Wednesday 6 February 2013

Clearing the Backlog # 4 - Mittens

 Mittens have been a bit of a theme in my knitting over the last couple of years. I've already blogged about the Calaveras and Chrysanthemum mittens that I knitted way back when, but since then, I've gravitated towards slightly simpler (easier?) designs.

First up are two pairs of fingerless mitts for DD. She has dreadful circulation to her hands so these were knitted with autumn in mind, just to keep her hands warm in the car (or house) or on mild days.

The first pair were knitted with my handspun on 3mm needles.

The second pair were knitted with some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Fandango colourway that I had left over from her sock-yarn hat. Also knitted on 3mm needles.

Both pairs were knitted to improvised patterns and had deliberately short cuffs as DD was not very tolerant of mittens at first. Now that she loves putting her mittens on, I'd knit future pairs with much longer cuffs and possibly with flip-over tops.

Moving on to adult mitts, this year I took part in the Yarn Yard Shed Swap on Ravelry. The theme of the swap was hand coverings, with each participant completing a questionnaire on their likes, dislikes and hand-covering preferences.
My recipient requested fingerless mitts, so I got to try out a pattern I've had my eye on for a while - Vancouver Fog Mitts.

I used Dream in Colour Classy yarn in the colourway 'Seaflower'.


I liked these so much that I knitted a second pair for myself using Manos de Uruguay Silk Blend in colourway 'Pisces'.

Both times I knitted the longer versions with the extra repeat of the cable on the cuffs for really warm coverage on the wrists. The pattern is lovely and well-written, but I made a minor modification to move the end of the round to the middle of the palms instead of starting right beside the pattern on the backs.

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