Monday, November 19, 2012

Fingerless Mitts

Here they are!! Finished fingerless mitts!! They are a touch big but will be very warm due to all the stranding. The pattern I used is called "Ravens in the Snow". It can be found on Ravelry. It was a fun knit. I did make a couple of changes. Instead of finishing the mitt top and thumb with a garter stitch border (per pattern) I opted to finish both with a k2,p2 ribbing instead. I then bound off in pattern with the contrasting color. When I was picking up stitches for the thumb I picked up 4 extra stitches instead of the 2 the pattern called for. This closed up the gusset gap very nicely. These extra stitches were decreased out a row later. I had messed up the colorwork pattern on the cuff of one mitt but was able to fix my mistake with duplicate stitch. I finished both mitts by blocking with steam.






Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Ravens in the Snow

Thought I would share the progress I'm making on my fingerless mitts. Only five more rows to go before I get to put stitches on a holder for the thumb.

The first photo is of the mitt front.....the second of the thumb gusset (isn't it pretty!)......the last one of the mitt back.

I have learned so much with this project. I have learned how to do a lifted increase using two different colors. I have learned how to do a two color long-tail cast on. Most important of all, I think, is that I learned how to read a chart for stranded colorwork that includes a thumb gusset. The book "Charts Made Simple" was a huge help. It explained all the empty squares on either side of the gusset near the bottom. If the stitches were actually charted then they would look distorted, something that really made sense once I got into the actual knitting of the gusset itself. That's when I could see the relation of everything and the chart really made sense.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Something Shiny

Not really but it has the same way of distracting you. That one pattern that no matter how hard you try you keep thinking of it.......dreaming of it.......seeing it everywhere. The only way to get any piece is to cave and cast on. Oh the exquisite joy of casting on and knitting those first few rows. It's so incredibly satisfying you start to wonder why you bother to have chocolate stashed all over the house. It's so hypnotic that you find yourself knitting the night away......even though you were utterly exhausted only hours earlier. That is this pattern....something shiny. :)

The pattern Is "Ravens in the Snow". The yarn being used is handspun. The cream colored (natural color) is a shetland/alpaca blend. The blue is a hand-dyed shetland. The knitting is fun. Just challenging enough to hold my attention but not so challenging that it has the ability to become frustrating. I've learned so much.