Rootling around in my winter woollies; I realised that I had never devoted a post before now to these mittens.
I knitted them yonks ago: probably when the children were really tiny, and probably using leftovers from one or another of my hand-knitted fair isle cardigans and jumpers that I was very keen on making at the time, and which have mostly appeared on this blog already. The yarn is Patons 8ply, my yarn of choice for years and years and years because it came in a gloriously huge range of colours, tailor-made for lovers of fair isle knitting, and which sadly seems to be no more.
I have no memory of the pattern I used, but it is obviously a Scandinavian design, no? (Later edit; Lydert advised that it is likely a true Fair Isle design from Scotland… thank you Lydert!)
I still love to wear them on really frosty mornings, that is; as long as the finer motor skills are not required 🙂
Each row has two strands of yarn, one carried behind the other, to form the colourful fair isle pattern. The backs of the hands are still looking quite presentable, but unfortunately the palms are a bit fluffy now through wear. But I think they still have a good many years left in them! I think I will try to make for myself a new adapted pattern based on these, because just now I have noticed that the area around the base of the thumb is just a tad too tight across my hand. I think the tightness is a minor detail that never bothered me before. When I was a wee young strapping thing I was very accepting of minor discomforts in my handmade clothing and it is only as I have got more, er, mature (haha) that I have become more picky and fussy about The Perfect Fit.
Will keep you posted on the progress of that pattern…
Details:
Mittens; knitted by me, using Patons 8ply merino
Jumper; knitted by me to my own design, using Jo Sharp’s Aran Tweed, details here
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified, black stretch corduroy, details here
Socks; handknit by me, details here
Ugg boots
I was highly flattered when Carole and Gilly both asked how I manage my sewing time, and even what was my schedule for weekly sewing… thank you so much for the interest ladies!
My “schedule” is a very NON-scheduled kind of a schedule, really. A Clayton’s schedule. The schedule you have when you’re not having a schedule, y’know 😀 That’s another antipodean-ism there btw…
Lately I am trying a new tack; to limit myself to just one project a week, and no more. I figure; forcing myself to slow down means naturally paying plenty of attention to the finer details and finishing things off properly. I’m not doing toooo bad about sticking to that one 🙂 but (blush) I do still have three more finished things to show here, just awaiting me taking some photographs and sitting down to write something coherent about them. Often this bit takes me longer than the sewing bit 🙂
I don’t sew every day, but often if I am idly passing my laundry door I’m suddenly possessed and propelled by some mad demonic force beyond my control, over to the sewing machine, picking up whatever is on the go and doing a little bit. Sometimes that little bit turns into a lot, as the sewing demon evilly tempts me to put off whatever it is I should be doing, just to do a little bit more sewing. Oh, I’ll just put in this zip, or oh, I’ll just finish off this pocket, or whatever. Oh, I really should walk away right now and NOT apply that iron-on interfacing to the collar… oh woops, look I just did. Now I really just have to sew it together now, darnit…
Other times I might have just put on a load of washing and suddenly woosh! I awake from a trance to find myself sitting at my sewing machine, doing just some little thing more. The sewing demon is powerful, I tell you. Cunning too.
It gets particularly malevolent when I am all enthused and excited about a new project. I will be super-restless about getting on with it, and obsessively think about it every moment I am not right there with it, working on it. My raincoat was one of those projects; I worked on it solidly for several days. feverishly plotting over the minutiae of the construction details and the best possible order it should all go together.
Until it was finished. Then I am at peace and the demon is appeased.
This house is clean.
well, momentarily anyway…. mwahahaha 😉
