gloves/mittens | Love Is All You Knit

Feb 28 2014

Insta Janu-February

Bet you didn’t notice that I forgot to post an Instagram roundup of my January goings-on. I didn’t notice either, so this time you get January and February smashed into one Insta-double-whammy. (I promise it’s not as painful as it sounds).

During the first part of January we were in Aspen, CO where the band played a couple of shows, one of them was a big New Year’s eve bash. The shows were excellent and we toasted the new year in grand fashion. It was such a fun trip and we were even able to squeeze in a visit to a natural hot springs pool nestled in the mountains, and a couple of days of skiing. Back home in Texas, I’ve spent the past month and a half working, working, working, with a few stolen moments here and there for doggie snuggles and knitting and crafting. I released my Wayfinder Mitts pattern, re-released my Hill Country Hat pattern, and am wrapping up a new design submission that I’m super excited about. I had a birthday just a few days ago and celebrated with lots of sweet treats, good friends, and wonderful mail surprises from Joey, who is already back out on tour. Now I’m getting ready for some warmer weather (aren’t we all?) and looking forward to casting on a couple of new knitting projects.

Feb 10 2014

2 Comments

designing, gloves/mittens, knitting, Yarn

New Knitting Pattern: Wayfinder Mitts

photo by Nikki Mann

I’m excited to announce that my Wayfinder Mitts knitting pattern is now available as a Ravelry download. Worked in Madelinetosh DK, each Wayfinder Mitt is cast on at the bottom edge and knit in the round. The top and bottom cuffs are worked in 2×2 rib, which stretches nicely to fit the wearer. The directional cables flow out of the ribbed cuff and are mirrored on the back of each hand. Thumb gussets are created by increases placed at the side of each mitt; after increasing, thumb stitches are placed on waste yarn and later picked up and worked in the round. Instructions are provided as both charted and written.

photo by Nikki Mann

MATERIALS

DK weight wool yarn – approximately 115 yards/106 meters

Sample shown in Madelinetosh Tosh DK (100% superwash merino wool; 225 yards/206 meters/100 g) in the Antique Lace colorway on hands measuring 7.5″/19 cm in circumference.

US 6/4.0 mm (or size needed to obtain gauge) dpns, two circulars, or long circular for magic loop

Cable needle

3 Stitch markers

Tapestry needle for weaving ends

Waste yarn

GAUGE

22 sts by 30 rounds = 4”/10 cm in stockinette stitch

FINISHED SIZE

8”/20.5 cm long by 7”/17.75 cm in circumference (unstretched) to fit hands measuring 6.5″/16.5 cm to 8″/20.25 cm in circumference.

Visit the Ravelry pattern page here or buy now.

photo by Nikki Mann

Tagged diy, fingerless gloves, fingerless mitts, knit, knitting, knitting patterns, madelinetosh, wayfinder mitts, wool, yarn

Jan 27 2014

1 Comment

Antics, designing, gloves/mittens, knitting, wool, Yarn

Coming Soon: Wayfinder Mitts

A while back I started playing around with arrow motifs and incorporating them into my knitting. The Wayfinder Mitts were originally envisioned as a pair of grey stockinette fingerless mitts with an orangey-red arrow down the back of the hands, either knit using intarsia or possibly duplicate stitched on afterwards. After a while that idea started to feel too plain and I tried to think of a way to make them more interesting. I came up with an interesting stitch pattern for the cuffs that also featured directional arrows, but then I fell in love with the cuff idea more than the original idea and decided to file that particular stitch pattern away for something bigger and better. Another issue I had with the idea of doing a stockinette mitt is the fit. I wanted something that was fitted– not slouchy, so I knit a prototype that decreased towards the wrist and increased for the hand. Unfortunately when wearing the mitts, they would bunch awkwardly when you rotated your hands at the wrist, so I went back to the drawing board. Some of the best-fitting fingerless mitts I’ve ever worn have had ribbing on the wrist portion, so I went with a 2×2 rib for the arm and wrist and stockinette for the hand and added a two stitch traveling cable to the back of each hand for the visual interest. I really like the way these mitts turned out and the ribbing makes them easily stretch to fit most ladies’ hands nicely. This pair was knit in Madelinetosh Tosh DK, but they could also be knit in a heavy worsted or aran weight in a more rustic wool for a pair of manlier mitts. The pattern is being tech edited now and I’ll be releasing it very soon!

Tagged fingerles mitts, handmade, knit, knitted, knitting, madelinetosh, mitts, yarn

Aug 21 2013

3 Comments

designing, gloves/mittens, knitting

Cuff Chuffed

I’ve been keeping my knitting a little behind-the-scenes lately. The truth is, I’m planning a collection of knitting patterns and I don’t want to give all my secrets away before its even finished, but today I have a little peek at something I wanted to share.

This cuff has been a little bit of a learning process for me over the past few months. It all started out with a pretty basic idea for a pair of fingerless mitts with 1×1 twisted ribbing. Twisted ribbing is one of my favorite cuff/hem treatments, as I think it looks much neater than regular 1×1 ribbing. I started out working the mitt idea that was in my head and halfway through I ripped it back, knowing that I wanted to revise my stitch counts, but also because I became convinced that my design needed a little reworking. The idea was super cute but also super simple, and didn’t have enough “wow” factor that I felt it would entice people to purchase the pattern.

I needed to add an extra little kick to the design, so I started playing around with traveling twisted stitches and came out with the cuff you see above. In the end, this version of the mitt has been scrapped for with something totally different that I think works better, but I’m still in love with these traveling twisted stitches. I’m pretty sure this idea will work itself into another design soon, though maybe not on a pair of fingerless mitts.

Tagged knitting, madelinetosh, yarn

Aug 02 2013

2 Comments

Antics, baby knits, designing, Dogs, Family, gloves/mittens, Hats, knitting, Other Crafty Things, wool

Insta July

July brought the birth of our nephew Healy, who was promptly snuggled in a handknit wool blankie and has been bringing us all love and happiness nonstop ever since. I’ve also been spending lots of time with Joey as he gets ready to start touring with Midlake again soon. There have been lots of stolen moments between his rehearsals and my work schedule to get in as much time together as we can before he leaves. I was able to catch one of their production rehearsals the other day and I was blown away… I welled up with emotion and pride at how beautiful everything sounds and how hard these guys have been working to get this album to fruition, and its almost time! There’s even been a little bit of knitting and crafting in the wee hours before I go to sleep. I have some secret knitty-type things I’m planning that I’m super excited about but I just need to find a little more time to get them going. And of course I can always count on Henry’s silly antics. He’s such a ridiculously sweet and goofy dog and he just makes us laugh and smile every single day.

Jul 30 2013

1 Comment

Antics, designing, gloves/mittens, knitting

Gusseted

I spent the better part of my Sunday afternoon battling with a thumb gusset for a fingerless mitt I’m working on. On my first sad attempt, I was increasing too rapidly and the stitches were all bunched up. I probably shouldn’t even tell you the part about how my working yarn was clearly in the wrong spot when it was time to put the stitches on a holder…..

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

Take two is looking much more like an actual thumb gusset, thank goodness!