You had me at mittens

Posted on December 3, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

It’s that time of year again, when the temperature drops and I start composing my annual mitten post. Below is a selection of the patterns for mittens, mitts and gloves that have caught my eye this season. I hope they tickle your inner knitter’s fancy. (If you are in the southern hemisphere, it gives you lots of time to prepare for your winter while knitting small things in the heat.)

Expo 67 Mittens by Espace Tricot

I love this pattern, which combines bold colour with an architectural feel. The latter is not surprising as the pattern is based on the architecture of the 1967 Montreal Exposition. Each time I look at them, my brain starts trying out colour combinations. I think I may need to knit more than one pair. And, since they are knitted with DK weight yarn, they should be pretty quick. There is also a matching hat pattern, and a cowl as well, if you are into the matchy-match look.

Snow Treasure Gloves by Mary Jane Mucklestone

This pattern can be found in the new book, Grand Shetland Adventure Knits, which Mary Jane has co-written with Gudrun Johnston. I try not to include too many patterns here which can’t be individually purchased, but if you like these, you might want to check out the other patterns in the book (my favourite is this stand-out vest, also by Mary Jane). I really love how these blues work against the red background, and also the juxtaposition of the three patterns (from the cuffs, the outside, and the inside of the hands). It makes for a really pleasing glove.

Pico Mitts by Belén Fernández

There is something so satisfying about these mitts. They have great lines, and the contrast of the rich earthy green and the pale lavender really works for me. This pattern also has a matching hat, and as you can see, they look smashing together. If you are looking for a mitt with a clean line, these may be for you.

Constellate Mitts by Hunter Hammersen

The first thing you notice here is the pretty stitch pattern in which the yellow pops against the background like fireworks. But then, the eye is drawn to the way that the increases are worked in the opposite direction of the thumb; taking a simple gusset and turning it on its head (or, in this case, its hand). It is so clever. I am really drawn to clever. You can make these in a single colour, but for me there is joy in the splash of yellow.

Sankta Lucia Mitts by Maria Björnståhl

Every once in a while, you need a bit of whimsy. I think these are adorable. In Sweden, the Feast of Saint Lucy (Sankta Lucia) is on the 13th of December; there is a procession and traditional foods and songs. Sankta Lucia wears a white dress and a crown of lighted candles. I love the expression on her face in these sweet mittens and the pretty yellow-topped candles.

Tak Six Kloos by Hazel Tindall

I do like clever, and these mitts are a very clever experiment. The description on Ravelry says; “Hazel has taken six colours to see how many handwarmers she could knit from the same pattern, using the colours differently each time.” Such a simple concept, and I imagine, a lot of fun to experiment with. “Tak” means take and “kloo” is a ball of yarn in Shetland dialect. You know you want to do it: how many different variations of the same six colours can you knit?

Bevel Mitts by Emily Greene

In this colour, these look more like spring mitts than winter ones, but they are sure to be cozy. I really like mittens knitted with twisted ribbing; they hold their shape well and hug your hands. Plus, the twisted stitches can be a lovely fabric for cables to jump and dance across.

Green Blue Lithuania Mittens by Donna Druchanas

Donna’s patterns always catch my eye. She uses traditional motifs and techniques and makes them feel fresh. I love the contrast between the cabled cuffs, the pretty star-like motif, and the checkerboard pattern. They work together really well. I also love the way that the motif fits so perfectly into the triangle at the top of the mitt; it has a very nice geometry. Like some of the other patterns here, there is a matching hat as well.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration. Mittens make a nice gift (for yourself as well!) and are fun to knit. If you want to check out my previous mitten posts, here are the links!

Merry Mittenmas! (2014)

A dozen great patterns for fingerless mitts (2015)

Mittens! (2015)

To gusset or not to gusset (2016)

It’s mitten time again (2017)

A show of hands (2018)

Warm hands, warm heart (2019)

Mittens redux (2020)

My mitten post for 2021 (2021)

Mittens galore! (2022)

Enjoy!

