Tuesday 16 June 2009

So very fetching!

In the car on the weekend, I finished off a modified pair of Fetching fingerless mittens from Knitty. Time and again, it's easy to see why these are one of the most popular mitt patterns on the internet. They are cute and they are fast, even when you modify them and make them longer.

Yes, there's only one mitt in this photo. The other hand was taking the photo!

Jo Sharp Fetching

I made these on commission. Sean's workmate has done some nice things for us and as Sean is always talking up my knitting (gotta love that!) so he offered his early morning dog walking friend a pair of Fetching mitts made by me. She suggested colours she was keen to wear and from the stash emerged some ancient Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed.

By ancient I mean, bought in the first flurry of yarn buying from ebay when I started knitting again in 2004. I made a vest from it a long time ago and I hated knitting with it then as much as I did this time.

I really, really don't like this yarn, despite the wool/silk/cashmeriness of it all.

Wouldn't you think that a combination such as this would be a dream to knit with? No. It's stiff as a board. It does not flow through your fingers like the luxury its make up suggests. It's not rough, per se. Just stiff. Its only saving grace is that it looks wonderful.

I perservered because of the look of it and because I knew Sean's friend walks dogs in the brutal Canberra mornings and you don't need delicate wool for that. You need something that's going to go the distance. This'll do that.

For modifcations, I made four repeats of the cable at the base and an extra repeat of the cable at the fingertips. The pattern as written, as has often been said, is fairly short and begs for lengthening. They still only used about 60g of yarn, so not the stash-buster I was hoping for but still, they've washed up nice and Sean's friend will hopefully love them.

Bells