We are getting off to a bit of a slow start this year at Just Crafty Enough. Susi has been engulfed in sixth birthday madness and me, I’ve been getting over a cold and knitting. So, I thought I’d share my National Knit Mitten Month progress. (If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, you may have seem some of this.)
I designed this new pattern based on Austrian folk embroidery. Why Austrian? Well, well the yarn I am using for the color work is a hand painted yarn from Austria called, Wollgarnspinnerei Ferner Lace handgefärbt. I wanted the mittens to reflect that and remind me of the trip where I got it.
I’ve been moving along at a nice clip despite the fact I ripped all the colorwork back once and starting over. See, there was this big discussion in the NaKniMitMo Chat on Ravelry about yarn dominance and stitch definition. The idea is the way you work the two yarns will make one the dominant one in your colorwork. Most people said that the yarn pulled from under will be the dominant yarn. So, I decided to see how I knit and try it it. It ends up I pull whichever yarn I am working up from under the other. I tried changing things up and pulling the red yarn from under and the black yarn from over. Yes, it did make the red yarn a slightly more dominant, but man did it mess with my gauge. I could not keep it neat and even. Because I want these mittens done this month, I gave up and just started over my normal way. I may experiment more with yarn dominance on another pair of mittens with less of a deadline.
Susi sent me a picture of some new yarn she bought. I think there is talk of a pair of mittens or handwarmers with these beautiful jewel tones. She’ll have to tell us what she decides.
© 2005 – 2015 Kathy Lewinski & Susan Cornish
These are beautiful! They remind me of both Vienna and Hungary