Spring Blossom Mittens

A last minute Christmas gift, I knit these in two days. To keep the knitting marathon less monotonous, I reversed the colors for the second mitten. Oddly, this changes the way the colors look; the turquoise appears darker as a contrasting color than as the main color.

I wasn't completely happy with the pattern. The gauge information given is misleading: You're told to pick a yarn that knits to 30-35 stitches per 9 cm, while the width of the mittens is supposed to be 30 stitches and 10 cm. Knit with the given gauge, the mittens turn out pretty narrow. I knew to expect this, and with some blocking I was able to get the size closer to what I wanted. Also, the decreases or supposed grafting of the stitches are not explained at all in the pattern, so I would imagine some beginner knitters might have problems following it, even though I was able to figure it out on my own.

The Ravelry project page

Zugspitze

Knit from start to completion in one weekend, an otherwise simple pattern turned into an intensive project. Just like the first time knitting Lintilla, I did not pink up the wraps. Wollmeise Pure in the colorway Mont Blanc with its subtle variegation fits the pattern well and makes me think of the highest point in Germany, Zugspitze, not so far from the origin of Wollmeise.

The Ravelry project page

Marin

I had the same feeling knitting this shawl as I did with Ysolda's other pattern Rose Red, that it's designed in such a genius way that it blows my mind. The shaping and the reversibility is done in such a way that, it seems to me, it takes special skill to envision it. Or, at least I wouldn't be able to design something so simple and genius at the same time (or even separately, for that matter).

I knit it in Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga!, in a custom colorway from when Cephalopod Yarns had a limited-time offer to dye a sweater quantity in any color from an inspiration photo. Everyone else went for something multi-colored while, unsurprisingly, the color I most wanted to see was a simple semisolid. An example of the adventurous spirit of the same person who had her hair dyed, and had it turn out so close to her original color that nobody noticed (true story). The shawl is going to be gifted to someone who's a big fan of red.

The Ravelry project page

Fontainebleau

It was a pleasant experience to be a test knitter for this shawl pattern, Fontainebleau, by Elise Dupont. The pattern was well-written and the knitting pretty easy-going. During knitting it seemed as if the columns of slipped stitches would pull the fabric too much, but wet-blocking evened it out quite well. The Vikkel braids felt a bit slow-going at first, but knitting them got faster after a little practice, and I like the kind of edging they create.

The Ravelry project page