Tag Archives: gloves

New Favorites: Mitts and more mitts

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New Favorites: Mitts and more mitts

Did I tell you I got to Rhinebeck without any mitts? Me, the woman who has knitted countless pair in the last four years. I won’t bore you with the details, but I wound up buying three different pairs of gloves over the course of two days, despite knowing how many were waiting for me at home. None of which quells my urge to cast on at least one of these—

1. Rosehip by Cello Knits. Any quelling here would be due to the fact that these are lace-weight knitted on US0 needles, but wouldn’t they feel amazing? For similar but in sport weight, see Ice Scrapers.

2. Scottish Barley by Cabinfour. Lovely cable-and-seed-stitch panel down the back of the hand would be fun to knit.

3. League by Klever Knits. Love those cables, and in worsted they’d be a satisfyingly quick knit. Pattern includes a matching hat.

4. Red Flannel by Alicia Plummer. Can’t go wrong with simple knits and purls.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Big ol’ cozy pullovers

New Favorites: Foldover mitts

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New Favorites: Foldover fingerless mitts

We’re having another serious cold spell in Nashville and, as has been well documented, all of my gloves are fingerless. There are days driving to and from work in my drafty old Jeep where I think my fingertips might actually fall off. Encasing my fingers it out of the question, but I am dreaming of mitts with foldover tops, knitted densely in some extra-warm, extra-rustic wool. Of course, lots of mitts can be knitted longer at the top for folding over, but these are pretty much exactly what I crave—

TOP: Lambing Mitts by Veronika Jobe (free pattern)

BOTTOM: Spate by Jane Richmond

And of course, the repeatedly aforementioned Fure.

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UNRELATED: In case you missed it on Friday, the Fashionary sketchbook is back in stock! Also, please note that today is a postal holiday so webshop orders from the weekend and today will ship tomorrow!

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PREVIOUSLY  in New Favorites: Jocelyn Tunney’s triangles

New Favorites: from Madder Anthology 2

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New Favorites: from Madder Anthology 2

Nobody does “simple” like Carrie Bostick Hoge. And nobody has quite the same finesse in taking existing patterns and changing them up — flipping the construction, changing the gauge, etc. — to make you look at them anew. She’s just released her Madder Anthology 2: Simple Pleasures collection and, as with others before it, it’s a combination of new patterns and reimagined favorites. Eleven sweaters and six accessories, all of them in spare but gorgeous combinations of garter stitch, ribbing and stockinette. And like a good caprese salad, where those three ingredients better each be perfection, she’s pretty much nailed it. My favorites:

ABOVE
top: Lila Winter, a bulky, top-down version of her popular Lila
bottom left: Liv, making me rethink my position on open-front cardigans
bottom right: Lainey Cowl, in chunky garter rib

BELOW
top left: Charlotte Light Accessories, a finer version of her Charlotte set
top right: Lori Shawl, lovely asymmetric (I presume) garter triangle (named for the model’s mother?)
bottom: Lucia Hoodie, making me rethink my position on hoodies

New Favorites: from Madder Anthology 2

PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Mosaic scarves

Favorite New Favorites

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My favorite New Favorites of 2014

Nearly every week there’s something I’m obsessing over and/or itching to cast on, as chronicled in New Favorites. Not necessarily new patterns, just new fixations. But in reality, I can only hope to knit a mere fraction of them. Some obsessions linger longer than others, but I can honestly say that 8/9 of last year’s Favorite New Favorites are still lodged in the front of my brain, begging for needle time. (The ninth one, Trillium, I actually knitted!) Here are the most tenacious patterns to have appeared in New Favorites in 2014:

SWEATERS
top left: Uniform Cardigan by Carrie Bostick Hoge (as seen in Carrie’s Uniform and, more recently, Quicker sweaters)
top right: Gillam by Kate Gagnon Osborn (as seen in From the Knightsbridge collection)
bottom left: Riviera by Wool and the Gang (as seen in WATG cotton toppers)
bottom right: Siberia Anorak by Helga Isager, minus the funnel neck (as seen in Helga does it again)

HATS
Too many to mention. I’m seriously thinking of doing a hat-per-month thing in 2015.

My favorite New Favorites of 2014

SOCKS
left: Inglenook by Adrian Bizilia (as seen in House socks redux)
right: School Girl by Deneise Kemp (as seen in Cabinfour’s collected socks)

My favorite New Favorites of 2014

WRAPS
top left: Joelle’s Diagonal Pinstripe Scarf by Joelle Hoverson (as seen in Ebony and ivory)
top right: Halligarth by Gudrun Johnston (as seen in The Wool People wraps)
bottom left: Palmyre by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne (as seen in Palmyre)
bottom right: Nimbus by Dawn Catanzaro (as seen in The Wool People wraps)

My favorite New Favorites of 2014

GLOVES
left: Fure by Olga Buraya-Kefelian (as seen in From the Woolfolk collection)
right: Hand Warmers for Beginners by Purl Soho (as seen in Garter bliss)

I suppose my very favorite New Favorites are the ones I actually cast on this year, some of which I even finished! As you’ll see in my comparatively paltry knitting year in review, coming up.

