, re-taught myself the knit stitch from a sketchy Web 1.0 tutorial accessed over dial-up internet, and cast on and reverse-engineered the purl stitch based on dim memories of my grandmother’s explanation of it as a backwards knit stitch.

After finishing a self-designed, enormously long tasselled scarf in a weekend (and a toque on the next), I fell in love with knitting for life.

My first knitting projects: a scarf and toque made without a pattern. Or a gauge swatch.

(Fun fact: I only got the purl stitch partially right, which I now know means I was knitting in Combined style. I figured it out a decade later, corrected my mistake, and have been a much happier knitter since.)

My first more complicated project was a hooded cardigan I made when expecting my first child, constructed from a pattern in a knitting magazine.

Here’s baby boy #3 with that first baby cardigan project on. (And a runny nose! Jeepers!)

Over the years, I grew my skills and soon started designing my own projects and blogging about them. After repeated requests to publish patterns of my designs, I finally took the plunge, and in 2010, I started an Etsy shop under the name My Secret Wish by Talena. It was my side hustle, which I half-jokingly said I maintained to “support my yarn habit.”

Since then, my brand has grown and changed a lot as I’ve developed as a knitter, writer, and designer. When I consolidated all my creative pursuits into a single website under my own name in 2014 (I’m also a fiction writer and editor, freelance copywriter, and, at the time, was pursuing a career as a songwriter and composer), I adopted the ethos of My Secret Wish—to help my customers reach their full potential and make the world a better place because of it—into my entire brand. I even called my indie publishing imprint My Secret Wish Publishing.

Now, My Secret Wish Knitting, the rebranded name for My Secret Wish by Talena, is finally getting its very own home on the web. And I couldn’t be more excited to welcome you in the door.

My Secret Wish: For You to Make Magic

My secret wish has always been to help my customers be brave, push themselves, and make the magic they want to see in the world, no matter the creative medium we’re connecting with.

My brand is all about inclusivity, encouragement, connection, value, and personal development. That’s why I started creating knitting tutorials to accompany my patterns from the start, and I’ve always included a wide range of sizes for every design (and have often designed patterns for multiple yarn weights).

In recent years, I’ve learned about the hugely underserved low-vision and print-challenged knitting audience, and I’ve been slowly converting my patterns and platform to be accessible to this audience ever since

This website is a major step forward toward my goal. My patterns and tutorials are now all colour-blind accessible and left-handed inclusive. I strive to write my patterns in plain language that can easily be understood when read aloud with assistive technology, with minimal or no abbreviations. And I’m working on releasing my most popular designs (and all future designs) in multiple formats, including large print PDFs and ePUB, to be more accessible to those using assistive reading technology or other print-challenged knitters.

Whoever you are, I want my patterns to help you make magic with yarn. And I’ll continue to look for ways to allow more people to enjoy my designs.

Knit Together

With the launch of the My Secret Wish Knitting website, I’m adding an aspect to my brand that I’ve always felt was missing: community. I live in a small, remote northern Alberta community, where the preferred winter activity is staying in and there is no local yarn store. This can lead to disconnection—and if there’s ever a time to foster connection and community, it’s now.

Because of this, I’m expanding beyond just a knitting newsletter to creating a community where knitters can gather and discuss patterns, techniques, or all the things that fill their lives.

If you want to be part of the My Secret Wish community, you can join my free Ravelry group. Coming soon, you can also join my Patreon for access to a monthly online Knit Night group (plus other perks, like early access to patterns). Check out my Knitting Circle page to find out how you can get involved and join the fun.

But a new community isn’t the only change. Now that the foundational things in my business are finally in place, I also look forward to releasing many patterns I’ve had in development for years (some for a decade or more!) over the next year or so.

I can’t wait to share the next stage of this knitting adventure with you.

Welcome, yarn wizard. Let’s make some magic together.

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July 15, 2023