Twisted

Not quite sure whether the twist looks "as designed" or just as if the mitt doesn't fit ...

Cable Experiment Mitts with Latvian Twist

A friend asked me whether I could knit a pair of my Cable Experiment Mitts for her - in dark red with some orange ...  Without thinking much, I started the first mitt with a latvian twist at the lower edge - only to realize later that it would be difficult to the same thing on the upper edge. I ended up, knitting a seperate piece - the same latvian twist I did as the lower edge - and grafted it to the top.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

So, here's how I did it in more detail:

• I cast on 56 stitches as explained in the original pattern. 
•  But instead of joining them in the round, I knitted 6 rows of garter stitch (2 rows in the contrast colour (orange), 2 rows in the main colour (red) and 2 rows in the contrast colour. I then cut the yarn of the contrast colour.
• Using the main colour, I knitted 7 stitches and turned the rest of the stitches around the left-hand needle (that's the latvian twist - for more information see the links below), I repeated this to the end of the row and then joined the piece in the round.
• Leaving out the ribbing rows of the original pattern, I then started to knit the pattern repeats (rows 1 to 20) and followed the pattern (thumb gusset and all).
• When I had finished I cut the yarn (of the main colour) leaving a tail long enough for grafting.
• On a different needle I cast on 56 stitches and knitted 6 rows of garter stitch (2 in CC, 2 in MC and 2 in CC) - as on the lower edge I knitted (in MC) 7 stitches, turned the not-yet-knitted stitches around the left-hand needle and repeated that process to the end of the row.
• I then grafted the edge to the mitt, wove in the ends and started the second mitt :)

Some links:

• Here's a photo tutorial showing the latvian twist, however it is shown in stockinette stitch whereas I did it in garter stitch, but the principle (knit a few stitches, turn the rest of your stitches around the left-hand needle once) remains the same.
• Here's a video tutorial showing the latvian twist - again in stockinette. 
• Grafting in stockinette (kitchener stitch) is explained in this tutorial or shown in this video.

Pieces of Eight

Ever since I saw the Infinity Cardi-Wrap by Kristine Omdahl, I wanted to do something similar with fingerless gloves. It took me a three attempts to finally get it right.

Nostalgia Brioche Cowl

I don't know whether it's because of the colours or of the pattern, but with its wavy edge this cowl reminds me somehow of "olden days" - that's why I called it "Nostalgia". It's a brioche pattern - it's reversible and both sides are attractive.

The finished cowl measures 22 cm in height and 116 cm in circumference.




This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Materials:

• 80 grams of DK weight yarn Colour A
• 80 grams of DK weigh yarn in Colour B
• 4.5 mm circular knitting needles
• 12 stitch markers
• a tapestry needle (to weave in ends)

Techniques:
I used the terminology (brioche notation) from briochestitch.com.
However, here are some short (!) explanations in my own words. If these are too short, please refer to the original link.

• brsskpsso = slip 1 stitch (i.e. two loops), brk2tog (i.e. 3 loops), psso -> decrease by 2 stitches
• brk3tog = bkr2tog, return stitch to left needle and pass next stitch over -> decrease by 2 stitches
• brkyobrk = bark 1 stitch (and don't slip it off the left needle), yo, and bark the same stitch again -> increase by 2 stitches
• sl1yof = slip 1 stitch while doing a yarn over -> stitch that's not knitted but just slipped in the brp-round
• yfsl1yo = put yarn in front and slip 1 stitch while doing a yarn over -> stitch that's not knitted but just slipped in the brk-round

Some videos showing two-colour brioche in general

• video part 1 (cast on),  
• video part 2 (general two-colour brioche pattern repeat)

Instructions:

CO 216 stitches using Colour B - or any other number of stitches divisible by 18. Put in stitch markers between each 18 stitches.

Knit one round in Colour B (setup round)

Round 1a (Colour A - first time): *sl1yof p (repeat from * to end)
Round 1a (Colour A - next times): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 1b (Colour B): *brsskpsso yfsl1yo,  6 times: (brk yfsl1yo), brkyobrk yfsl1yo (repeat from * end)

(Note for all brk-rounds: the instructions between stars (*) denote one pattern repeat (i.e. the space between two stitch markers))

Round 2a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 2b (Colour B): *brsskpsso yfsl1yo, 5 times: (brk yfsl1yo),  brkyobrk yfsl1yo, once: (brk yfsl1yo) (repeat from * to end)

Round 3a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 3b (Colour B): *brsskpsso yfsl1yo, 4 times: (brk yfsl1yo),  brkyobrk yfsl1yo, twice: (brk yfsl1yo) (repeat from * to end)

Round 4a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 4b (Colour B): *brsskpsso yfsl1yo, 3 times: (brk yfsl1yo),  brkyobrk yo, 3 times: (brk yfsl1yo) (repeat from * to end)

Round 5a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 5b (Colour B): *brsskpsso yfsl1yo, twice: (brk yfsl1yo),  brkyobrk yfsl1yo, 4 times: (brk yfsl1yo) (repeat from * to end)

Round 6a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 6b (Colour B): *brsskpsso yfsl1yo, once: (brk yfsl1yo),  brkyobrk yfsl1yo, 5 times: (brk yfsl1yo) (repeat from * to end)

Round 7a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 7b (Colour B): *brsskpsso yfsl1yo, brkyobrk yfsl1yo, 6 times: (brk yfsl1yo) (repeat from * to end)



Round 8a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 8b (Colour B): *brkyobrk yfsl1yo, 6 times: (bkr yfsl1yo) brk3tog yfsl1yo (repeat from * to end)

