Knitting projects – Page 24 – New England's Narrow Road

Knitting Review of The Oulu Mitts Colorwork Pattern

The cold weather is here, and even in Florida temperatures have been freezing in my area. Knitting mittens and better yet, for me, knitting fingerless mitts, has become an obsession. I purchased the Oulu Mitts pattern as it was on sale in December. The pattern is from Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks.

I could see from photos that the cuff was a corrugated rib, which I am familiar with, and I can do colorwork. I had the right type of worsted yarn called for, so why not?

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn in colors Old World, Amaranth, and Caraway — Shelter in Brown: Caraway, Red: Amaranth, Blue: Old World

The yarn is Brooklyn Tweed “Shelter” in colors: “Caraway” – the tan for my Main Color, “Amaranth” red for the ribbing, and “Old World” navy blue. I had this yarn on hand so had to find three colors that would work. In the end, I like the look. Here is the left hand mitt drying, in size Medium.

One mitt is finished and drying
Palm side of left hand mitt

Things to Know Before Knitting This Pattern

First thing to know about this pattern is that the directions are in chart form. The chart shows a k1 MC, P1 CC for the ribbing, which is actually a corrugated rib. The designer does not mention this and assumes the knitter will know how to do corrugated ribbing.

Corrugated ribbing of Oulu Mitt pattern — Beginning left hand mitt

The pattern notes say that the instructions are “written for the Magic Loop method of working in the round” – but, that is not really important because the mitts can be knit with small circular needles (which I used) or DPNs. She only references Magic Loop for the cast-on and dividing stitches between needles. I don’t really see the point in mentioning this at all.

Each of the three sizes has a “right” and “left” mitt chart to follow – so 6 separate charts are included. I began with the left, medium size, and ran into trouble with the thumb colors. The color chart is off, and since it was my first mitt, I wondered if I was doing it wrong or if the pattern was supposed to be that way. Eventually, I had to do the alternating colors and ignore the thumb pattern. Because of this, my thumb colors are not all correct, but the yarn covers the mistakes well enough. This problem was not mentioned specifically by test knitters or previous knitters, but a few did mention having trouble in general.

Neither the right nor left hand chart made sense to me when it came to knitting the thumb. It could be me, or a problem with the pattern, I honestly don’t know. In general I can follow patterns, and I have knit mittens without any problem, but the Oulu pattern did not make sense.

Pattern is wrong for left hand thumb — Thumb chart is off

Getting Gauge

I did not knit a swatch and used my first, washed and dried mitt to get my gauge. My gauge is way off for rows, which is why I needed to add an extra pattern repeat at the top. I got 24 rows in four inches, and she (the designer) has 31 rows!

While I was knitting the first mitt, I thought the mitt would end up too tight. In fact I added a couple extra stitches near the knuckles to widen it a bit. But the day after I finished knitting, I wore it outside while feeding the birds on a cold 32 degree morning, and the fit was good. Then I washed it and began mitt #2.

Oulu cuff and back of hand pattern — Cuff and most of hand finished

Changes I Made to Thumb Knitting

Needle size & Thumb stitches: Although the mitt seemed tight at first, it ended up fitting me very nicely. I knit the size Medium, on size 6 needles for the ribbing at the cuff and top. The rest of the mitt was knit using size 7 needles.

I did not use the smaller, size 6 needles for the thumb, as the pattern calls for. In fact I added stitches, by picking up 4-5 in place of the 1 stitch, and it’s perfect. Doing as the pattern suggested would have created a very tight thumb – for me. If you are also a tight knitter, you may want to do the same on the thumb.

Wearing Oulu mitt for left hand — Before washing

Pattern repeats and bind off: I added one more repeat at the top of the hand to get the correct length for me – due to my smaller gauge. For the next pair I would maybe make the cuff shorter. It’s hard to say if I will appreciate the length on the wrist area.

The pattern calls for a “stretchy bind-off” and I did a regular, rather loose bind-off which was fine. Some of the reviewers mentioned that doing a stretchy bind-off made the top flare. I can imagine that would happen. As it turned out the top ribbing could have been more narrow overall. I will plan to decrease a couple of stitches before doing the top ribbing next time.

Finished! I had trouble following the pattern for both the right and left mitt. Don’t know if it was just me, or the pattern. I had to figure too many things out for myself. Maybe a more experienced knitter would not have this trouble.

Oulu mitts — Finished the Oulu Mitts before the end of 2020

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Free, Fast and Cute Pattern For Maine Morning Mitts

This cute fingerless mitts pattern, Maine Morning Mitts, is easy to knit and is good practice for knitting in the round. I love knitting hats in the round, but not so much these smaller circumferences. Mitts, mittens and socks require DPN’s, small circumference needles, or the use of Magic Loop.

A Quick Little Scarf Knit For a Visit North

A trip to New Hampshire is planned – finally. With all this Covid stuff, New Englanders do not want visitors! I have not visited my children for over two years at this point. So it’s time.

