Category Archives: projects

Chevalier Mittens

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I finally took the photos of my Chevalier mittens (well, my husband did, those are my hands in them). They're mittens my mother-in-law asked me to make, since she doesn't knit. I think they turned out fairly well, although they'd be a little too scratchy for me.

chevalier mittens

chevalier mittens

Yarn: Briggs & Little Sport, just under 1 skein @ 393.2m

Needles: 4.0 mm

Pattern: Chevalier Mittens (the pattern is free) (Ravelry link)

Mods: none

Comments: a little difficult to knit, but only because the yarn is doubled so it's very stiff. Other than that it's a good pattern and I enjoyed knitting them. The yarn is a little scratchy, although it did soften up when washed and blocked. They should keep the cold out.

Frustrating Mittens

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In between working on gift knitting, I decided to at least finish one of the fingerless mittens I'm working on for me, using the endpaper mitts pattern. (Ravelry link to my project). The knitting went reasonably well, good practice for stranded knitting, but there's just one little snag.

I suffer from irritation sensitivity, sometimes called dermographism. It's a condition that a lot of children have, where irritation to the skin produces symptoms like an allergic reaction, such as hives or itchy spots. And it looks like woolen gloves, especially tight ones like these mitts, set it off. I'm going to try soaking them in shampoo and hair conditioner, in the hope they soften up enough, but otherwise I guess it's back to the fleece or fabric gloves for me, or maybe some less scratchy yarn (I used Sisu sock yarn from my stash) and mitts that aren't as tight.

Gift Knitting

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I had the great idea of knitting gifts this year; it's the first year in a while where I've had the energy to even contemplate it! I'm enjoying the process, picking out yarns in colours I hope the recipient will like, picking patterns to (I hope) suit their tastes for wearing as well as mine for knitting. Now all I have to do is find the time required to finish them, in between all the other things that need to be done before late December. This is one reason why I picked the "Grownup Bonnet" (Ravelry link; my Ravelry project page) from Knit 2 Together for one of them; lots of mindless knitting suitable for the car or on work phone calls when I don't have to take notes.

Catkins

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I've liked the look of Niebling doilies for many years, even though ours is not really a doily house, and I tend not to surround myself with frilly things, or wear frilly clothes. They're structured beautifully, and are very appealing. Eventually I joined the Yahoo! NieblingLaceKnitters, and started the summer's knit-along, the birch catkins doily.

I've made a little more progress than in this photo, but my camera is busy charging right now. I'm currently on row 88 of 104; some distance to go, but the bulk is done. I had a few problems getting started. I tried various suggestions ("belly button" start, "easy beginner's" start) and ended up doing the standard Emily Ocker start, as it was the easiest for me to get right. Then it was mostly hex mesh (fun!), using a single yarnover for rows 9 - 19, a reverse yarnover from 21 - 25, and the double yarnover from 27 on. I started on four dpns, moved to two circs and one dpn fairly fast, lost the dpn on row 13, and was on a single small circular needle by row 18.

Thread: J & Coats Royale Classic Crochet Thread, size 10, in mint green 9 (colour 428); I just bought a second ball as the first one is almost done, with its 320m. I started on 3mm needles, and moved to 3.25 mm at row 63. I was thinking about moving up another size, but never quite figured out the right place for it.

The trickiest part for me was row 83, since before then when you see the double yarnover, and the skp and k2tog, it's hex mesh. In row 83 you have the same stitches, but in a different arrangement since it isn't hex mesh any more. This threw me for a bit as I thought I'd made a mistake; I had to go and look at a few pictures of finished doilies to convince myself that it really did change there.

Oh yes, I worked the k3tog as sl1, k2tog, psso.

early view of Niebling birch catkins

early view of Niebling birch catkins

Pooling Sweater

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I finished my son's sweater some time ago, but finally got around to taking the photo and cropping it and uploading. He likes it, it's none too big but will probably last a while since kids of his age tend to grow up rather than out. There's a bit of pooling; I actually quite like the way it came out. The zig-zags somehow match the speed at which he usually hurtles around.

kid\'s sweater front

the front

kid\'s sweater back

the back

kid\'s sweater front

another photo of the front