Endpaper Mitts
Recipient: Moi
Designer: Eunny Jang
Pattern: Endpaper Mitts
Source: eunnyjang.com
Completed: October 10, 2008
Colours: Forest green and black
Yarn: Schjeepes Invicta Extra
Completed status: Love 'em!
Pictures:
- 2008-Oct-16
- A few weeks ago, the people who are in charge of such things in my office building decided that the increasingly cold weather was the PERFECT time to start blasting the air conditioning. Seriously. And did I mention that one of the vents is right above my chair? Yeah. It's been fun.
This of course motivated me to finish my Endpaper Mitts so I could prevent my fingers (which are rather vital to my job, what with the constant typing on the computer and all) from freezing. Unfortunately, the Knitting Fates decided that this was the right time to hit me with a big case of Knitting Stupidity. I started making every damn mistake possible. At first, it was actually going very well - I just kept going on the 1x1 rib that I'd already started with mitt #2, easy peasy. Then I switched to the main pattern, following Chart B, immediately increasing for the thumb. I was about halfway up the thumb increases when I realised that I was supposed to start with Chart A, and not start any kind of shaping for about four or five inches. FINE. I ripped back.
So I started in on Chart A. It was going okay - I was screwing up the pattern here and there and having to tink back more frequently than I would have preferred, but definite progress was being made nonetheless. I got to the correct starting point for Chart B and started increasing for the thumb again. And once again, it wasn't until I was about halfway up the thumb when I realised something was wrong. Like, really wrong. Like, hey-this-mitt-seems-really-small wrong. Like, I-have-no-freakin'-idea-how-I'll-get-it-onto-my-hand small. I checked the instructions...yeah. I was supposed to switch to a larger needle size after the ribbing.
There are no words.
I ripped back to the end of the ribbing and started again.
A few rows in, I realised I'd forgotten to switch needle sizes AGAIN.
At this point, I think the only thing stopping me from throwing in the towel (or, more accurately, throwing the glove into my fireplace and turning it on) was that it was still freezing in my office.
I finally managed to get the main pattern going PROPERLY. I still kept making a lot of pattern errors (including a few that required surgery about six rows beneath where I was, that sucked pretty hard), but at least I was now making a glove that would actually fit me.
Finally, FINALLY, I got it all done, and...I really like them.
(Thanks to my husband for taking that shot. I tried really hard to take it myself, using various stick-like objects around the house in my mouth to press the 'take a photo' button, but without success.)
I especially really like that I did all of the colourwork parts holding both strands in my left hand. That is a new and tricky skill that I still need to work on to get fast at, but I think it does improve my colourwork speed, and I'm really glad I learned how to do it.
- 2008-Feb-8
- Project whore that I am (that'll get me some interesting hits via Google, won't it?), I could not resist the sudden urge that hit me last week to make Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts pattern. I'd been thinking about it for a while, because it's such a good-looking finished product, and because it does get a little chilly sometimes at the LYS, as well as at my office, to which I must return in two months (*SOB*), and in order to stay functional in a chill, my hands need to be covered. And I must say, these mittens are an extremely handsome way to achieve that covering.
Moreover, this project would force me to learn another type of cast-on and bind-off, and it would also be an excellent opportunity to practice stranded knitting holding both strands with my left hand, which has been a goal of mine for some time. Throw in the joy of finding something new to do with sock yarn, and you have a winner.
And so, off I went.
This is a delicious pattern. Extremely simple, with extremely gorgeous results. Despite having (as always) a Schedule, I couldn't seem to put this down (good thing I'm about two weeks ahead of myself).
I just finished off the first one today and am LOVING it:
The stitches are a tad wonky where one of the needle joins was (the fault of my still-inexpert-but-improving-decently skill with the single-handed stranding technique); it's a touch itchy (the fault of the yarn); and the side seams have a tendency to travel because they twist around my hand a bit from their intended side-of-the-hand positions (I think this must be the fault of physics, because the mitt itself fits very snugly indeed)...but those are the only non-gushing things I have to say about it. Despite the indoor temperature of my house being perfectly reasonable, I have been wearing this thing since I finished it (except I did take it off to dump a load of diapers in the washing machine...after all my hard work there's no way I want this thing tainted with urine).
I do feel a little tickle of second mitt syndrome at the back of my brain, but I'm pretty sure I can get over that.
(P.S. For anybody thinking of making this pattern, it's touted as 'reversible'...I'm pretty sure this refers to being able to wear the mittens on either hand, as opposed to being able to turn it inside-out and have it look good.)
Labels: endpaper
