April 2, 2025
Project - Colourwork Mittens
This was a stash busting travel project I brought with me on holiday. The white yarn is a handspun cotton, and the blue is some kind of fingering weight yarn. I held the blue yarn double to better match with the double knit (thicker) cotton. The blue was still a bit thinner than the white, meaning the white colour would stand out more in the pattern.
I found a nice snowflake pattern that would look nice in blue and white. The Evja pattern by Skeindeer Knits.
I learnt how to follow colour work patterns and how to catch floats on the back. I learnt how to hold two different yarns at once and not get the mixed up and tangled.
Every line is different; if you mess up a stitch, you very quickly realise, so you don't go too far doing the wrong thing, which is good.
The white cotton was probably not the best choice for gloves. They are not very stretchy making it a little tight to get on. Once they're on it feels fine. However the right glove, the second one I made, is somehow smaller / tighter than the first. Perhaps too tight. That's the main 'fail' with these gloves.
I had enough yarn left over to make another small thing, so I decided on a matching headband. That turned out well, except for the fact I had to add on some kind of border to make it not curl in on itself too much. I couldn't find a decent border style that would work, so I settled with an I-cord, which makes it a bit bulkier than I'd like. It's also not stretchy, like the mittens, but thankfully it's just the right size.
I need to do a second colourwork project, with only wool, to evaluate if colourwork does reduce the stretch in the fabric, or if it's purely the cotton. I hope it's the latter as I want to make a fair isle jumper on day which is loads of different colours.
The main downside of it is having to look at the pattern grid constantly, as there were very little pattern repeats. Every stitch needs to be carefully lined up with the pattern. It can make you go a bit cross-eyed after a while. I think for my next project I'll just a bit of mindless knitting.
Overall, both the gloves and headband are wearable, and that's the main thing. So I will definitely enjoy wearing them next winter.
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Charlotte Leysen
Hi there I'm Charlotte from London and I am a Millennial hobbiest. By that I mean I love making things, for both the process and the outcomes. On this blog I talk about all the things I'm working on and learning each week. On some projects I will go into a bit more detail on what I did and my experience through it.
Some facts about me:
- I am not a perfectionist, preferring to complete something than to attempt to make something flawless.
- I am in a constant cycle of building up inspiration, executing the ideas, then winding down to reflect and regenerate.
- I am interested in almost anything that can be made from scratch using nature / natural materials.