Strawberry out of season

Posted on November 18, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

I braved a cold and windy day to take some photos of my newest top – once again, a summer top in time for winter. This is the Anker Tee designed by PetiteKnit.

I usually fall for a pattern and then search for the right yarn. In this case the yarn – Isager Trio 2 – came first. I was intrigued by the yarn content – 50% linen/flax, 30% cotton, 20% Tencel/Lyocell. The last is a fibre derived from trees, so essentially paper. I wanted to know how it would behave. I thought it would have a good drape and that the fabric would breathe. I thought that having a bit of paper fibre blended with linen sounded cool. All of this was intriguing enough to consider it, but the thing that really sold me was this gorgeous red shade, aptly called Strawberry.

I cast on for a size 5, to give zero ease. But I decided pretty quickly that the yarn was stretchy and what I really wanted was something between a size 4 and 5 to create a bit of negative ease. My row gauge was a bit off too, and I managed to fix both of these issues by making fewer sets of raglan increases. Basically, I cast on the number of stitches for size 5, followed the instructions for making the bands of ribbing with the associated increases, and then ignored the rest of the instructions and just knit it to suit me. I do this frequently with top-down knits – once I get the yoke in, the rest is usually organic and I just improvise.

I didn’t take notes, so I am not sure exactly what I did. I did put in a couple sets of waist decreases and corresponding hip increases. I ended up with about 2 inches of negative ease. The yoke pattern is lovely; it’s a really clever design, and it seems to suit nearly every body type.

I gave it a good soak, poured a cup of white spirit vinegar in the rinse water to stop the colour bleeding, rolled it in a towel to soak up excess water and then laid it out on a towel to dry. I didn’t need to pin it to shape, as the size was perfect as is and it came out of the bath looking just right. The ribbing, especially in this blended yarn, looked a bit wonky before the bath, but really smoothed out after a good soak.

I like this one a lot. I am a bit worried that the yarn may stretch with use, but I am going to be optimistic until proven otherwise. I think it is a nice summer tee, but also a great work tee to wear under a jacket. And, yes, it is definitely my colour. It is indeed a scrumptious strawberry, even out of season.

A rocky start

Posted on November 12, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

My blog posts are fewer and farther between this year, but knitting continues. I have just finished my Anker tee, but you will have to wait to see a modelled shot, because it has just been enjoying its spa bath and is now taking its time to dry. Here is a sneak peek:

In the meantime, I have been working on the piping hot sweater. This pattern by Lily Kate really appeals to me with its clean lines and bold piping.

This is the first time I have used one of Lily Kate’s patterns. I am very impressed with how well it is written and at the way she lays the pattern out. It is well illustrated and explanatory, and contains all of the necessary bits that make a good pattern, like detailed schematics. So, I want to be clear that my rocky start is not due to any fault in the pattern, but rather to me. Specifically, in my continued post-Covid state, I find it difficult to focus on patterns, to cast on new things, and to fight through fatigue. The construction of this pullover is genius, but it does take some concentration. It starts like this:

The next bit involves picking up stitches along the shoulders and casting on for the back neck. I made the mistake of trying to follow the directions precisely. You see, I am left-handed, and although this doesn’t usually get in my way, I am completely incapable of picking up stitches along a border from right to left. I must pick them up with my left hand, from left to right, and I don’t “pick up and knit” but rather “pick up without knitting” which means that my first row after picking up stitches is a knit row and not a purl row. Now, I have been knitting for over 50 years, so I have over time learned to fudge instructions liberally where stitches need to be picked up in order to compensate for this. I have a bunch of strategies developed over time by trial and error to get things to work for me. Here, I was too fatigued to do that, and attempted to pick up the stitches as written with my right hand. Big mistake.

I ended up with a huge mess, and had to rip everything out multiple times and try again, and again, and again. I may have accompanied this with some yelling and screaming about my general knitting incompetence. I think I spent 2 hours on that one row. It was chaos.

And then, without fanfare, the chaos settled down and the back of the garment began to emerge:

This is what it looks like this morning (I have pinned it out so you can see the lovely shaping):

Crisis averted. Now that I’ve put the rocky start behind me, this is totally fun to kint, and the yarn (Di Gilpin Lalland DK) is fantastic.

