Maplewood

I knew that if I waited long enough, it would be mitten season again.



These mittens are the first cousins of these ones; I even used the same yarn, Cotswold wool from Lange's Rock Farm in Nova Scotia. Their namesake is the community where the quarry is.

They have wide and cozy garter stitch cuffs and a chevron pattern over the back of the hand, with a single garter stitch at each side. The palms and thumbs are kept in stockinette for fast and easy knitting. For best effect, choose a crisp worsted-weight wool yarn.



I think the exaggerated picots that edge the cuff give these mittens a very faintly feminine air. (I also think that using "delicate" techniques with hearty, sturdy yarn is hilarious, like an elephant in a tutu. Anyway.) They could just as easily be omitted; if you don't want picot edging, just CO 40 sts using whatever method you prefer.

Gauge

20 stitches and 30 rounds = 4" in stockinette

Finished size

8" in diameter, and 11" from cuff to tip

Skills required

• casting on with the cable and backwards loop methods
• knitting and purling
• increasing with m1
• decreasing with k2tog, ssk, and sk2p
• knitting in the round
• picking up and knitting stitches
• binding off

Yarn and notions

• Lange's Rock Farm Cotswold Wool (100% Cotswold wool; 200m per 4oz skein); 1 skein in cream
• set of 5 US #6/4mm double-pointed needles
• scrap of yarn or stitch holder
• stitch markers
• tapestry needle

Charts and written directions

A key to the charts:



Hand



Round 1: P1, k3, p1, k1, p1, k3, p1, k3, p1, k1, p1, k3, p1.
Round 2: K3, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k3.
Round 3: P1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1.
Round 4: K1, p1, k3, p1, k3, p1, k1, p1, k3, p1, k3, p1, k1.
Repeat rounds 1-4 for patt.

Tip



Round 1: P1, ssk, k1, p1, k1, p1, k3, p1, k3, p1, k1, p1, k1, k2tog, p1.
Round 2: K2, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2.
Round 3: P1, ssk, k4, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k4, k2tog, p1.
Round 4: K3, p1, k3, p1, k1, p1, k3, p1, k3.
Round 5: P1, ssk, k1, p1, k3, p1, k3, p1, k1, k2tog, p1.
Round 6: K2, p1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1, k2.
Round 7: P1, ssk, k2, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2, k2tog, p1.
Round 8: K5, p1, k1, p1, k3, p1, k1.
Round 9: P1, ssk, k3, p1, k3, k2tog, p1.
Round 10: K2, p1, k5, p1, k2.
Round 11: P1, ssk, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2tog, p1.
Round 12: K3, p1, k1, p1, k3.
Round 13: P1, ssk, k1, p1, k1, k2tog, p1.
Round 14: K7.
Round 15: P1, ssk, p1, k2tog, p1.
Round 16: K5.
Round 17: P1, sk2p, p1.

Right mitten

Cuff

(CO 5 sts using the cable cast-on method, BO 2 sts, transfer stitch on right needle back to left needle) 13 times, CO 1 st. 40 sts cast on.
Turn work so that wrong side of CO is facing—this will become the right side of the work. Divide sts between needles for working in the round, and join. Mark or note beginning of round.
Next round: K.
Next round: P.
Repeat previous two rounds 12 more times, then knit one additional round.
Next round: Work Hand patt over first 21 sts of round; k remaining 19 sts.
Continue as established until one 4-round repeat of Hand patt has been worked.

Thumb Gusset

Next round: Work across back of hand in established patt, k1, place marker, m1, k1, m1, place marker, k to end of round.
Next round: Work across back of hand in patt, k to end of round.
Next round: Work across back of hand in patt, k to end of round.
Next round: Work across back of hand in patt, k1, slip marker, m1, k to next marker, m1, slip marker, k to end of round. 2 sts increased.

Repeat previous 3 rounds until there are 13 sts between the gusset markers. Work two more rounds even, without increases.
Next round: Work across first 21 sts in patt, k1, remove marker, slip next 13 sts to a holder or scrap of yarn, remove second marker, CO 1 st using the backwards loop method, k to end of round.

Hand

Next round: Work across first 21 sts in established patt, k to end of round.
Continue as established until the mitten is just long enough to cover the tip of the recipient's little finger. End on round 4 of patt.
Next round: Work Tip patt over the back of the hand; ssk, k to last 2 sts of round, k2tog.
Next round: Work Tip patt over the back of the hand; k to end of round.
Repeat the previous 2 rounds until every round but the last of Tip patt are completed, and 8 sts remain.
Next round: Work round 17 of Tip patt, sk2p. 4 sts remain.
Break yarn, thread it through the remaining sts, pull it tight, and fasten off.

Thumb

Transfer held thumb sts to needles. Attach yarn and k across these 13 sts, then pick up and k 3 sts across the edge of the hand—16 sts.
Next round: K to last 3 sts, sk2p. 14 sts remain.
K every round until the thumb is the desired finished length.
Next round: (K1, k2tog) to last 2 sts, k2.
Next round: K2tog around.
Break yarn, thread it through the remaining sts, pull it tight, and fasten off.

Left mitten

Work Cuff section as for right mitten.

Thumb Gusset

Next round: Work across first 21 sts in established patt, k to last 2 sts of round, place marker, m1, k1, m1, place marker, k1.
Next round: Work across first 21 sts in patt, k to end of round.
Next round: Work across first 21 sts in patt, k to end of round.
Work across first 21 sts in patt, k to first marker, slip marker, m1, k to next marker, m1, slip marker, k1. 2 sts increased.

