Who needs new mittens?
Click for a picture of the newly knitted Marko's mittens
The next pair of mittens in the line is for my younger son. John had last winter a pair of Marko’s mittens from Folk knitting in Estonia, but, alas, they need to be replaced as first mittens. And then darned of course!
When I was I Copenhagen earlier this year I bought some soft Isager Tvinni yarns, a 2 ply 100 % merino wool yarn, with mittens for my sons in mind. But I hadn’t said what intentions I had of the yarn, so you can guess I was surprised when we discussed patterns and colours, and John did pick exactly the two colours of Isager yarn that I had bought with him in mind! He wanted a fairly simple pattern, a choice that also made me pretty happy. Mindless mitten knitting is exactly what I need right now. You almost get a zen feeling out of knitting these mittens, and I have, after two days of not too much mitten knitting already passed the thumb. The cuff is ribbed with 1 knit 3 purls. The colour pattern is again* from Eeva Haavisto’s book, and the mitten construction my basic. The Isager yarn is quite thin, and my tension on 2 mm needles is 42 stitches to 10 cm. But it's soo soft! It's heaven to knit with it, and you forget how many stitches there really are.
The pattern has no name, and I haven't come up with anything good yet. So they will for now be John's unnamed mittens.
* My good intensions of doing lot of research for the mitten project seams to be dream intentions. I have so much to do this autumn that all my Finnish mittens seams to be picked from Eeva Haavisto’s book Sata kansanomaista kuviokudinmallia. Perhaps the spring will be more suited for researching what the museums do have among their knitted treasures, and to try to find more literature about mittens and mitten traditions in Finland. Mittens where given at weddings here too, like in Estonia and Latvia.
Comments
Very nice mitten, and not exactly mindless knitting in my book. ;-)
Posted by: joy | November 5, 2006 02:13 PM
Mindless in the sense of not having to look at the pattern and not having long yarn loops to twist or check the gauge of. I never "got" the pattern of Marko's mittens, and had to check it for every row, for the whole of two mittens. And the same goes for the Bayerische socks, one of the charts is everything but intuitive. And that slows down a lot, and takes the flow of knitting away. These mittens flows, like the sea waves in and out.
Posted by: Maud | November 5, 2006 03:58 PM
Vetehundan om jag inte hade gråtit blod om mina barn kommit hem med hål i så vackra vantar. Och de nya går inte av för hackor de heller. Åh, så fina! Jag får nog lägga upp en femårsplan över allt fint jag vill sticka. Mina ungar skulle defintivt också gilla lite hemmagjorda "godsaker".
Posted by: Konststycket | November 5, 2006 08:46 PM
I love it when the pattern leads you on and you can relax while you knit. Those are going to be very cosy mittens.
Posted by: Brigid | November 6, 2006 01:16 AM
I have been wandering through your archives and finished projects and I must say that your work is beautiful! I have also noticed several references to the book Sata kansanomaista kuviokudinmallia by Eeva Haavisto. I realize that this is book isn't exactly new, but I am interested in obtaining a copy and didn't know if you had any ideas as to where I may be able to find a used version. I taught myself how to knit simply because I had always wanted to knit but once I began I have found myself drawn to the histories and traditions associated with knitting in various areas of the world. From what I have read about this book on your blog and some others', I think that it would be a fabulous addition to my library. Thank you for your time!
Posted by: Erica | November 6, 2006 03:51 AM
Ha, ha ... dina vantar ser ut att vara poppis hos din son. Kan man inte laga dem då? De är ju fortfarande så tjusiga!
Posted by: Elena | November 8, 2006 04:01 PM