08 February 2011

February Fingerless Mitts

The mitts I'm doing for the February fingerless mitts KAL aren't going very well.  The theme that was chosen (we voted) was "colourwork," and then we could each choose our own colourwork pattern.  I chose to do the Endpaper Mitts.  In a swap several years ago, my friend Rebecca gave me this pattern along with appropriate yarn for completing the project because I had mentioned in my swap questionnaire that I was interested in learning how to do colourwork.

Since then, I've done exactly colourwork project, but I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out.  The floats were just a tad too tight.  They weren't so tight as to render the project unwearable, but they were tight enough that I was dissatisfied, and I was scared to try another project lest I have the same result or a worse one.  What if I spent all that time (and yarn!) on a project only to have an unwearable project?

So, now, here am I, years later, finally casting on that colourwork project.  I dutifully started on the first day of February.  Now, a week later, how far have I gotten?

Thirteen rows of 1x1 ribbing.  And each row has only 56 stitches.  This bronchitis is kicking my ass but good.

3 comments:

  1. Ahhh! Hang in there. I was not happy with my first colorwork mitts either. My non-knitting friends thought they were great, but I hated them. My second pair...for the KAL is going great though! Here's to second tries!

    Also I learned a tip on a stranding board...blocking helps smooth out the stitches! I knew blocking worked wonders for lace but I didn't know it could help colorwork. So I blocked the hated mitt (there is only one since I hated it) and wow! It did help. I even started the matching mitt (but put it on hold for the KAL..shhh, don't tell!)

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  2. A great way to do colorwork is inside out. Simpler than it sounds. You still work on the public side of the knitting, but on the inside of the tube. This makes the floats stretch further on the outside.
    (good photos here http://cmeknit.blogspot.com/2005/11/still-trying-to-fair-isle.html)

    Also using wooden or bamboo needles works SO MUCH better than metal or other slick material needles.

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  3. What Diana said!! That's how I do my Mini-socks. If you want I'll see if I can start one and get to the colorwork section and show you what she means by inside out.

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