I Can Cancan

I made myself proud and used some left over yarn for this pair of mitts. I have some real problems using left over yarn – not because for a lack of suitable patterns, but because I get bored with yarn oh so very easily. I also always buy way too much yarn for any given project. I’m hoping that trend is now ending so that I won’t end up with stash beyond life expectancy…

Pattern: CanCans

Yarn: Ranco Solid from Araucania

Colorway: 107

I needed a quick gift, so I made the short cuffed version of the pattern. The pattern was one of those great ones: everything fits together, there’s nothing missing and nothing extra.

Once I comprehended the instructions for the left twist, I vowed never to do crossed stitches in any other way again. (The pattern says  “Knit 2nd stitch through the back loop, leave on the left needle. Knit 1st stitch and slip both stitches off the left needle.” and I kept reading “K2tog through the back loop, …” and that didn’t work at all.) This way of crossing stitches was so simple, so fast, so much better than switching the positions of the stitches before knitting them.

 

I Learned My Lesson – Bring On the Next One

Every knitting project I do teaches me something new about knitting – a fact that is both fulfilling and depressing.

I’m not a perfectionist in the sense that I cannot finish things I know will not be perfect, or that I don’t enjoy doing things when they’re not perfect. But I do like to experience some perfection from time to time.

If every knitting project teaches me something, that pretty much means every knitting project has a fault of some kind, and sometimes that’s kind of a bummer. On the other hand, there’s always the next project – maybe next time everything will go as I would like. Learning in itself is a joy of course, and knitting provides an abundance of small challenges that are easy but rewarding to overcome.

I thought about this business of mistakes and learning a lot while finishing up these mitts in December…

Pattern: Bird & Vine Mitts

Yarn: Nalle from Novita

Needles: 3 mm

*****

I knitted the first one in August. It was a fun knit but I wasn’t pleased with the quality of my color work – wonky stitches and strange problems with lines of smaller stitches running up the mitt (like ladders but in reverse).

I then read about what was probably wrong with my technique in Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘n Bitch  Superstar Knitting. When I knitted the second mitt, I took care to keep the contrasting yarn closer to the fabric/to me, and never wrapped the resting yarn in the same place on two consecutive rows. I was amazed at how much better the results were. The difference is most evident in the wrong side of the palms.

The mitt on the left is the first one. Where the white is more prominent, the green stands out too much on the right side of the fabric, creating an uneven look.

I’m so glad I learned this and will be able to knit much better stranded color work from now on… but I wish I hadn’t learned it in between mitts in the same pair. The two are very different so the mistakes in the first mitt bother me more than usually. Usually I can happily overlook all mistakes once I’m finished with the knitting.

My mom loved the mitts, though, so I gave them to her. It just means I have to knit another pair of mitts for myself, and this time, I swear, they will be epic.

The Mitts I Wanted to Keep

Here’s another Christmas gift, a pair of man-sized mitts, knitted with ice fishing in mind.

Pattern: Korinpohja

Yarn: 7 veljestä from Novita, 90 g

Needles: 3,25 mm

*****

I like 7 veljestä from Novita: it’s a durable, affordable, warm wool blend that comes in a good range of colors. Unfortunately it’s an aran weight, and I for one have not found a lot of interesting patterns for that weight. Aran (and 7 veljestä specifically) used to be the one and only sock yarn for me, but in the last couple of years I’ve come to favor fingering weight for socks, thanks to Ravelry. I was pleased when I found this mitt pattern, as it specifically calls for 7 veljestä.

These were an incredibly quick knit probably because of the thicker weight. My hands loved the warmth of the thicker fabric while knitting – something the thin fabric of fingering weight knitting just cannot provide.

The design is simple but beautiful. Unfortunately my pictures are hurried because this was a gift. There never seems to be enough time to take pictures in daylight around Christmas time. Maybe I will knit a pair for myself some day, though I highly doubt it. Giving something hand-knitted as a gift is always a little bit sad because I so rarely knit the same pattern twice.

I learned a new cast-on for these mitts: the twisted long-tail cast-on. It’s as easy to do as (what for me has been the “normal”) long-tail cast-on, but I think the result is prettier and more elastic.

Musica

There’s something about some stranded colorwork patterns that make the knitting easier… Sometimes it’s just easier to maintain an even gauge and to get neat results. This was definitely one of those patterns.

Pattern: Musica

Published in Coala näht und strickt

Yarn: Sisu from Sandnes Garn, colorway 6755

Yarn: Evilla Artyarn 8/2, colorway A-52

Needles: 3 mm

*****

I also like the idea of these mitts: the looong wrist and the short palm. I used to play the piano, and would’ve really appreciated these back then. My left wrist often ached and the only thing that helped was wool yarn wrapped around my wrist a few times. And as I wish to some day continue playing the piano but can’t do anything about that dream right now, knitting these was somehow consoling.

What I didn’t like about this knit was my yarn choise… This was one of those times when I had to begin NAO and I only had these yarns in fingering weight. The Sisu was fine, as always, but the Evilla Artyarn was getting a little too light by the end of the second mitt, so the lighting has to be pretty good for any contrast between the colors to be visible. Also, the Evilla is pure wool and wasn’t quite slippery enough for stranded colorwork.

Despite this, these are my favorite accessory this fall, by far. I never understood the point of mitts, but after finishing these I’ve found out they’re the best thing since sliced bread. They keep my hands just warm enough now that the weather is getting a bit chilly, but allow me to use my hands unlike any gloves, let alone mittens. They even give more freedom of movement than fingerless gloves. Maybe that’s why I cast on two other pairs of stranded colorwork mitts immediately after finishing these… But that’s another post, or two.