...fell off my needles and I’m both
happy and quite surprised!
Sometimes I have to try hard to
find something to make; I fret and frustrate and exhaust myself by looking all
over and just cannot stumble on anything interesting. Then, sometimes,
accidentally, quite unexpectedly I discover something and it leaves me astounded.
Like this mitten yesterday.
I had two balls of TeeTee Saga
yarn, 100% Peruvian wool (suitable for felting especially) on my desk. The wool
is chunky, 140m/100 grams, on normal circumstances far too thick for me, but
for some odd reason I took a long look at it. The yarn has lots of air and
compresses when pressed. I picked up 3,5mm needles, way smaller than the ball
band recommends (5,5-6mm). There were just two balls and I had mittens on my
mind (they are my home coming knitting); mittens benefit from tight gauge. I
cast on, knitted twisted ribbing for a few rounds and after looking at twisted cable
patterns for a while, disregarded the books and thought about
embroidery. Since I had one pair (with twined knitting and handspun) in need of embroidery on my desk already, I
decided not to take that route.
Then I remembered the Estonian
mittens and the ones pattered with “roosimine”. My yarn was chunky, quite
contrary to beautiful, exquisite Estonian mittens, but none the less, I was
going to try with big gauge. What a surprise there was waiting for me!
I have been looking at the mitten
for quite a while now, and I think it is safe to say that I like it. Even with
this huge gauge, this looks lovely; but please, nothing compared to the
authentic Estonian ones. So easy to make and so stunning result… The spirit of
this one is totally different though, it is cushy and soft and almost looks like a
different technique.
The mitten… It is going to be
treated as a swatch at the moment, as there are many things that need to be
improved. I tried new kind (new to me) of decreases on top and they need some
work, plus I adjusted the top shaping and I am not sure how that turned out.
The placement of the motifs is little off. I can’t make another to match as I
know of all the mistakes, and I am not sure I have enough yarn for two pairs.
So I rather use the yarn for making a good pair next and then possibly if I
have enough yarn left, I will make another mitten to match this, more or less
match, maybe with minor adjustments.
I am so happy knitting today!
Wool with you,
Lene
PS. Fuzzy yarns and photos,
impossible combination for my skills…
You are such a perfectionist. Lovely knitting.
ReplyDeleteI love these...simple and beautiful...and you've given me an idea for some Christmas gifts!
ReplyDeleteI think your mittens look stunning!
ReplyDeleteLovely embroidery and mitten; I hope you have enough for a matching (enough) "swatch." One could use any of the fair isle motifs with their 1-, 2-, and 3-stitch elements for this embroidery technique, I'm sure. A light felting (needle or wash) to anchor the embroidery might be interesting, too. Gosh, you are so inspiring, Lene, my brain won't stop! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love this happy story about knitterly satisfaction! And the mitten is lovely!
ReplyDeleteLene, how do you anchor embroidery on a fabric like this? the colors are so different, and I can't detect any weaving-in at all! It's a beautiful effect but I don't know whether I could do it myself.
ReplyDeleteIts beautiful!
ReplyDeleteDo you have a pattern for the fingerless mitts ??
ReplyDeleteThose are both lovely! Is there a pattern for the fingerless mittens?
ReplyDelete