I love knitting gifts for Christmas. Especially quick and easy ones. So this year, I started my Christmas knitting in september.
Aside from having knitted for bébé O, I have two nieces that I knit for and our own daughter and our son's girlfriend. So that makes four beautiful adult girls. Last year, I made them each a pair of socks with self stripping yarn. They were a hit.
This year, I was looking for something different and a little bit more elegant. I found just the thing when we went to Calgary last september when our grand daughter (bébé O) was born.
You might remember,
I showed you my purchases.
The
store had a knitted sample of fingerless mitts made in a soft mohair yarn. These mitts had lace work and they were perfect for a Christmas gift. I love it when they have knitted samples in stores, they are so inspiring!
When I inquired about the pattern, they told me it came from a out of date knitting pamplet that featured Louisa Harding yarns, called Winter's Muse Landscapes .
You can see it here on Ravelry. They only had the store copy left. I was really disappointed that I could not purchase it, but the wonderful lady in the store made me a photocopy of the pattern (if I bought the yarn). The pattern is called
Swinstry. It's knitted with Louisa Harding
Impression yarn.
The store only had three colours of Louisa Harding Impression yarn and I bought all three colours, knowing that I would need to search to find another store that stocked other colours. It only takes one skein to knit the mitts.
The first pair I made are for my niece that has alway been crazy about green!
The pattern has a seam on the side of the hand and I tried to see if I could avoid it and knit it in the round, but with the lace pattern, I could not figure out how to do it. So I knitted them as written. They fit really really well.
They go high up on the wrist. There is a wonderful picot edging. I love picot edging!
The mitt is knitted with three different needle sizes. The smallest needles are used on the wrist area, making the mitt really snug around tha area...great idea!
So elegant...at least I think so !
This pair is for my own daughter. Colour is light peach with lavendar. I will look great with her winter white coat.
I ended up finding two more colours in Ontario.
This turquoise blue is for our son's girlfriend.
And this red and purple pair is for my godchild/niece. I think it will look good with her brown coat.
And of course, the last pair that is not yet sewn together...is mine! I might have the time to sew it up before Christmas...or not! But I am eager to wear them with my green winter jacket, so that should be enough of an incentive to do it very soon.
I have also knitted a black pair for my mother. I made them out of an alpaca blend yarn that is just so soft. I gave them to her before I had a chance to take a picture.
I must admit that I was a bit sad when I put the pattern away. I had never really knitted lacework before. I found this pattern easy to follow and a fairly quick knit. I would certainly do it again.
