Deep in the Forest

I do not wear mittens. I do not like stranded knitting. But when I saw these mittens, I had to knit them. I actually knit three mittens. The first one was way too big so I took it out, made some changes, and re-knit it, along with a mate. They are still big but wearable (not that I wear mittens but if I did, I would wear these).

The pattern is Deep in the Forest by Tuulia Salmela. The yarn is Jamieson’s Spindrift in Natural White and Pine.

Now the changes I made: Provisional cast-on of 60 stitches on 2mm needles. Completed the cuff, folded it, removed the provisional cast-on and knit the two ends of the cuff together. Then I  knit 1 round, increasing to 70 stitches. At this point, I changed to 2.5mm needles and knit the rest of the mitten as written.

I did not find the chart difficult to follow, but I did copy and increase the chart to 11” x 17” paper.

I really like the Latvian braid at the cuff. I would use this again sometime, maybe on a hat? I wear hats. But not mittens.

Autumn Shawlette

I like shawlettes and shoulder shawls. They are easy to wear and don't take forever to knit. And it is nice to have small shawl for cool weather or air-conditioning. This one was interesting to me because it starts at the bottom, casting on what seems like a gazillion stitches, then knitting upwards as the shawl gets smaller. I think I prefer starting from the neck but I do like this scarf.

The details:

• Pattern: Lace Panel Shawl and Scarf (I made the scarf version)
• Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Sprindrift, color Autumn, 105 meters/skein, approximately 2.5 skeins
• Needles: US2 (2.75mm)
• Finished size: Approximately 11 inches back neck length

As usual, I made some changes, preferring directional decreases, especially the quadruple decreases in the panel. Instead of making them all as a knit 4 together, I made the right-leaning ones as K4tog and the left-leaning ones as SSSSK.

I very much like the I-cord bind-off across the top; to me, it makes a nice finish.