Weekday Mittens
"Weekday Mittens" by Ieva Ozolina. Source: Knit Like a Latvian: 50 Knitting Patterns for a Fresh Take on Traditional Latvian Mittens, borrowed from SF public library.
The book is built around a general "recipe" for mittens, to be knitted in stranded colorwork. Individual patterns vary in cuff type, number of stitches, and of course colorwork pattern chart. I chose the Weekday pattern for its simplicity, as a good first colorwork project. There are only three distinct pattern rows to remember once you are past the cuff, and only two colors meaning no more than two strands of yarn to manage.
Basic mitten recipe is a straight tube (no tapering or ribbing at cuff, no gusset for thumb), forethought thumb (mark the spot in scrap yarn, then pick up stitches later), and paired decreases at tip of thumb and hand giving a pointy shape.
Mystery wool from a thrift store sweater that I unravelled many years ago. Appears to be woolen spun, with a pair of two-ply strands held together but not twisted in turn. A bit "sticky", clearly not superwash. Color is a light beige with some reddish strands giving a heathered effect; for contrast, I dyed some of it with indigo.
Knitted in the round on a set of five US 2 (2.75mm) bamboo DPNs because that's what I had.
"Knitting on" cast-on, with picot folded hem. My cuffs flared dramatically and I don't know why.
Decreases were difficult, often felt like a needle was about to break. The book advised against wood/bamboo, and it was right. For my next project (the Stepping Stone Socks) I bought an aluminum set.
The thumbs seemed too short in proportion, so I went back and added one more pattern repeat there.
Back strand of yarn tended to be tight at transition between needles, making mittens tighter than expected for their size. When they are turned inside out, this is visible as a groove.
I did not dye enough contrast yarn at first, so had to do a second batch later. It did not match, whether it is because I got impatient, or the dye itself was weaker. I had dyed half a pound of brushed mohair yarn in the meantime, which was very rough on my vat. Both thumbs, and the tip of one mitten, are a bit lighter than the rest. There is also one row on one cuff where I mistakenly did several stitches in background color.
Excess indigo kept rubbing off on my hands, and the needles seem to be permanently greenish. On the plus side, now I can instantly tell the size 2 set from the size 3. Next time I will wash my indigo yarn more aggressively before using, as I did not have any issues with felting so far.
Gauge is the only simple way to change the size of overall colorwork pieces. Since I wanted to use this specific stash yarn, and my size 1 DPNs would have broken under the strain, I followed the pattern and got very large mittens that do not fit me, even after lightly fulling in hot soapy water. That is OK: they will fit someone. Next time, finer yarn and size 0 needles, but I'll want to finish a few projects before getting more equipment.
The second strand of yarn carried on the back of the work will make these very warm.
