More Knitting Updates

In addition to the Easy Drop Stitch scarf I also fully completed one of the charcoal gray Fiddlehead mitten. Since a picture or two or four can save 1,000 words, let's go with a few pictures.

Finished Fiddlehead for hand 1

Pre-blocking

Post blocking

Inside of the second Fiddlehead

The top photo labeled the finished product is just that. One Fiddlehead mitten is complete, lining has been knit, it has been blocked and the green mitten has been turned inside the fancy outer mitten. On Sunday it even got the Minnesota test by my younger son. He blew hard into the mitten and declared it was a pretty good one warmth-wise because he couldn't feel his warm breath on his hand. From his point of view this meant it would be capable of keeping cold weather out as well. So in addition to these being Fiddlehead mittens I'm also calling them my Minnesota mittens.

Turning our attention to photo #2 and #3 the pre- and post blocked versions you'll note how uneven the knitting looks not only for the Fair Isle (colour-worked mitten), but also for the green mitten. It looks a bit uneven because it is hand made not machine made and there are visible vertical and horizontal lines running through both mittens in that pre-blocked photo. In the post-blocked photo you can see after the blocking the wool has fulled or bloomed and has evened out the stitch work. That's why one needs to block especially woolen end products.

Perhaps I should explain why a second, in my case, green, mitten is necessary. If you look at the last photo you see all the stranded yarn created on the inside of the mitten to make the beautiful designs on the outside. Although it is relatively snug, rings and/or fingers can get caught in those strands. So the designer of this pattern solved that problem by having the knitter do a second mitten. This means when the green mitten is pushed back into the Fair Isle mitten the wrong sides are together giving the wearer happiness from both the inside and outside of the mitten.

So one completed Fiddlehead with a second one on the needles. Perhaps this project will be fully finished before the snow flies.

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