In the spirit of the Stash Busting Challenge (see button at side bar), I decided to knit myself a pair of mittens following an old Beehive booklet of my mother's. I tell ya, these old patterns are not for the easily distracted, new-to-knitting people (such as myself!). The pattern was beyond confusing, and I honestly think I could've done a better job myself at writing it out. Too much is "assumed" in these patterns. I would be certain to tell the knitter exactly what row to continue working on after completing the thumb(?!). Too much was left to figure out on your own, and I started getting bogged down in sorting out what row I was on and where to put those darned cables. But I ended up with this ...
I was quite pleased with my accomplishment. What you can't tell from a finished project is the number of times a piece has been frogged, or knit up again starting after the thumb, or frogged again, or tossed in disgust in a waste bin, retrieved, knit yet again, starting at the decreasing rows, etc etc!! To all of you it just looks like a mitten! But what you're really looking at here is blood, sweat and tears people!
The worst part of all of this is that it is only ONE mitten, and sadly, mittens are meant to be knit as a PAIR!! So after breathing a huge sigh of relief that I finished the right mitten, I had to start all over again on the left ... which I finished in record time, because I foolishly thought I had sorted out the crummy bit of the pattern, but it finished up like this ....
The decreasing at the top which gave me such torment in the right mitten, came back to haunt me in the left ...
It's too bizarre looking, and I'll have to rip it back again ... groan. You can see how odd it looks in comparison (below) to the right mitten (actually the right mitten is on the left and the left mitten is on the right) ...
Last night (late), I thought it looked not half bad and actually stitched up the end and wove in the ends ... which makes for a struggle to even get the darned thing apart! But in the light of the morning, I realized it looks so wrong, and I do need to fix it if I ever want to wear these mittens with pride. If I ever complete the mitten properly, I will then add it to the Stash Buster Challenge link party, but until then, it must remain hidden :(
Hopefully, I'll soon be as thrilled as the young lady here in her perfectly knit cable mittens!
Thanks for stopping by!
Wendy
Hello Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI have been having a good time looking through your posts. I love the old pictures from you childhood, they are so touching. The knitted Easter eggs are very nice. I crochet a few this year but they dont look as "soft" as knitted eggs. I think I might have to knit a few before next Easter.
Have a great weekend,
Birgitta
Hi Birgitta, Thanks for dropping by! I'm glad you enjoyed rambling through my blog. You've got plenty of time for knitting Easter eggs now ... I posted a pattern I made up for my Easter eggs if you're interested. Have a good weekend :)
DeleteGosh... I think they are beautiful! I can't imagine even being able to accomplish what you have created!!! Your hardwork will pay off!!! If I made mittens like that I would be rocking them out in the summer too!!! Ha!! Have a great weekend!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf I had been able to finish them this week, I could've worn them all week it's been that cold! Happy Weekend Nicole :)
DeleteWell I don't know anything about knitting so can offer any advice......but one thing I can say, don't rush, take your time. You're a great knitter, you'll get there in the end.....I just can't say where the end is!!! :) x
ReplyDeleteAnd that's good advice Ada! I am going to take my time now, because I already tried to rush through and botched it. So after visiting my dad this morning, I'm going to sort it out this afternoon. :)
DeleteTo me the mittens look nice, and the colour is lovely. I think you did great!! That cable pattern looks really difficult. (I am not a skilled knitter so I mostly knit simple items... I have never tried knitting cable pattern.)
ReplyDeleteDid you close the top of the mittens? If not you could try sewing the top into the shape you want from the inside.
Enjoy your weekend, Wendy :)
I saw some beautiful mittens on your site earlier Hilde, and they looked very complicated to me (in a Nordic pattern?). I get more interested in knitting a small item with a fancy detail than knitting something big like a sweater. I did close up the top, but will keep this tip in mind for another time. Thank you so much for your help. I'm going to sit down this afternoon and carefully rip it back to the decreasing rows and start again. This time I'm going to count that the cables are the same on both mittens as I go along. Have a great weekend Hilde :)
DeleteHi Wendy, I find them nicely done,...BUT my knowledge in knitting is very limited. I only learnt it after coming to live here. Since I am left handed I had to find a instructions for left handed knitting. So far I have done only scarfs :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Gaia :) I still consider myself a beginner at knitting too. I have trouble with reading the patterns. My mom was left-handed too, but when it came to knitting, she knit right-handed. Probably her mother and grandmother forced her to knit right-handed to make it easier for them to teach her. I'd love to see those scarves!
DeleteI have been wearing them a lot, but sure I will do a post about them.
DeleteI love your post. I struggle regularly with patterns. (its not the stitches but the way patterns are written) I change and rework patterns constantly mostly because I cant figure out what the heck the writer means.
ReplyDeleteSo thank you I feel your struggle. ;)
You have hit the nail right on the head!! This is exactly my problem too ... I can DO the stitches, but can't make sense of the patterns ... especially the older patterns! Too funny :D Thanks Beth!
DeleteThey look so cozy. I can knit but my mom is so much better at it than me so I got her to knit me these gorgeous fingerless gloves from Tiny Owl Knits.http://tinyowlknits.wordpress.com/catching-butterflies/ In fact they're so pretty I have 2 pairs one turquoise one purple. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have a look at this link in a bit (thanks for adding it!). Don't let the opportunity to learn from your mom pass you by. I did that, and you can read all about it in my post "Knitting with Tears". I could've saved myself a lot of frustration if I had asked my mom to teach me to knit ;)
DeleteI don't knit or crochet-but good for you with sticking with it and figuring out the pattern-I don't like taking things apart but once done and redone-you will forget about all that-love the color of the yarn
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathy ... I hate to redo things too, but I know that I'll never be happy with it unless I get it right (or at least acceptable to me!).
DeleteThose are going to be lovely when you get them finished, Wendy!
ReplyDeleteHopefully this weekend will be the end of them ... thanks Mitzi!
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