Freedom Mitts and Fine Feathered Friends
Quicky Blog Update Note
Yes, the header is new! I loved the colors of my new fingerless mitts (see below) so much, I took a good close photograph of them, and cropped it down to an appropriate header size. I like it!
Warm Hands Indeed
Knitting Around (in Public) [KA(iP)] last night at Panera was quite productive. I completed the second of the fingerless mitts, and even wore them home for their first action test.
They work! My fingers were warm and comfortable all the way home. I had just enough yarn left in the skein to knit a 20 stitch by 20 row gauge swatch - by my estimate, if I'd wanted I could have gotten about 3/4 of an inch in additional length to each of these mitts.
Look, Ma! I'm a Hand Model!
Gryphon and I popped out to the Rivervew Mill in Wilton to take this picture. There's a dam on the Souhegan River by the mill at this point, and just beyond the dam in this picture, you can see a little cataract coming down the banks into the river.
The next two pictures aren't as good as I'd like. I should have chosen a different fabric for the backdrop - I didn't realize how close it was to the purples in the mitts!
And Now for the Details:
Yarn: Berroco Foliage, Color #5930
Needles: Addi Turbo circulars, size 8 - one 24" and one 40" (because those are the lengths I had in my stash).
Gauge: Stockinette stitch on size 8 needles - 4 stitches and 6 rows to the inch.
Pattern: My own - I call them Freedom Mitts. I made this one up as I went along. I'm going to work it up as a PDF and make it available here real soon, I promise.
Notes: These were a quick and easy knit. Except for a modified buttonhole for the thumb, and a small bit of shaping below the thumbhole, it's a straight 2x2 rib from end to end. The mitts are knit from the top (finger) edge down.
Why Freedom Mitts?
I call them Freedom Mitts because I have the same issue with my hands that I do with my feet - I don't like them being all closed up in fabric, especially my fingers. Ordinary mittens keep the fingers loose, but you can't manipulate anything with the mitten on. Gloves allow the fingers to articulate, but you wind up with a double thickness of knitted material between each and every finger, and I find that very uncomfortable.
This why I wanted to knit fingerless mitts. I looked around the Internet at the multitude of patterns out there, and decided many of them had features I didn't want - like the beginnings of individual sleeves ringing each finger. Or they were made with a yarn I knew too little about to figure out a substitute. Or....well, let's just say that I didn't figure that creating my own pattern would be hard, especially since it could borrow from the skills I've developed at knitting socks.
Two Ribs Merge to One Under the Thumb
I knew I couldn't just create a straight tube and put a slit for the thumb and expect it to work. Our hands get a little bigger where the thumb joins the palm, and the thumbhole needs to accommodate that. So I had to figure out how much extra to add to go around the thumb, and then how to shape with decreases after that. I also discovered a point in the thumbhole creation that was prone to leaving an extra, unwanted hole around the edge, and I worked out how to make that go away.
In actual wear, the mitts are very warm. I did find the Berroco Foliage yarn to be mildly itchy in contact with my skin, but not so bad I can't tolerate them. I've read on someone's blog about washing yarn with Palmolive dishwashing liquid to soften up the wool - I think I'm going to see if that helps. I'll let you know.
Pattern to Come Soon - I Promise, Candace!
And Candace, thanks for your kind words about the mitts in your comment!
I need to spend some time writing out how I made these, then cleaning up the text and putting it in a nice PDF format. I suppose I could charge for the pattern, but you know what - no. It's actually a very simple pattern, and it's not like there's a shortage of other patterns for fingerless mitts out there. So I'll make it available as a free PDF, and I'll create a section on the sidebar of the blog for Patterns.
Stay tuned, I'll let you know when that happens.
Incidental Fun at the Photo Shoot
Fine Feathered Friends
(l. to r.) Sussy-Rose Shields and Pam Nowell
When Gryphon and I popped down to the Riverview Mill to photograph the Freedom Mitts by the river, all the resident artists were busy getting ready for a special Open Studio event tonight. We caught Sussy-Rose, a silversmith and jewelry artist, and Pam Nowell, a pottery artist, trying out some hats from the vintage clothing shop. Personally, I think the pink feathers looked great with Pam's chocolate brown outfit.
Sometimes I wish that fantastic hats like that would come back into style. They made putting an outfit together more than just putting clothes on - it was an art form, creating a look that was capped by a magnificent headpiece.
Yeah, I know....I'm waxing nostalgic for the good old days! The only thing I want to know - why am I always reminiscing and longing for time periods from before I was born?