Despite its effect on my knitting focus, I am steadily recovering. I still have pockets of fatigue and brain fog and those seem to have a disproportionate affect on my knitting because I tend to knit at the end of the day, when these are maximised. In fact, I am immersed in a new creative project (of the non-knitting variety) which is both fulfilling and challenging. In time, I will report on that here. Happy Sunday, everyone.

Provenance of a Norwegian pullover

Posted on October 28, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

A few weeks ago, I was in Copenhagen. As always, I found time to spend with my friend, Erun. We had plans to go out for dinner, but after a long day of teaching I was tired and she volunteered to cook. When I showed up at her house, this was casually draped on the table:

“I thought you might like to see this pullover, Kelly”, she said. “It was knitted by my great grandmother.”

Long-time readers of this blog will know that this is my catnip – I love beautiful knitting that survives the decades, lovingly worn and cared for by generations of knit-worthy recipients. My grandmother was a knitter, and my mother, although no longer wielding her needles, is a great knitter and even better seamstress. I wrote about some of their beautiful pieces in the three blog posts called Retrospective Knits, from 2012, which you can find here, here, and here.

Erun’s mother, Liv, is also a fantastic knitter and I have written before in these pages about her knitting (see this post for an unbelievably beautiful version of a Norwegian classic). But this sweater was actually knitted for Liv by her grandmother. How wonderful! Do you think I tried it on?

Isn’t this amazing! (When I sent this photo to Doug and the girls, they insisted I needed to recreate this sweater, exactly, for myself…and for them.)

Erun’s great-grandmother Grethe (Margrethe Marie Jørgensen Glad) was born in Tved, Ebeltoft, Denmark, on December 19th, 1907. She was one of 14 siblings. When she was 17, she emigrated to Arendal, Norway, where her brother lived and worked as a fisherman, so that she might earn a living. She married the cousin of her sister-in-law, a man named (Sverre) Normann Tjøstolvsen. (Erun says: “everyone called him Normann, which simply means “Norwegian” or possibly “Nordic”.) The photo below shows Grethe and Normann, holding their great granddaughter Erun.

Grethe knitted a lot. Erun also remembers her amazing garden filled with flowers and large family dinners at her house, where she lived and managed on her own until she was around 90. It was sometime around 1970-1973 that Grethe knitted this pullover for Liv. I wonder if Grethe could imagine that someday her great grand-daughter would be wearing it too! (My guess is, yes; they knitted them to last in those days!) Here is a photo of Erun wearing it in 2013 on holiday in Lofoten:

I love this photo so much! Everything about it is beautiful – Erun, the sweater, the view, the framing, the bright red shawl!

Liv tells us that this pullover was knitted with a now-discontinued yarn called Triplex. Apparently there were extensive protests in the knitting community when Triplex and Perlekrepp (“pearl-crepe”) were discontinued in the 80s. There is even a still-existing FB group (with over 700 members) demanding that Sandnes should restart the production of these yarns. The yarn is 100% wool and you can see it has great stitch definition and no pills, despite being over 50 years old. Here is a photo of the reverse side for all of you other knitting fanatics out there (you were hoping I remembered to take one, weren’t you?)

I really enjoy recording the provenance of hand knits. My enthusiasm apparently triggered lots of memories and family discussions. Erun tells me that she even called her mother’s uncle, Grete’s son, to chat with him about his mother and her knitting. He has just turned 90. I love to be an enabler of multi-generational knitting recollection.

Now, in addition to posts about my knitting, my mother’s knitting, my grandmother’s knitting, and Erun’s mother’s knitting, I am thrilled to add this post about Erun’s great-grandmother’s knitting. Liv and Erun – thanks for sharing your memories of this wonderful pullover with me and allowing me to share them here!

Impulse buy

Posted on October 8, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

I am not usually the impulse buy type (at least, not anymore). Especially since the pandemic, when I no longer find myself in yarn shops and can’t argue that some skeins of yarn magically popped off of the shelves into my arms. When you order yarn on-line there is something a bit more deliberate about it, and this means that I often manage to talk myself out of pushing the purchase button. I spend an awful lot of time doing my research before buying.

