Fair Isle Mitten Progress Update

I’m still working on the Fair Isle mittens. I started the swatching Wednesday. The yarn knits up fairly densely I don’t think I’ll be lining these mittens. I’m using Knit Picks Palette, 100% Peruvian Highland Wool in a range of grays and black. 

The mitten pattern is from Magnificent Mittens and Socks by Anna Zilboorg. Ms. Zilboorg’s writing style reminds me of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s take-no-nonsense from the knitting style. I found her instructions and tips both clear and empowering. 

My first stab at following the chart was a bust. I pulled it out before I thought to take a picture of it. I saw that I wasn’t developing the ridge across the top of the mitten and the pattern was looking really wonky. 

My second try went wrong in a slightly different way. The pattern was still not developing properly and I really hated my color combination. Managing the floats wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I ended up using a two-handed method for managing the yarns. I knitted the background yarn continental style and knitted the contrast color yarn English style. The two-handed method kept the yarns separate. No more stopping every round or two to untangle them. This is what it looked like:

The toughest thing for me was deciding the color balance. I ordered 4 colors of Palette: Silver, Mist, Black and Ash. When I do another Fair Isle project, I’m going to give myself more options within my color pallet. When I knitted Silver and Mist into my first mitten, they were so similar I couldn’t see the pattern and the black was way too strong.The other thing I didn't like was that next to the black, the silver yarn read as white, very stark.

It took a few tries, but I finally found a color combination that I liked: the background color is Mist and the contrast colors are Black and Ash. The pallet’s very wintry and, being a subway rat, I appreciate that the colors will hide the dirt. 

I eventually started the mittens over a total of 9 times, but each time the cast on became easier. I didn’t realize the mittens in the book were knit from tip to cuff until I started my mitten. The upside is that now I’m totally ready to knit a pair of toe up socks its the same technique.

Magic Loop Knitting

This week I tried out  the Magic Loop technique. This might not be new territory for experienced knitters, but for me it’s terra incognita. I’ve read about the magic loop technique, but I got so overwhelmed by the idea that I never really tried it.

I found the Youtube video below that made the technique so clear. So I got my courage up and got a circular needle. I decided just to make a little ten-stitch circle.

My circular needle wasn’t really long enough, the process was a little awkward. Most sources recommend using a circular needle with a minimum of 24 inches of cable between them. I could only find a pair of circulars with a 16 inch cable this morning just before I ran out the door to work.

I had to start over a couple of times before I got the hang of it. Even with the short cord, the Magic loop is really simple. I already like it better for really tight circles than double points. I didn't take a picture of my, too loose and laddery, little circle because I was on the Q train when I was knitting and I didn't want to be that subway weirdo who stops to take pictures of the tiny piece of knitting she's working on.