Now that the white nights of
summer are gone, the stars are back on a cold, brisk, clear night. Early
morning greets with beautiful sunrises. I had forgotten the sunrises. I
realized it this week when I woke up very early and witnessed the day breaking. I took these pictures
this morning, around 7, the morning was still new but sun already quite high.
These mittens…
I took another route, disregarded
the heavy white wool and took this Cataluna (100%) instead. I like the wool
very much, even though it is worsted weight (!). The mittens will be warm and
soft, warm but not warm enough by themselves. Up here you always need double layer
during the winter months; hence the lining mitts in this dark red Madelintosh
Tosh Sock. During the winter my hands suffer, they become red and dry and tender, thus ultra soft lining mitts are the best way to go, Tosh sock
meets this demand very well.
Heavy, double layer mitts seem
bit off the place at the moment… The color combination is maybe little bit too
warm, I should have paired this oatmeal with colder tones, even though the cold
red lining mitts cool off the temperature. I am thinking that when the time is
right for these double mittens, the colors are also right. As the world turns
all blue and cold, any warmness is going to feel right. But the beads! I know,
possibly too much, but I could not help myself. Maybe I should have added a
silver thread to run with the wool to add spark to the stars?
I finally forced myself (just the
right word, seems little rough though) to knit two mittens at the same time. I
did that for the lining mittens, as they
were so simple, plain sockinette only (with the exception of one little
roositud star there) and I was afraid of the second mitten becoming a TASK. It
did feel awkward in the beginning, I missed my thin double points (2mm/US0) badly at first, but round by round it became easier and I think I am
converted. I tried the magic loop, but my old long 2mm circulars’ cords
were impossible, they curled like crazy; instead I used Addis, two 24” ones. I
am going to try to heat the stubborn circs today for a bit to see if they will
become more manageable, it not, I will need to buy new.
(The pictures here are of the
unfinished mittens, but the pair is done now and blocking. Hopefully I can find
someone who is willing to pose for mittens this week.)
This Roositud Inlay method is
unique in Estonian mittens. I am not sure if it has been used anywhere else,
but then my mitten research is not thorough at all. The method is very simple and you
can use all sorts of little, short bits of wool. The appearance is very much
like satin stitch, but is done differently. You take the piece of wool and just
bring it to the front of the knitting, knit a few stitches according to the
pattern, then take it to the back side, knit on and the wool traps between the
rounds. It is not difficult and is described at least in “Folk knitting in
Estonia” by Nancy Bush and in “Eesti Silmuskudumine 1 Tavad ja tehnikad” by Anu
Pink, Siiri Reimann and Kristi Jõeste (I think this book is translated into
English).
If you use wool for the mittens,
you should not have problems with floats, as wool felts with wear a little and
will anchor the floats. You might want to pay attention on picking the motif,
and go for the shorter floats. This technique is somehow a combination of
intarsia and embroidery, and the easy way out in both of those fields. If you
are looking for something to spark up your sock or mitten knitting, try this
technique. And there is no reason, why you should not use this for garments as
well.
Wool with you,
Lene