What were your favorite patterns this year?

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New Favorites: Garter bliss

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New Favorites: Garter bliss

Maybe it’s the surest sign that my brain is on total overload — the holidays, the persistence of moving boxes, the post-op husband situation — but this photo is the most calming, appealing thing I can think of in the whole wide world right now. If a therapist or yoga instructor told me to close my eyes and go to my happy place, I would call up this photo on the old mental projection screen and let out the biggest sigh. Garter stitch. Warm head. Warm hands. It’s Purl Soho’s Hat + Hand Warmers for Beginners pattern from the learn-to-knit-kit they released in fall of last year — just two versions of garter-stitch rectangles seamed into accessories — but I want so badly to knit without thinking right now that I am considering paying money for the cast-on counts. I already have the yarn!

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: from Marie Wallin’s Lakeland

Holiday knitting cheat sheet: Warm hands, warm hearts

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Holiday knitting cheat sheet: Warm hands, warm heart

Given that fingerless gloves have always been my favorite thing to knit, it’s funny that we’ve talked about hats for the whole family and cowls all around, but I’ve never done a holiday knitting rundown of which mitts to knit for whom. Well, here it is!

1. the girly girl: Rhea Wrist Warmers by Kari-Helen Rane — pretty lace on the back of the hand, ribbing everywhere else

2. the tomboy: Stadium Mitts by yours truly — what can I say? so simple and versatile (free pattern)

3. the traditionalist: Leaves Fingerless Gloves by Valentina Georgieva — easy cables-and-lace chart in aran weight (free pattern)

4. the english major: Brooke Mitts by Michele Rose Orne — simple colorwork that won’t slow you down

5. the sophisticate: Fure by Olga Buraya-Kefelian — yep, still have these long, luscious beauties on my mind

6. the dude: Man Hands by Shireen Nadir — slightly more dudely than the average unisex mitts

7. the art student: — Gradient Mitts by Krista McCurdy — ombré is irresistible (see also Purl Bee’s Colorblock Hand Warmers, longer, fingering, gussetless, free)

8. the unknown recipient: 70-Yard Mitts by Hannah Fettig — lightning fast, stash-busting and, depending on color, suitable for anyone

Like always, that last one is also a great idea to just knit to have on hand … for that Oops! moment.

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Speaking of gifts, if you’re not inclined to knit for the whole family (or you’re crafting your own wish list!), know that I’ve got lots of amazing goodies coming to Fringe Supply Co. in the coming weeks. I put one super fun gift item up over the weekend, just because I couldn’t resist: Shabd’s Magic Jar Dye Kit.

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PREVIOUSLY in Holiday knitting cheat sheets: Cowls all around

 

New Favorites: the Woolfolk collection

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New Favorites: the Woolfolk debut collection

I promise we’re going to talk about sleeves this week, all of you following the whole #fringeandfriendsknitalong series, but home life took precedence over knitting this weekend so I don’t quite have that together yet. Which is good, because it gives me a minute to publicly drool over these new patterns. Kristin Ford has been a big cheerleader for Fringe for some time, and I’m so thrilled to be able to shout about her new yarn company, Woolfolk. (Named for her grandmother, Katherine Woolfolk — is that too wonderful for words, or what?) I got a sneak peek at the yarns in May — have had a gorgeous little canister of them sitting on my desk ever since — and this weekend it all went live with the launch of the debut pattern collection, which Kristin smartly enlisted Olga Buraya-Kefelian to design. Kristin is a former architect with a taste for clean lines and smart construction, and I’ve been known to describe Olga as “our foremost knitting engineer.” It’s kind of a match made in heaven. I wasn’t privy to the creative brief or anything, but Olga put together a capsule wardrobe of knits — eight understated but flawlessly detailed pieces — and it’s been beautifully styled and shot. I’m blown away by it. These four I can’t live without:

TOP LEFT: Flet is just a perfectly shaped raglan turtleneck with chained ribbing and a stand-up collar (and I’ll take the pants and shoes too, please)

TOP RIGHT: Fure is a simple pair of ribbed mitts (which you know I can’t get enough of) made irresistible by their length, suppleness and fold-back top

BOTTOM LEFT: Vinkler is the scarf I want for winter, plain and simple — love what the geometry of the stitch pattern does for the edge of the fabric

BOTTOM RIGHT: Knop, likewise, is exactly the shape I want a hat to be, with the added panache of that shaped front brim (I definitely prefer it in the front!) and gorgeous use of fisherman’s rib

You can see the whole collection on Ravelry and find out more about the exquisite yarns at Woolfolkyarn.com. Congratulations, K&O — amazing.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: the City Cape