I finished these mitts earlier this month, after a VERY long hiatus. I cast them on before we went to Europe last summer. They were one of only two projects I took, and I chose both because of their size. These mitts, from the Plain Jhaynes pattern, can be made from one tiny 25-gram ball of laceweight yarn. I’ve made them before, see:
Back at MDSW in 2013, I fell for this tiny ball of Zealana Air, which is a luxurious blend of 40% cashmere, 40% brushtail possum down (from New Zealand), and 20% mulberry silk:
There aren’t a lot of patterns you can make from only 25 grams of laceweight, but these mitts are on the list, so I returned to them. The ball took up almost no room in my bag and since I’d made the pattern before, I figured it would be easy to work on the go.
WRONG! It’s actually kind of hard to work such tiny stitches (laceweight on 2.0 mm needles). And the pattern is written to be worked on dpns, which I needed to “translate” for two circulars. Add to that the cognitive overload of being in places where English is not spoken (much), and I could not work on these. I finished the cuff on the plane ride over, but got hung up on the gusset increases while in France. I switched over to working on some vanilla socks instead.
As I tidied the studio before Christmas, I found this UFO again and resolved to finish. It’s not like me to leave a project hanging for so long. Once I re-focused, they were done in a jiffy. These are so elegant. They weigh only 19 grams (put together!) so they are light as air, and the yarn blend is very soft and luxurious.
Since I already have a pair of Plain Jhaynes, I gifted these to a colleague who works in a very cold office. I should know – it’s my old office! Look how perfectly this muted lavendar goes with her nails:
I plan to make this pattern one more time, because I have one more tiny ball of Zealana laceweight in stash.
This is “Kiwi,” a blend of 40% NZ merino, 30% organic cotton, and 30% possum. Not quite as luxurious as the “Air” but will still make a nice mitt.
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I'm doing a little pre-lunch catching up on knitting blogs, which I neglected over the break. You've been so busy! I totally get the listenting-to-other-languages cognitive overload. But these mitts are so pretty. I keep a pair at work for my cold office, too! Well, not quite so lacey -- more cabley!
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