Backyard-y Things

I’m currently working away on my first custom order since my big break of awesome, and it’s nice to be sewing again! I am, of course, also being creative in other ways, or I would surely go nuts. Mostly this consists of weaving, knitting and writing.

My latest adventure in knitting was looking at a mitten I knitted three years ago and try to figure out the pattern, because I forgot to save it and I’ve used those until they pretty much pilled themselves to bits. It was a bit of a challenge, and I think the finished mitten turned out slightly bigger, but in all I am happy with them.

That is the old one to the right, knitted in Malabrigo Worsted (colourway: Violetas), and the new one to the left, knitted in Manos Silk Blend (colourway: 4635).

I almost never indulge myself in really exclusive yarns, so I think these two are the fanciest yarns I’ve ever knitted with. So worth every last krona too (even though I bought the former in the U.S. and the latter in the U.K.!). They are simply amazing, and £11.99 for 300 yards is so worth it when the yarn in question is as gorgeous and soft as this one. It really is.

Pattern: Backyard (Semi-Convertible) Mittens

Ravelry: link.

Yarn: Manos Silk Blend (30% silk, 70% merino, 270 m or 300 yards); green aka 4635, 1 skein.

I’ve looked at a lot of convertible mittens in my days, and it seems like most of them require you to button the flap down, as they have a rather big hole to allow for flipping back the top.

A few years ago I saw one that simply had a hole in the palm, though I can’t remember where (the now defunct MagKnits, maybe?), and thought the idea was great, but that they would be even better if they had a bit of overlapping fabric, so the hole wasn’t there all the time. Because Sweden is cold. Seriously.

So I knitted the first version of this mitten (my first mitten ever, actually), with a cable down the back, to go with the scarf (which I lost) and the hat (which came out too small), a simple afterthought thumb, because it seemed like the least scary option, a hole backed by an extra flap behind it, sewn down only on the sides, and used them every single day for two winters and actually half of a third.
…

So, when I came across this yarn and figured out it was enough for a Backyard Leaves Scarf and then some, I decided to do a repeat. Since it came out so awesome the last time.

I kept them plain this time, because the yarn was more variegated than I’d expected, and also, because there’s plenty of lace and patterned knitting in the scarf. I quite like mittens that doesn’t have a rounded top. The last pair didn’t end in a point, but I decided to do that part just a bit differently (possibly cos I knitted for too long before realising that I was supposed to be grafting…

As for the whole reason I made these mittens:

Pattern: Backyard Leaves Scarf (Ravelry link)

Ravelry: link (to my version).

Yarn: Manos Silk Blend (30% silk, 70% merino, 270 m or 300 yards); green aka 4635, 2 skeins. Or more like 1.5.

It came out wicked long; it was the prescribed 200 cm before blocking, and then each half grew with about 25 cm, so it totals 250 cm. That is 98.5 inches. I’m only 173 cm long, so it’s… long. Even on me. I can wrap it twice around my neck and there’s still some over.

This post is far too long already, so I will not post a close up. Click on the pic and it will zoom in for you. If you want.

For something else altogether: Do consider going to Ravelry.com (if you have an account) and filter patterns through the “Help for Haiti” tag, and buy something! I wanted to offer my patterns for sale like that and give the proceeds to that, but realised that I really don’t write out instructions well enough for that (my patterns have a lot of “gauge – erm, what was on the ball band. probably.” and “size – big. ish.” in them), and besides, what does it help if everyone offers their patterns for free if nobody buys anything?

So I’m going to.

Posted: January 17th, 2010 under all my posts.
Tags: knitting, patterns