Check out these links -
http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/thrumfaq.html
http://www.helloyarn.com/wp/?p=425

The "hearts" are just individual stitches done with a little piece of fleece

Thanks everyone!  I'm already planning my next pair, as my little sister has just claimed these - we've always joked that her favourite colour is "rainbow"

She lives in a place that gets much colder in winter than my town, so I couldn't really turn her down.

Thanks, both of you!

Thrumming is a technique where you use little offcuts of yarn, fabric (or in this case) unspun fibre to knit various stitches to make the mitten thicker and warmer.  The coloured stitches above are the ones knitted with the fleece rather than the black yarn.  The bottom pic shows the inside, as you can see, wee endy bits of fibre stick out on the inside - kind of like sheepskin. 

As always, the Yarn Harlot explains it much better than I ever could - Yarn Harlot on Thrumming

I made these mittens over the past few days from this pattern that I found via Ravelry.





I knitted them on 3.5mm dpns, with 8ply acrylic, and corridale sliver from Ashford that I had lying in my stash.  I've never made something so pretty from my stash before!

Ravelry project notes are here

Thanks for the input you two

I actually have decided to (maybe) make my own dress.  This summer I'm making a few party dresses since I haven't dealt much with tricky fabric, and when I see how good I am at the detailing on those, then I'll start making a muslin of a dress.  I mean, surely I could make my own dress within 2 years?

I've found that the most like ramen (with out actually being ramen) are somen noodles.  They are wheat noodles (like ramen) but dried rather than fried, and the cook in just a few minutes on the stove.  The texture is pretty similar I think.  They are my go-to noodles when I just need them.  I hate ramen because of all the fat in them.

My parents have that machine, and each loaf I've made with it has some out really nice for me.

I've found a couple of links:
Operating instructions
Link to pdf manual

Good luck playing with your bread maker, I absolutely love mine (although it's nowhere near as nice as this one).  I make all types of bread, pizza dough, bread rolls and focaccia in it.  Banana bread is my next challenge.

Would it be weird with mint extract?

Hell no!  I think that would taste great - oooh, I'll have to get some mint extract and give those a try.

They have no flavour of their own, just sugar, so I'm sure any flavour would work really well.

Yay! A marshmallow recipe made without corn syrup!

I've never seen corn syrup anywhere here in NZ, so none of our baked (or in this case, un-naked goods) contains any.

do you need to use a candy thermometer to bring the boiling mixture to a certain temperature?  TIA!

no - and this last time, i only really gently boiled it (a little more than a simmer) and they set up just fine.  I've also only boiled it for 10 minutes, and there was no difference.

If anyone else makes them, let us know what you did and how they turned out.  I tend to vary my method each time, just to test the recipe, so I think it's pretty foolproof.

Can you use these as you would store bought ones?  Like to make rice crispie treats?  Are they more of a candy?

You could use them anywhere you use store-bought marshmallows.  They are much fresher though, and spongier.

I prefer to put them in my hot choc, or eat them plain.  They are so good, I'm not sure I could bear to melt them down with rice bubbles.  They melt far easier though, since they are so fresh.  That's what makes them so good in hot drinks - they phoof out on top so quick!