So, I surprised myself recently when I saw a new design in my feed, liked it, and within five minutes had made a purchase. The design is called piping hot sweater, by Lily Kate:

I can’t tell whether it was the sweater itself, or that piping hot piping in pink on flame red that made me snap it up. Probably both; I bought the yarn in the exact same shades. Aren’t they gorgeous?

The yarn is Lalland DK by Di Gilpin in the shades Flame and Sea Thrift. It really glows. In fact, it is positively eye-popping. I piled the balls in a big bowl and put them on the table, like a bouquet of flowers, and I smile every time I see them.

In the meantime, I am knitting away on one more summer-y sweater before the cold sets in (a bit late but nonetheless). This one is also the result of an impulse purchase. It is knitted with Isager Trio2 in the shade Strawberry, and the colour lives up to its name: it really looks like a luscious basket of strawberries.

I saw a project on Ravelry that had been knitted in this yarn in this shade, and decided right away I needed to purchase some. It was indeed an impulse buy, as I bought it without a project in mind and then it took me a month or so to decide which pattern to knit.

This is the Anker Tee pattern by PetiteKnit. I think the fit is going to be good. The yarn is a blend of 50% linen, 30% cotton, and 20% lyocell (paper). How cool is that? I am really looking forward to seeing how it washes and wears.

Speaking of impulse buys:

Emma decided she missed us and impulsively bought air tickets. She arrived this morning!

Joy in simple things

Posted on September 24, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

I finished a new project a few weeks ago, but haven’t been able to show it to you, because I have been very busy (1) working, (2) travelling, and (3) working while travelling. In the month since I last posted (which is the longest break I’ve had in 13 years of blogging!) I’ve been sailing along the lake in Geneva, strolling around medieval French and Swiss villages, overseeing the busy start of a new semester, researching and writing, and teaching MBA workshops in Johannesburg. It’s been hectic. Despite all of that, I managed to finish knitting Dune:

If you recall, in an earlier post I remarked that this was an incredibly boring knit: a tiny bit of shaping at the shoulders and then endless rounds of stockinette at a very small gauge. I am still in that post-covid state, alas, where boring is better where knitting is concerned. And, as you can see, while the knitting itself is boring, the finished project is rather nice:

Dune is designed by eri shimizu; the pattern is called Dune and Foresta, where Dune is the cap-sleeved version and Foresta has long sleeves. This is the second of her patterns which I have knitted; the first was Flores, which I blogged about here. In both of them, I ended up cutting out significant amounts of ease. (If you look at this post, you can see a false start I made with this project, in which the garment would have been voluminous with a capital V; I ripped back and got rid of 4 sets of increases totalling 32 stitches. I think I ended up with a nice amount of ease – it is still roomy enough to feel cool on a hot day, but not so much that I am swimming in it.

While exceedingly simple, the pattern has some nice details, first in the small eyelet increases at the shoulder and the shaping along the clavicle:

It also has a nice line down the back formed by a narrow asymmetrical cable:

The pattern calls for i-cord edging, and after much to-ing and fro-ing, I left it out. I finished both waistband and sleeves with twisted ribbing, and I left a rolled edge at the neck. I find this kind of funny because in general I hate rolled edges. In fact, I once wrote a post called Annoying Things in which I wrote a long list of things which annoyed me. Top of the list? Rolled edges. (I still consider it a very funny post. It is from 2016, so it goes back quite a way, but still resonates. I suppose the fact that I just left a rolled hem on this tee means that even crusty old set-in-their-ways knitters are open to change. Yay me; I am resilient!)

The yarn I used is a 55% linen 45% wool blend called Kalinka 21 from Karen Oberg. I absolutely adore this yarn! I have used it before to knit my wonderful Treit (which you can see here). I will most certainly use it again. The linen and the wool take the dye differently which creates a richness of shade, and of course, the linen gives it great temperature control and drape while the wool helps it bounce back into shape. It has all of the lovely properties of linen tied together with the loveliness of wool and is also dyed by someone who has a similar colour sense to me. What’s not to love? I used less than 3 skeins to make this top.

