Red Borika

Pattern: Borika Gloves (personal pattern)
Yarn: YarnArt Pure Merino, 100% wool, 50 g, 140 m
Needle: DPNs 3.5 mm (US 4)

This is the second pair of Borika Gloves I've knitted, incorporating some minor modifications (improvements) to the original pattern I made for me in green. The yarn is the same pure merino I used for the first Borika, but white and hand dyed in red. Alas, I'm unable to shoot reds with my camera, I really don't know why, but the colors always turn out very different from the real thing. The brim of the gloves is knitted with a small amount of the yarn I dyed with a mixture of lighter and darker red, in an imitation of dye-dipping. The transition is much more subtle and natural in real life colors.

This pattern is free and downloadable in English from here:

BORIKA GLOVES - FREE PATTERN
 

Borika Gloves

Pattern: Borika Gloves (personal pattern)

Yarn: YarnArt Pure Merino, 100% wool, 50 g

Needle: DPNs 3.5 mm

Time to knit: 4 days

I had more than one ball of yarn left from my Opulent Raglan sweater, so I decided to make a pair of gloves. I've had this idea of the stepwise decreasing mock cables in my head for some time, so instead of following other people's patterns, this time I tried to make my own. I've knitted enough mitts and gloves already and it was actually fairly easy. Of course, some unraveling was also included in the process :)

I've written a very detailed description of the gloves in Bulgarian and I intend to test the pattern in my favorite Cashmira yarn and then write it up in English as well.
Because I really like it :)))

Описанието засега е само за сравнително малък номер ръкавици, каквито пасват на моите ръце :))) - обиколка на дланта 18 см, дължина на дланта 8 см, ластик 7 см. В описанието съм внесла някои корекции на реално оплетените ръкавици, каквито мисля да направя когато плета втори чифт от модела - дясната ръкавица е с обратни псевдоосморки и стъпаловидните плетеници са изместени по-центрирано върху дланта.

ПОДРОБНО ОПИСАНИЕ НА РЪКАВИЦИТЕ

Meh

Couldn't resist the urge to try some fair isle knitting again - this time fingerless mitts. I like Mary Jane Mucklestone's fair isle mitts and after a survey of my scraps of yarn I settled for the Muckle mitts.

My yarn is Merino De Luxe, 50% wool 50% acrylic, DPNS 3.25 mm.
The project is fun and quick, but the initial drive left me after I finished the first mitt. I just don't like it. The yarn is kind of wrong, the combination of dark brown and beige is drab, but most of all the palm part is too tight. I love my mitts to fit, but this mitt is almost like a bandage :).
I also have to work on my needle transitions, because there are still small ladders between the stitches, held on different needles. I don't have this issue when knitting in only one color.

 

And I'm not crazy about the thumb. This kind of construction is not quite ergonomic, as the human palm is not constructed like that, with the thumb sticking out of the palm, so there's some pulling and stretching, and the fact, that the mitt is pretty narrow anyway doesn't help.

But fair isle mitts are so cute, that I might try them again in different yarn and color.

Zerda

Pattern: Natalya by Jody Richards
Yarn: Lanoso Zerda 30% alpaca 70% dralon, 175 m per 100 g
DPNs: 4 mm

You know I had some misgivings concerning these gloves, but now that they are done, I'm quite happy with them. They match my boots perfectly, they are warm and comfortable, they even look good :)

This time I tried a new technique for closing the tips of the fingers - only one row of k2tog, to reduce the stitches to 6 sts. for all the fingers and to 8 sts. for the thumb, and then I grafted the stitches 3 by 3 and 4 by 4 for the thumb. For thick and coarse yarn like Zerda this was the perfect tip closure. And I also switched to 3.25 mm DPNs for the last two rows of the fingers.

Singles

I've finished a few firsts.

The first cushion - yes, it's been decided the entrelac mitered square thing is going to be a pair of decorative (picnic?) cushions. Working on this project was fun and a study on color combinations. Apart from the obvious good pairs (red and yellow, pink and lilac, orange and canary), there were some surprising hits like orange and furn green or lilac and dark greenish grey. And a few obvious bad combinations, like pink and green, or lilac and fern green. It was also interesting to see how the colors chameleonized when paired. All in all, the observations might be useful for future reference when I'm knitting combo sweaters. I'm very pleased with how this project is turning out.

I'll have to plan a visit to COMO or IKEA these days to buy two decorative cushions 40x 40 cm, to come up with a suitable color for the border I-cord and to make the second cushion (not in my immediate plans actually).

The second single is a leg warmer. Cast this on three times, you know - the third time's the charm, the usual developments here - the first one was too wide, the second too tight, I think I got the third one right. I wonder if the other knitting folks out there unravel as much as I do or is it only me and my obsession with getting the things as perfect as possible? Am I to worry? Just kidding, there's nothing wrong with me (right?).

I know the cable is almost invisible on the black background, but still ... a k2p2 rib would have been too boring :) I've already cast on the second leg warmer, these will most probably be my next FO.

The third single is a glove and my inability to make a decision over this glove might actually be worrisome ... or ridiculous. Being a Libra is such a nuisance (eyes rolling :). As I mentioned before, I added fingers to a fingerless gloves pattern, which would have probably worked well (it did for three other people on Ravelry, who did the same), if the yarn was suitable for gloves. But it turns out thick coarse yarn produces rather rustic unflattering gloves.

So I keep on staring at these and still can't decide - shall I knit the second one or unravel the first and make something different, another pair of leg warmers or men's gloves? Hm, looking at the pictures, probably it isn't as bad as I thought and it's certainly very warm. OK, I think I'll make the second glove and be over with it :) Crazy, right?

For other  people's WIPs - visit TAMI