Contented Threads

(I will update this post with graphics/pictures/etc in a bit… just keeping track of my changes as I go along.)

I’ve added selvedge stitches to the body’s picot hem (ie, cast on 262 sts).  This allows the front placket to be picked up cleanly against the front stitch “columns”.

I made the steek 11 stitches wide (which includes those 2 selvedge sts, so that means I cast on 9 sts for steek => 271 sts in the round).  Why:  because I want a black (ie, background/MC) stitch to be where I pickup the front plackets.  (This isn’t possible as written bcause steek is even numbered & so one side gets MC & the other gets CC….)

I’ll make some charts/diagrams to explain why I’ve done this in a bit.  Just behind the curveball right now….

It appears that it is impossible for me to knit a pattern as written.

I’ve re-written the sleeves to be bottom-up because unless I knit it this way, my eye would forever notice how the stitches on the sleeve point “up”.  The chevron pattern at the cuff would just look “wrong” to me (even though it would be right!).

I should get a life.  Or stop wearing glasses.

Other than that, things moving forward.  I’m playing around with ideas for the 2nd contrast color & I’m nearly there.

Time to figure this pattern out.  I want to use Rauma’s BabyGarn (Fingering / 4 ply) to make a sweater for a 2 year old.  I’ll have to reverse engineer the pattern.  Time to crack open the book & figure out what’s going on.

I’m going to use the sizes from Yarn Standards,  which means that I’m going to target the Neck-to-Cuff length to be 45.5 cm & the Chest 50.5 cm.  Yarn Standards uses 21.5 cm for the neck-to-waist measurement, and I’ll need to plan the sweater longer than that, so the sweater length is near hip length.

Lessons learned:

• Block the mittens together.  I blocked the 1st mitten alone & a bit of the color bled.  The second did not bleed, so there is a slight variance in color.
• Funky:  it’s hard to put these mittens on after my coat is already on.  There is something about the non-ribbed cuff that is awkward (hard to stuff under my jacket cuff).  This might be made worse by the 8-row color “roll” I added to the cuff.
• Next time, alter the thumb gusset pattern so there is a column of “green” to divide the “white” lines.  That means I’ll need to alter how I pickup stitches when knitting the thumb, but it’s very do able.
• I know why the designer did not continue the palm pattern exactly onto the inside of the thumb, but it certainly looks funky.  My inner fussy finisher can’t stop thinking about another way to “solve” this.
• I think I like having one (not two) stitches of the contrast color dividing the front & back half.  Two stitches are just too thick.  (See Egyptian Mittens for a one stitch division.)

Things I’ve done

• I’ve felted the two mitten a wee bit to make them the same size & fit my hands (the 2nd was a wee bit bigger than the 1st)

The finished product.

I really like the weight of the Rauma Strikkegarn knitted on 2.5 mm needles.  I’m getting about 28-29 sts / 10 cm.

About the pattern construction:

• Like:  the thumb gusset fits my hand well
• Funky:  it’s hard to put these mittens on after my coat is already on.  There is something about the non-ribbed cuff that is awkward (hard to stuff under my jacket cuff).  This might be made worse by the 10-row color “roll” I added to the cuff.
• Must remember: DO NOT use the 3-needle bind-off for the thumb.  I did.  It was a bad idea.
• Next time I should consider making the wrist section have fewer stitches & increase for the palm/hand section.

1st Egyptian Mitten is done