I’m getting a real kick out of how lush and green our garden is right now. Our neighbours all have yards that are manicured with a ruler for that golf course look, and I believe they are all secretly appalled by our overgrown mess. I love it though, and right now it’s perfect! I had fun taking these photos yesterday and couldn’t resist surreptitiously taking a photo of Doug taking photos of me:

New top, lots of flowers, a peak of sun, a lovely cup of coffee, Doug trying to confiscate my shawl (and looking good in it); could anything make this weekend better? Well, yesterday I received new yarn in the post! And on that teaser, I’ll say good-bye!

Forest, Lake, and City

Posted on August 20, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

We had a great holiday in Germany, exploring forest, lake, and city. Very little knitting was accomplished, mostly due to shoulder problems, so this post is a knitting-free zone. We spent a week in Freiburg with our friend, Inge. (We stayed at the home of Inge’s sister and brother-in-law, Eva and Klaus, who were very generous and lovely people, lending us their home and showing us their city.) During that time we went for long walks in the forest, explored the city, ate lots of cake, and enjoyed each other’s company. We then all three went by train to the Bodensee (Lake Konstanz) where we spent three nights in the Bad Hotel in Uberlingen, followed by three nights at the amazing spa hotel Hirschen Horn in Gaienhofen. Our friends, Theo and Jonnie, moved to the area a few years ago and were great guides. The five of us had a smashing time.

Here are some of the many photos of forest, lake, and city (and cake).

The hills above Freiburg:

By the lake, Uberlingen:

Meersburg (just to the left of the yellow building is the terrace of the restaurant where we ate dinner, with a spectacular view of the lake):

Dinner on said terrace in Meersburg; Inge (looking fabulous) with Doug:

Engravings on the buildings in the old town of Konstanz:

There was lots of cake consumed on this trip. The below piece is super special to me, because it was gluten-free (yay!) and absolutely amazing.

Up above the Lake:

At the Bad Hotel, Uberlingen:

This church is next to the hotel in Gaienhofen and we could see it from our balcony. Jonny and I are making shadow pictures on the wall:

The lake at sunset, taken from Hagnau. The mountains across the lake are the Swiss Alps.

Imperia. Statue in Konstanz. She holds in her hands Pope Martin V and Emperor Sigismund. The statue refers to the Council of Konstanz (1414-1418), which took place in Konstanz. It is one of about 40 statues by Perter Lenk that Doug took photos of on this trip, many of which I wouldn’t post here, but all of which are great and very funny to boot.

Steeple from Stein am Rhein (Switzerland):

Close-up of the dragon:

House in Stein am Rhein with a pleasing pattern:

We went to a great museum in St. Margen of the clock-making history of the Black Forest. Amongst all of the old, traditional clocks, was this modern one:

Here is a video which I took at the Basilica de Birnau. It shows not only the amazing Basilica, but also the spectacular view. (It also has Doug, caught unaware, which is pretty funny.)

Another glorious view of the lake, taken at Birnau:

A picture perfect evening sky:

That seems like a good place to stop. It was a lovely trip (even without any knitting)!

Swatches Lie, and other tales of woe

Posted on August 6, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

Today I bring you three tales of woe:

Swatches lie
Shoulders are sort of necessary for knitting
When you pick boring projects so as not to tax your brain, it turns out that they are boring

These can be summed up in a sad photo:

Do you think that this may be, perhaps, too big?