Repeat previous three rounds until there are 13 sts between the gusset markers. Work two more rounds even, without increases.
Next round: Work across first 21 sts in patt, k to first gusset marker, remove marker, slip next 13 sts to a holder or scrap of yarn, remove second marker, CO 1 st using the backwards loop method, k1.

Complete as for right mitten.

Finishing

Weave in all ends, but don't cut them off yet. Use the end at the base of each thumb to mend any holes in this area if necessary. Block mittens by soaking them in lukewarm water, squeezing out excess water in a towel, and laying flat to dry. When mittens are completely dry, cut off the woven-in ends.

Newness

A new pattern:



Yellow isn't my colour. Or wasn't. The swirly greeny gold yarn that Sharon from Three Irish Girls sent me for knitting a sample was a revelation and a game-changer; it makes me think of old jewellery or battered ornaments inside weathered churches. I want to knit everything out of it.

(And I just might: wouldn't it be awesome to have, like, elbow-length gloves in that colour, knitted at a tight gauge, with travelling twisted stitches and cables? Like embossed patterns decorating something golden? I suppose not everyone wants to look like they're made of metal, but I have a thing for robots. Gold robots.)

The result was this scarf, which you can get exclusively from Three Irish Girls. It's a $3.95 download.

The yarn, McClellan Fingering, is a soft and silky merino/nylon/bamboo rayon blend that drapes and drapes. When I was knitting the scarf I kicked myself a lot for having come up with a little project idea, instead of one that involved oceans of that fabric to drape around my body, like a swingy wrap cardigan or a giant shawl, i.e. excuse to knit a sheet of lace. I also didn't like rayon much until laying hands on this yarn, so thanks, Sharon, for broadening my interests. Now there's even more yarn out in the world that I Must Have.

I also recommend that you look through the entire catalogue, because there are some delectable colours in there. They did a great job of purples in particular.

Small treasures

Thanks for your kind words; internet; the funeral was very sad but it was good to see my far-flung family gathered together in one place again, and it was nice to remember all the excellent things about my late grandfather.

While I was home I stayed at my grandmother's house, which is full of interesting old treasures. My aunt sent me home with these:



It is three and a half pairs of white stockings from 1873 or thereabouts. They all bear the names or initials of their owners at the top of the calf immediately underneath the lace or cabled cuff. Some are elaborately beaded words:



While others are garter-stitched initials that all but disappear against their stockinette background:



I'm certain that some of them were knitted by machine, but these ones, at least, appear to have been reknitted by hand from the ankle at some point in their lives:



And this pair, marked 1873, bears the telltale minor unevenness of having been handknitted with a mixed bag of needles in different sizes:



The garter-initialled one, a single sock, is worked at a much looser gauge than the others, so I suspect that it was also knitted by hand.

There's really very little to reverse-engineer here. All of the patterns are very straightforward. The stockings are more or less identical to one another except for their band at the top; they all have one stitch kept in garter at the back of the leg around which the decreases are oriented; they all have spiralling decreases for the toe. They also all have a tiny ribbon stitched into the inside, so that the pairs can be tied up together and no stocking gets separated from its mate, except for the poor garter-initialled singleton.

My favourite thing about them is that they all fit me, which came as a bit of a surprise; the cotton fabric is not stretchy and they look very narrow when they're laid out flat. But they fit me like I had knitted them for myself.

Triumph

I am finally victorious over all of my gloves.

1:



Guardian Gloves have an elaborate stranded colourwork pattern that is a bit fiddly to work—three colours at once, you know. The remaining two colours are added with duplicate stitch after the knitting is finished. These take a long time to knit, as gloves go, but I think you'll find them worthwhile as soon as you put them on. I was moved to cackle madly with glee. It's great to have brightly-coloured hands!

The pattern is available on ravelry for $5.50 CAD, and eventually will be available from Knit Picks, where you could get it together with its yarn. I used Palette in five colours: Jay, Safflower, Sweet Potato, Pimento, and Clover. Most of a skein of Jay, about half a skein of Sweet Potato, a third of a skein of Safflower, and only oddments of the last two.

2:



Lily is a more subdued glove for occasions where bright colours would be out of place, perhaps. I think they look like something out of the 1920s, long and lean. The cuffs are worked side-to-side in garter stitch, though, so there's a lot of stretch concealed in there—this is the glove analogue of the automatic calf shaping I was so excited about in the Solstice Stockings.

Any light fingering-weight yarn will work, I think, but I used laceweight held double to make a thinner fabric. Two skeins of Alpaca Cloud will do it, or around 800m/100g of something else. This pattern is also $5.50 CAD on ravelry and also is eventually bound for Knit Picks.

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I've had a pretty sad week; my grandfather had a stroke and passed away a couple of days later, which was yesterday morning, and so I've been planning a visit home for the funeral. Too scatterbrained to knit anything complicated or thoughtful, too tired to sit upright and spin, too bleary-eyed to squint at a pattern.

So I started a pair of plain toe-up socks for the trip. I have two skeins of Louet sportweight superwash merino in a sort of blueish red, and am going to knit them until I run out of yarn (this is the "mindless" part of my scheme), which means probably knee socks or taller. Endless stockinette has near-magical soothing powers.