Sore Thumb

I finished off the fine gauge mittens this week.

As is obvious from the photo, I wimped out and did the thumb top decrease section in just one color. I think the blue would have been a better choice than the pink. I'm not going to rip back, but if I get ambitious I may  try a few stitches in duplicate stitch to break up the vast expanse of pink.

There is no change in stitch count in the cuffs. the slight flair is caused by 1) the fact that my cast-ons always tend to be a little loose 2) there is a purl row near the edge and my purling tends to be looser than my knitting  3) stranded color work tend to pull in.

I meant to do that....... Yeah, that's the ticket.

Actually, I don't mind the flair.

This is a test. Repeat, this is only a test.

About learning, there is one thing to say: it isn't easy. It is always difficult for fingers to learn to do something new. On the other hand, when they do,they learn it. They never forget it, unlike the mind which learns easily and forgets quickly.... What is needed is patience, perseverance, and kindness. Talk to your fingers as you would to a dog you were trying to train..... They'll catch on and you'll be delighted.   Anna Zilboorg, Magnificent Mittens 

I've been talking to my fingers on this swatch:

Please note that I did manage to complete a twisted purl (aka Latvian) braid at the bottom edge, with the colors of the second row twisting in the opposite direction to the first.  It was slow going, and the tension is a bit loose. I am definitely still at the talking to, or muttering at, my fingers stage.  I should probably do a swatch that is just braid after braid after braid.

The bit of corrugated ribbing above that is just playing with color. My fingers can manage corrugated ribbing without coaching.

The color pattern section was for trying out how best to work with 3 colors in one row (4 out of the 10 rounds have 3 colors). First I tried holding 2 in my left hand and 1 in my right. Then I tried carrying 1 with my left and alternating 2 with my right, picking up and dropping the least used color as needed. Both felt awkward as all get out, but I think I am favoring the latter. Again, more practice and talking to fingers needed.

The color pattern comes from this photo

It's from a pdf file I found while Googling for images of Latvian mittens.  The file contains lots and lots of photos, and appears to be a booklet or book related to the thousands of mittens that were knit for the 2006 NATO summit held in Latvia.  I wish I could read the text.

There are no charts for the mittens shown, but the photo is clear enough that I could create one, so here it is.

The basic repeat unit-outlined in black, is 8 sts and 10 row or rnds. Obviously, the mittens in the inspiration photo are worked at a much finer gauge than my swatch.

Slightly Twisted

I've finished up this pair.

At the lower edge I tried out the kind of purl braid where you alternate colors twisting the yarns every stitch as you go. I did two rounds on each edge, with the twist going in the same direction on each. It might have been prettier if I had changed direction on the second round, but the maneuver was new and awkward enough to my fingers and brain that I didn't. It isn't really all that difficult, just a little fiddly, and you have to untwist the working yarns at the end (though if I had changed direction they would have untwisted during the course of the second round).

As you can see, on the thumbs I didn't try to exactly match the underlying palm pattern.

More Mitten Musings

The color pattern in this pair can be found on mittens from Estonia; and from Gotland, Sweden; from New England - and I'm sure from many other places as well. It's easy to see why it has traveled so far. It's handsome, the small repeat makes it simple to adapt to many sizes and gauges, and it is very easy to work.

Here's the chart.

The cuffs are done in a diagonal ribbing that I got from Aina Praakli's Estonian Mitten's All Around The World.  It is almost identical to the "fishtail" pattern Nancy Bush has in her book on Estonian folk knitting. The only difference is that Praakl uses a P2tog where Bush uses K2tog.

So, on a repeat of six stitches you can either *K2, yo, k2, k2tog, rep from* or *K2, yo, k2, p2tog, rep from*. If you change colors every 4 rounds or so you get a mock entrelac effect. (some self striping yarns will also work well for this).

BTW: At the Sheep & Wool Festival last Saturday I saw a cap done entirely in this stitch and it was very cute indeed. I only wish I had paid more attention to how the top decreases were worked out.

Knittin' Mittens

I've been on kind of a mitten kick lately.

It started as a project to use up some of the (many) odds and ends of non-sock yarn in my stash (the sock yarn stash is another story). And they are a fun, small, way to try out lots of different color patterns.

I have two pairs currently on the needles.

The one on the left was inspired by Lizbeth Upitis Latvian Mittens, though mine are rather stripped down in comparison with the glories in that book - only two very simple color patterns (taken from Joyce Williams' Latvian Dreams), no braid or fancy edging.

The one on the right was more inspired by Charlene Schurch's Mostly Mittens and incorporates a couple of the smaller Komi pattern charts there. I'm using a peasant/afterthough/forethought thumb, though, instead of the gusseted thumb she favors. It was just easier to knit straight up, choosing narrow bands of pattern as I went, than to sit down and chart out an increase section in advance.