It's the First Sign of Spring
The air is getting warmer. The crocuses are poking up through the chilly earth. The swallows are returning to San Juan Capistrano. The buzzards are returning to Hinckley. The Lapland Mittens are drying on the radiator.
That's right, I actually finished them, just in time for sixty-degree weather. Truthfully, I'm not much of a mitten wearer. These were really knit for the experience. But I will wear them, or I'd have stopped after finishing the first one. Last year we had a massive snowstorm in April, so I'm not giving up hope of wearing these in public before November.Pattern: Mittens from Lapland by Marcia Lewandowski, in Folk Mittens
Yarn: Cascade 220 colors 8892 (teal), 9341 (garnet) and 8010 (natural), one skein of each with a generous amount left over (maybe a third of a skein?)
Needles: Inox 40 inch circular in 3.5 mm size
Modifications: Used Magic Loop method; took out a few rows at the tops of the mittens and thumbs to adjust the length.
Things I Learned: Plaited edging; stranded colorwork.
Other Thoughts: After the first (left) mitten, I was more consistent in my stranding and picking up the dominant color from under the resting yarn. As a consequence, the right mitten looks much nicer, although I think only a knitter would really notice the difference. The pattern does not specify a row gauge, but it probably should. I realized as I neared the top of the first mitten that it would be too long if I knit all the charted rows. So I took a few out, and it fits just right. These actually could have been knit in a few days if I were not such a project polygamist; I spent much less time knitting these than you might think. It was a fun project, though the next time I make similar mittens, I think I may stick with a two-color pattern. My sister who lives in Minnesota could use a pair like these!Thanks everyone for all the nice comments wishing me better health! It was very cheering. I am feeling a lot better and I'm hoping the whole thing will be resolved soon. After all, it's only Nine Days 'til Coldplay!
posted by Laura at 8:50 AM
25 Comments:
What beautiful mittens! You did a wonderful job! Isn't it fun learning new skills and expanding out knitting ablities!? I'm sure you'll have at least one more cold day to wear them out, I'll cross my fingers for you;o)
So lovely! I keep trying colorwork and giving up in frustration!!!
Fantastic job, Laura. I like the color combination a lot. I used to not think I was a mitten person, then I made myself a few pairs, and now I'm hooked.
You did a great job on those mittens! The colors look great.
Beautiful mittens! This technique is definitely on my to do list!
Coldplay!! Lucky. The tickets here sold out instantly. :(
Nice mittens too. I'm dying to do some more colorwork.
What lovely mittens. Nicely knit, Laura! Glad to hear you got the hang of colorwork. That's still a "to do" for me.
Glad you're feeling better!
I had to laugh about the buzzards returning to Hinckley. :)
The mittens are gorgeous. I'm suprised the weather is as nice as it's been lately. I went outsided without a coat on today, in March! There's something not normal there. Knowing Ohio, we'll probably have another snow storm. Hopefully you'll get a chance to wear them.
Great job on the mittens, Laura! They really look great. I'd like to ski one more time this year, so I'll be hoping with you for one more midwest snow dump. Those colors work very well together.
i am glad you are feeling better! my sister has had lots of "female troubles" and finally had to "git rid of" the parts.... I hope thats not in the near future for you :( i love those mittens and yes the march is here and the weather is changing fast!
They are beautiful! You must be so proud of them! Glad to hear you are feeling better :o)
They look great - I love the color combo!
Your mittens are GORGEOUS!! The color combination and the design are really stunning together. They almost look too pretty to wear! But if I can wear a cardi in 70 degree weather, I'm sure the mittens will be right at home in 60 degree weather, LOL! I definitely would like to give colorwork a whirl sometime later this year. The technique produces such beautiful products, but I'm a 'fraidy cat. Baby steps for me right now. ;-) I'm so glad to hear you're feeling better... take good care and have a great weekend, Miss L! :-)
The mittens look great! And, really, mittens drying on the radiator sounds like a good sign of Spring to me . . .
Great job Laura! Those are beautiful. I think the colors are lovely together.
Gorgeous - those turned out really lovely! Have fun at the concert :)
meg (inchbyinch.blog-city.com)
Just fantastic! The colours are beautiful together and it looks like you did a very neat job with the stranding. Great job. Good luck for some snow to come (hard to wish this one fairþminded ;-)) and lots of fun with Coldplay!
They're so beautiful! I have mitten lust now (and it's in the upper 80s here in austin today). Hope you're feeling better, sweetheart!
wooooow those are pretty!!! nice job on the fair isle.. i abandoned a fair isle mitten project a couple months ago, and now it's high 70's here... oh well, maybe next year!
Awesome mittens. And COLDPLAY!!!!!!!! That is SO exciting.
i am so impressed! they are beautiful.
Your sister could certainly use mittens like this, we got a foot of snow here yesterday. They are gorgeous. It makes me want to try some.
WOW. seriously... WOW! Those look really, really great!!!!!!
Those are so pretty! I'm totally impressed. Just in time for spring, huh? Oh, well - I have plenty of eye-candy knitting that only gets pulled out when I want to show off and never actually gets worn...
oh, i'm a little late on the posting, but these are amazing mittens! i would hate to wish extended cold weather on anyone, but maybe (just maybe) one last snowfall, just so the mittens can experience a good, tightly packed snowball?
glad to hear you're feeling better...
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