Yes, the header is new! I loved the colors of my new fingerless mitts (see below) so much, I took a good close photograph of them, and cropped it down to an appropriate header size. I like it!
Warm Hands Indeed
Knitting Around (in Public) [KA(iP)] last night at Panera was quite productive. I completed the second of the fingerless mitts, and even wore them home for their first action test.
They work! My fingers were warm and comfortable all the way home. I had just enough yarn left in the skein to knit a 20 stitch by 20 row gauge swatch - by my estimate, if I'd wanted I could have gotten about 3/4 of an inch in additional length to each of these mitts.
Look, Ma! I'm a Hand Model!
Gryphon and I popped out to the Rivervew Mill in Wilton to take this picture. There's a dam on the Souhegan River by the mill at this point, and just beyond the dam in this picture, you can see a little cataract coming down the banks into the river.
The next two pictures aren't as good as I'd like. I should have chosen a different fabric for the backdrop - I didn't realize how close it was to the purples in the mitts!
And Now for the Details:
Yarn: Berroco Foliage, Color #5930
Needles: Addi Turbo circulars, size 8 - one 24" and one 40" (because those are the lengths I had in my stash).
Gauge: Stockinette stitch on size 8 needles - 4 stitches and 6 rows to the inch.
Pattern: My own - I call them Freedom Mitts. I made this one up as I went along. I'm going to work it up as a PDF and make it available here real soon, I promise.
Notes: These were a quick and easy knit. Except for a modified buttonhole for the thumb, and a small bit of shaping below the thumbhole, it's a straight 2x2 rib from end to end. The mitts are knit from the top (finger) edge down.
Why Freedom Mitts?
I call them Freedom Mitts because I have the same issue with my hands that I do with my feet - I don't like them being all closed up in fabric, especially my fingers. Ordinary mittens keep the fingers loose, but you can't manipulate anything with the mitten on. Gloves allow the fingers to articulate, but you wind up with a double thickness of knitted material between each and every finger, and I find that very uncomfortable.
This why I wanted to knit fingerless mitts. I looked around the Internet at the multitude of patterns out there, and decided many of them had features I didn't want - like the beginnings of individual sleeves ringing each finger. Or they were made with a yarn I knew too little about to figure out a substitute. Or....well, let's just say that I didn't figure that creating my own pattern would be hard, especially since it could borrow from the skills I've developed at knitting socks.
Two Ribs Merge to One Under the Thumb
I knew I couldn't just create a straight tube and put a slit for the thumb and expect it to work. Our hands get a little bigger where the thumb joins the palm, and the thumbhole needs to accommodate that. So I had to figure out how much extra to add to go around the thumb, and then how to shape with decreases after that. I also discovered a point in the thumbhole creation that was prone to leaving an extra, unwanted hole around the edge, and I worked out how to make that go away.
In actual wear, the mitts are very warm. I did find the Berroco Foliage yarn to be mildly itchy in contact with my skin, but not so bad I can't tolerate them. I've read on someone's blog about washing yarn with Palmolive dishwashing liquid to soften up the wool - I think I'm going to see if that helps. I'll let you know.
Pattern to Come Soon - I Promise, Candace!
And Candace, thanks for your kind words about the mitts in your comment!
I need to spend some time writing out how I made these, then cleaning up the text and putting it in a nice PDF format. I suppose I could charge for the pattern, but you know what - no. It's actually a very simple pattern, and it's not like there's a shortage of other patterns for fingerless mitts out there. So I'll make it available as a free PDF, and I'll create a section on the sidebar of the blog for Patterns.
Stay tuned, I'll let you know when that happens.
Incidental Fun at the Photo Shoot
Fine Feathered Friends
(l. to r.) Sussy-Rose Shields and Pam Nowell
When Gryphon and I popped down to the Riverview Mill to photograph the Freedom Mitts by the river, all the resident artists were busy getting ready for a special Open Studio event tonight. We caught Sussy-Rose, a silversmith and jewelry artist, and Pam Nowell, a pottery artist, trying out some hats from the vintage clothing shop. Personally, I think the pink feathers looked great with Pam's chocolate brown outfit.
Sometimes I wish that fantastic hats like that would come back into style. They made putting an outfit together more than just putting clothes on - it was an art form, creating a look that was capped by a magnificent headpiece.
Yeah, I know....I'm waxing nostalgic for the good old days! The only thing I want to know - why am I always reminiscing and longing for time periods from before I was born?
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