Garn Boet - The Yarn Nest

The Paistu mittens are finished! It became a fast knit, but what to do when Satakieli and 2mm bamboo needles are so good in one’s hand. I knitted the mittens for myself, and the size, 20 cm hand circumference and 26 cm length is perfect. I don’t like too short mittens; you only get the cold wind and snow into your jacket with them.

Project details: Paistu mittens by Nancy Bush for Piecework July/August 2006.
Yarn: Vuorelma’s Satakieli, 100 % wool in the colours gold (199), natural (003) and blue (966).
Needles: Susannah’s bamboo, 2mm 15 cm long.
Gauge: 40 stitches and 39 rows for 10 x 10 cm.
Alterations: I don’t know if this is an alteration, but I finished the top of the mitten with a two-wick decrease.

Here is a close up of the top of the mitten. I haven’t got an answer from the editors of the Piecework magazine, and since I have only one set of short 2mm bamboo dpns (and I wanted them free for the next mitten project), I decided to make a two-wick decrease after the directions in Nancy Bush’s book Folk knitting in Estonia.

The decrease described for the thumb, called one-stitch decrease, is the same as a one-wick decrease, and the picture to the pattern show that the top of the mitten is supposed to have a decrease that is forming two parallel rows of stitches along the sides of the top. The decrease described as a two-stitch decrease won’t do that, it makes a similar one-stitch decrease as the thumb decreases (I tested it out, identical according to me). So I decided to go for the two-wick decrease. I further, in order to make the decrease neater, knitted the stitch that next time was about to be part of the decrease with the golden yarn. This avoids white stitches to shine through the decrease stitch rows, and even if the stitched should have been white, it will be almost concealed under the decrease. You can’t see that it is knitted with the wrong colour.

I also got a reminder of how wonderful it is to have knitting buddies. This parcel arrived in the beginning of the week, and it has travelled all the way from Lyon. I’m sure I’m the last one to get the Mason-Dixon book (it has always been sold out when I have been looking for it), but I’m so happy that I finally have it in my knitting library, it is just as great as everybody says. And the fabric, what can I say more than that I love it. Thank you Becky! And, talking about Becky, go and take a peak at Becky’s blog. She finished a lovely Crinkle from Rowan 39 (in black, wow) just a couple of days ago, and is modelling it together with a bustier of her own design. Fluffa! is the way to go, if you haven't visited her before. Bravo Becky!

Posted by Maud at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

The autumn is here. The kids are gone to different schools, and you can feel the signs early in the mornings and in the evening. The nights are getting colder, and even if the weather is warming up nicely during the day, the feeling, the taste of the colder night is there.

And with this post I declare the mitten season chez Yarn Nest to be opened.

I need the first signs of autumn to start the yearly mitten production. The first pair for this season is the Paistu mittens from Piecework magazine, the July-August 2006 number. The pattern is by Nancy Bush, and she tells they are adapted from Aino Praakli’s Kirikindad II book*. They take their name from the parish of Paistu near Viljandi in south central Estonia. Aino Praakli’s pattern is adapted from a pair of gloves sold to the Estonian National Museum in 1925. The gloves had been found in the bottom of a chest and are believed to have been part of a bride’s trousseau, likely made about 50 year before they were sold to the museum.

I’m knitting the mittens with my all time favourite mitten yarn, Vuorelma’s Satkieli, in gold, natural and old blue (the colour numbers are 199, 003 and 966), on bamboo needles 2mm. I have a gauge of 40 stitches to 10 cm.

I have a slight feeling that there is an error in the pattern, and I have written the editors of the magazine to ask. There are two kinds of decreases, one for the top of the mitten that is called two-stitch decrease, and one for the thumb called one-stitch decrease. The one-stitch decrease is identical with the one-wick decrease Nancy describes in Folk knitting in Estonia. The two-stitch decrease described in the pattern is almost identical to the one-stitch decrease, and it can’t produce two parallel stitches as the decreases on the picture. There is a two-wick decrease in Folk knitting, perhaps this was the one intended? It will produce a row of two stitches. I look forward to see what the editors say in answer to my question.

*Aino Praakli’s book is fairly new, came out 2005, by the Estonian National Museum. I wish I had it and other native books about Estonian mittens and gloves.

Posted by Maud at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)