One of the
perks of working for Interweave is seeing our magazines and books before they are
available to the general public. The new issue of Knits
Accessories is bursting with easy knitting patterns—I can make for friends,
family, and myself without busting my budget or time limitations. I decided to
start with the Arc Mittens by Peggy O'Grady—the ones with the angled increase
for the thumb (pictured left). I like that little design element. Turns out the
photo in the magazine shows the mittens reversed; the pattern places
the increase on the palm. So it's knitter's choice if they increases go on the palm or top of the hand; I like it on top of the hand though.
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Above: Knitting mitten (left)
completed
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Above: Knitting mitten (right)
in progress
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The day
after Thanksgiving I visited my local yarn shop and got Brown Sheep Yarns
Lamb's Pride Bulky yarn, the same brand of yarn used in the sample mittens, in
a soothing cream, and a set of size 8 double pointed needles. The next day,
when the weather wasn't so great, I spent an enjoyable 5 or 6 hours watching
Christmas specials on TV and knitting the first mitten. I am a slow knitter,
but with fewer than 40 stitches in the body, once the thumb was done, things went
quickly. I had to rip out the first few rows because I wasn't paying enough
attention to the placement of the increase stitches, but after three or four
rounds, I was able to easily see where the stitches went. I had the first knitted
mitten done by bedtime.
The second
mitten gave me a little more trouble, all of my own making rather than the knitted
mitten pattern's directions. I brought the second mitten in to work on Monday
and got the help of a co-worker. That evening I tried again, but still was not
able to get a nice, clean demarcation for the increase. On Tuesday I brought it
to one of the magazine editors, and she straightened me out. It turned out that I was doing two different
things wrong.
The increase
stitch moved one stitch to the left on the first mitten. So that is what I did
on the second mitten where the increase stitch gets made at the same place of
each round. Next time I'll read the pattern more closely. I was also not
picking up for the increase stitch correctly. Once I understood, the increases
started looking like they should. I should have the second mitten done by the
end of this week, in plenty of time for Christmas.
Enjoy!
Kate
P.S. If you'd
like to knit mittens for this gift giving season, you can download Interweave
Knits Accessories 2011 and get started right away.