Knit & Knag Designs

I have recently become addicted to knitting fingerless mittens, because they are such a wonderful garment for exploring textures and colours – small enough to take anywhere, and the finished object can be worn and admired easily (unlike socks, which tend to hide in shoes).

The most recent to come off my needles are the Stalactite gloves to the left.  I was playing around with Bavarian twisted cables, and came up with this pattern resembling stalactite formations in caves, ending with a drop (dripping down towards the cave floor).  These gloves have a fitted thumb gusset, and are designed to have a small amount of negative ease, and fit snugly.  The cuff is patterned all around, but the palm of the hand is all stockinette (as are the fingers).

Before that I was working on a pair of plain fingerless mitts, which were made more interesting by using a yarn with long colour-runs.  These ones have already been claimed by my daughter, and I think she may have worn them close to 24 hours a day since she got them.  Well, except for our vacation to Jamaica – swimming in fingerless gloves was too uncool even for her.  But now that we’re back home, the mitts are back on her hands.

The gloves have a plain ribbed cuff and then continue in stockinette.  There is a fitted thumb gusset and half-length fingers.

And the pair that started it all are my Ice Dancing mitts.  These were designed so that I wouldn’t have to freeze my hands off while knitting during my kids’ hockey practices.  All three children play hockey, so there is a lot of time spent at the arenas for us parents every week.  It’s really a perfect opportunity to knit, except it’s tends to get rather cold.

These mitts have no fingers at all to allow me to snake the yarn between my fingers to keep the tension while knitting.  They work wonders and I’ve been using them a lot since I finished them.