I originally bought this yarn (Kalinka 21, a linen/wool blend) to make the lovely Joni. I then decided that my post-covid brain was still too tired to follow the pattern and to focus properly. (And the pattern was 17 pages long!) I tried and tried to find a pattern to make with this yarn that would be totally simple – no counting, no thinking, no fancy stitches, minimal details, and settled on Dune by eri shimizu:

There is a bit of shaping at the shoulders (which, true to recent form, had me ripping and re-knitting a few times):

But after that it is just stockinette all the way down. Unless of course, your swatch lies (see first photo above), in which case you will need to do some major ripping before you can get to the stockinette all the way down bit. (For information sake, I ripped out quite a bit, and now have 32 less stitches on the needles. It will still have plenty of ease.) Here is a photo after having ripped out and knit back down again:

Not only am I struggling with swatches that lie, but I am having major troubles with my shoulder. It hurts. I am having physio done, which hurts, and doing lots of therapeutic exercise, which hurts. And yes, it turns out that shoulders are a necessary part of the knitting process. This makes me grumpy. (Perhaps you could divine this from the above photo? Hee hee.)

And to top it all off, while knitting endless rounds of stockinette on tiny needles may not be taxing on the brain, it is still boring. The fact that I purposely sought out boring does not make it any less boring.

But never fear, dear reader! I would not bring you a depressing tale of woe without a silver lining. (Actually, had I written this post last week as intended, it would have ended here with me feeling sorry for myself. You have thus benefited from my lack of attention to timely blogging.) I have found two solutions to my tales of woe. First, I bought some new yarn (Isager Trio 2) in a beautiful red:

And cast on another project, Anker Tee by PetiteKnit.

This one is equally boring to knit, in fact maybe more so, as it is endless rounds of k1p1 ribbing, followed by endless rounds of stockinette. But it is RED, which makes me happy, and I can alternate between one project and the other when either one threatens to put me to sleep.

Second, I am on holiday. Here is a photo of me and my friend Inge, walking in the hills around St. Märgen in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in Germany.

We are spending a week in Freiburg with Inge and then we will all head to Überlingen and Konstanz for another week with our friends Theo and Jonathan. Today it is 15 degrees (59F) and absolutely pissing down rain, but next week by the lake it will be beautiful. And being with good friends is a silver lining all by itself, regardless of weather.

Wishing you a good week, with swatches that are truthful, shoulders that don’t hurt, and non-boring projects on your needles!

Lace meets Wall

Posted on July 22, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

I just saw this and was absolutely blown away, The artist NeSpoon travels around Europe and paints murals based on local lace-making traditions. The Guardian has a pictorial article today on her work, entitled Lace-inspired murals celebrating European folk traditions – in pictures. It is absolutely stunning. The text states:

Each design is unique, inspired by the people she meets and the tales she hears. ‘Wherever I am, I meet and interview members of the local lace guild, and scour museums and historical sources for inspiration,’ she says. ‘I often ask people who live nearby if they have any lace at home. I always find something interesting.’
from The Guardian, July 22, 2023, link above

Look at this gorgeous example from Greece:

I love this one from France; look at the fantastic integration of the lace with the architecture:

Fancy some Scottish lace? Here is one from Aberdeen:

I think that these are drop dead gorgeous. And so respectful to a traditional craft. Go and check out the rest. You won’t be sorry.

Knit-scrolling

Posted on July 16, 2023 by knitigatingcircumstances

Kelly: “Hello?”

Emma: “Wow, you picked up fast.”

Kelly: “I was looking at my phone as you called.”

Emma: “Are you busy doomscrolling?”

Kelly: “Of course not! I’m looking at knitting.”

Emma: “Same thing.”

Everyone’s a comedian these days….besides, we all know that knit-scrolling, unlike the other thing, has positive mental health benefits.

I’m still here. I am working on a big project (a work-related project, not a knitting project) and it is taking up most of my brain space. The rest of my brain space is taking a breather. I’ve started and ripped something a few times (more on that later), but mostly knitting and I are ignoring each other. (At least until I go on holiday.) I hope that you and your knitting are talking to each other and not seeking couples therapy.

Knitigating Circumstances

Because knitting is excuse enough

You had me at mittens

Like this:

Strawberry out of season

Like this:

A rocky start

Like this:

Provenance of a Norwegian pullover

Like this:

Impulse buy

Like this:

Joy in simple things

Like this:

Forest, Lake, and City

Like this:

Swatches Lie, and other tales of woe

Like this:

Lace meets Wall

Like this:

Knit-scrolling

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Nov	DEC	Jan
	22
2022	2023	2024

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