21. November 2011 09:12
by Jobo
0 Comments
I made a pair of hand-dyed, hand-spun and hand-knit Fiddlehead mittens last year . It was an epic project, and every step was done by hand. I love the results (which you can see here) but when someone asked if I could make another pair, I didnt really feel up to the challenge of doing it all the hard way again. Dont get me wrong - the first pair was a complete joy, its just that if I go through all of those steps to make another pair of mittens, Ill likely want to be creating something more unique in the end. I dont tend to make the same thing more than once.
So, then the hunt began for some suitable yarn. I could do as the pattern says, and just buy the 6 different colors and this would have been fine also, but I would have enough yarn to make like 4 more pairs (if the second pair is an unwelcome thought, believe me, the 3rd and 4th pairs would simply not get done) and there really isnt any point in that.
Then it occurred to me that I could get a color changing / color gradient yarn and use it for the contrast strand instead of all of the different solids! I knew I wouldnt really want to use something like Noro (both for the price, and the unpredictability of color sequencing) but there are a lot of different options out there now. I cant remember the name of the one I saw at Michael's but I believe it was mostly acrylic, so I didnt bother looking any harder at it for this project. I bet it would work lovely too (I think it was Impeccable, something like that). The next yarn I saw that fit the bill was the new Knit Picks Chroma Worsted. From the catalog, it looked like there were repeating colors in the ball, and there was also a white or chocolate brown option for the solid to match. I figured this was a perfect chance to try it out, so I ordered a ball of the cream/natural and a contrasting ball with a variety of greens/blues/purples called pool party

So far things seem to be working out quite well. I like the texture and softness of the yarn (though I dont think its really all that rough and tumble its a barely together single really) and the way the gradient is running through the design. The colors are different enough for the nice swirl pattern to still stand out. Ill be interested to see how the lighter green holds up in contrast to the white in the end.
Ive made it up past the thumb on the first mitten, and plan on finishing the pair for sure. I am really enjoying doing colorwork on a pair of long circulars too no gaps in between DPNS, and no fussing with the beginning and ends of rows. I still very much like working with DPNS, but circulars certainly have their advantages too!
As the mitten progresses, Ill post again! I think these are going to look great in the end!