I won’t be traveling in deep winter, but early Spring. It could still be cold and I suddenly thought about packing frugally for cold weather. Although I have loads of hand knits, most are bulky and I will only take one medium sized suitcase.

For this reason I decided to knit a smallish neck wrap.

I like the shape of crescent shawls. I wanted something not as big as a true scarf, and I wanted it to be useful and warm. Something I could just wrap around my neck on walks.

I’ve knit quite a few shawls and wraps, but few have been crescent shaped. My pattern collection has built up over the past couple of years and I began to dig through. It’s been a year of conserving and using up what I have, including yarn.

The Pattern is “Railings”, by Janina Kallio of Woolenberry

Railings is a pattern I had purchased and printed out a while ago, but never knit. To be sure of the shape, I looked it up on Ravelry and read the comments of other knitters. Many said it ended up too small, so I have added a few more rows.

Knitting the Railings crescent shawl — My Railings with stripes of mohair

First thing to consider, after the pattern was chosen, was color. I didn’t want sock yarn because I want this wrap to be warm. It also had to be soft. Digging through my stash, I found a ball of Anzula in dark gray. It is soft and wonderful and has 10% cashmere. To add some fuzziness, I made stripes of Anzula and mohair held together. White mohair would not have been my preferred choice, but it’s what I had.

I might run out of yarn, but I have more dark balls to use up. I’m not really concerned with color matching, just a warm and comfy end product.

Railings crescent scarf in gray showing the pattern — Showing the patterning

Railings crescent shaped scarf tied around my neck — This scarf is the perfect fit

The plan is to have this shawl wrap around my neck with the ends hanging down in front. *Update: photo above shows it wrapped and tied twice in front. I think it is the perfect size. The other thing I’d like to knit before my trip is a pair of fingerless mitts.

Woolenberry Patterns – She Does Shawls

When I think of Woolenberry, I think shawls. She is a good designer to follow if you are a bit of a beginner and want knitting practice. She offers a nice variety of fairly easy patterns which are easy to follow. She may also have more difficult patterns as I am not familiar with all she offers.

I have knit her Dewdrops shawl. It was an easy knit and is triangle shaped.

Simple Hand-knit Unisex Hats For Beginners

Hats are one of the best things to knit, whether you are a beginner or advanced. All types of stitches can be used to create intricate designs, or do simple knits all the way around. My collection of unisex hat designs on this page are some I have recently knit. They are all fairly easy to create, and men and women alike can wear them by simply changing the colors. Some of the patterns are free, so what do you have to lose?

Useful info: Hats generally take less than a skein of yarn to knit! You will need a set of 16 inch long needles in the size suggested with double-pointed needles in the same size for the crown decreases. Find a stretchy cast-on to use – I like the Old Norwegian / German Twisted cast on. Youtube has videos, and it is simple once you learn.

Northward Hat

The Northward Hat is a free downloadable pattern by Tin Can Knits and has chunky cables. If you’ve never knit cables, this hat will help you learn. I knit this pattern using bulky “Franca” yarn by Manos del Uruguay, and I knit it in one day! This yarn is also washable, so it’s good for gifting purposes.

Northward cable hat hand-knit — Chunky one day hat

Two by Two Hat – Free Download

Blue, 2×2 ribbed watch cap. I honestly can’t remember what pattern I followed for this hat, but it’s obviously a k2, p2 ribbing all the way up to the decreases at the crown. I may not have used a pattern – wait, here it is – the Two by Two pattern. Hats like this are quite easy to knit once you know how many stitches to cast on for what weight yarn. Your own knitting experience will tell you that number.

Blue yarn is Miss Bab’s Madison which is an Aran weight and knits up fast. It’s also 100% Superwash Merino wool. I made this one for my son who will never hand-wash a hat!

2x2 rib boys hat — Blue hat in 2×2 rib using Miss Bab’s Madison yarn

Churchmouse Ribbed Watch Cap

This brown hat is a Churchmouse pattern Ribbed Watch Cap. See my notes on knitting this one. It is knit inside out. I used another washable yarn from Lorna’s Laces. This pattern takes some time as smaller needles are used so there are more stitches to deal with. The decreases are odd as well – to me anyway. It also comes as a Beanie, which might be the place to start.

finished watchcap hand knit — Finished watchcap

The Colorado Chic(k) Beanie is a free download and it mimics the popular hats of it’s name. This one is very simple, and especially if you leave off the double brim, as I did. I was using up some Miss Bab’s Madison yarn in aran weight, so this was finished fast. I think I would like it better in a solid color.

Finished knitting the Colorado Chic beanie — Colorado Chic hat knit in Miss Bab’s Madison “Mad Hatter” colorway

All of these hats can be found on the Ravelry site where you will see more colors used. It’s a great place to find ideas for yarn types and finished projects in colors you may be considering.