Round 9a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 9b (Colour B): *brk yfsl1yo, brkyobrk yfsl1yo, 5 times: (bkr yfsl1yo) brk3tog yfsl1yo (repeat from * to end)

Round 10a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 10b (Colour B): *twice: (brk yfsl1yo), brkyobrk yfsl1yo, 4 times: (bkr yfsl1yo) brk3tog yfsl1yo (repeat from * to end)

Round 11a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 11b (Colour B): *3 times: (brk yfsl1yo), brkyobrk yfsl1yo, 3 times: (bkr yfsl1yo) brk3tog yfsl1yo (repeat from * to end)

Round 12a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 12b (Colour B): *4 times: (brk yfsl1yo), brkyobrk yfsl1yo, twice: (bkr yfsl1yo) brk3tog yfsl1yo (repeat from * to end)

Round 13a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 13b (Colour B): *5 times: (brk yfsl1yo), brkyobrk yfsl1yo, once: (bkr yfsl1yo) brk3tog yfsl1yo (repeat from * to end)

Round 14a (Colour A): *sl1yof brp (repeat from * to end)
Round 14b (Colour B): *6 times: (brk yfsl1yo), brkyobrk yfsl1yo, brk3tog yfsl1yo (repeat from * to end)

Repeat Round 1a - 14b once more, then repeat round 1a - 7b

Last round (Colour B): *k1 brp1 (repeat from * to end)
Bind off using Colour B.
Weave in ends.

Tomatoes and Coffee - Short Socks

After knitting a pair of Charade socks (pattern by Sandra Park on Ravelry), I started to "research" other sock types and came across the "sweet tomato heel" technique - and I wanted to try it :)
(Another type of heel would be the yo-yo heel, ... maybe I'll try that one later ...)

So, these short socks use the sweet tomato-heel technique by Cat Bordhi (http://catbordhi.com/) and a stitch that's called coffee bean pattern (Kaffeebohnenmuster).

This is not a complete pattern, but just a rough sketch.




Techiques:

• Tomato Heel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRc3309JUyc . In short, the heel is constructed of three short row wedges.

• The "Coffee Bean Pattern" consists of 4 rows.
  Row 1: p1 k2 p1
  Row 2: p1 k1 yo k1
  Row 3: p1 k3 p1
  Row 4: p1 sl1 k2 psso p1

• Toe decreases, as described in this Knitty article (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/FEATsocks101.html, section 9) or shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4bEhqXgOIU

Instructions:
With 3.25mm needles CO60
With 2.5mm needles knit 10 rows of ribbing
Switch to 3mm needles and knit 3 sets of coffee bean pattern
Knit tomato heel (while knitting the full rounds, continue coffee bean pattern on the front third)
Continue the foot, knitting coffee bean pattern on the front third and stockinette on the backside (2 thirds).
When foot is long enough, do toe decreases and graft leftover stitches.

Brioche in Montreux

I called this cowl "Brioche in Montreux" because I knitted part of it on the way to the Christmas market in Montreux.
A two-colour brioche technique is used with three cabling strands distributed around the cowl. Since it's a brioche pattern, it's reversible - both sides are equally attractive.

After blocking it had a circumference of 60 cm and a height of 29 cm.





This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



Materials

• 30-40 grams of fingering weight yarn (Colour A)
• 30-40 grams of fingering weight yarn (Colour B)
• 3.5mm circular needles
• 3 stitch markers
• tapestry needle (to weave in ends)

Abbreviations

• The abbreviations brk & yfsl1yo, brp & sl1yof are taken from briochestitch.com. 
• C8F: make a front cross cable over 8 stitches, i.e. put 4 stitches (here this means on a cable needle and leave them in front of your piece, knit the next 4 stitches from the left needle (in this case the 4 stitches are knitted: brp, sl1yof, brp, sl1yof), then knit the 4 stitches from the cable needle (i.e.  brp, sl1yof, brp, sl1yof,).
• C8B: make a back cross cable over 8 stitches, i.e. put 4 stitches on a cable needle and leave them in the back of your piece,  knit the next 4 stitches from the left needle (in this case the 4 stitches are knitted: brp, sl1yof, brp, sl1yof), then knit the 4 stitches from the cable needle (i.e.  brp, sl1yof, brp, sl1yof).

Techniques

• Two-colour brioche knitted in the round: video part 1 (cast on), video part 2 (pattern repeat) - direct links to YouTube 
• Link to an article that explains two-colour brioche

Instructions
CO120 stitches with colour B (white on the photo), placing a stitch marker after 40sts, 80 sts and 120 sts.
Join in round

Round 1a (Colour A): * p1 sl1yof (repeat from * to end)
Round 1b (Colour B): * yfsl1yo brk (repeat from * to end)
 
Round 2a (Colour A): * brp1 sl1yof (repeat from * to end of round)
Round 2b (Colour B): * yfsl1yo brk (repeat from * to end of round)

Repeat rounds 2a and 2b a total of 4 times


Round 5a (Colour A): * brp1 sl1yof (repeat from * a total of 3 times), C8F, +brp1 sl1yof (repeat from + to next marker);
    * brp1 sl1yof (repeat from * a total of 3 times), C8F, +brp1 sl1yof (repeat from + to next marker);
    * brp1 sl1yof (repeat from * a total of 3 times), C8F, +brp1 sl1yof (repeat from + to end of round)
Round 5b (Colour B): * yfsl1yo brk (repeat from * to end of round)

Repeat rounds 2a and 2b a total of 3 times

Round 9a (Colour A): brp 1 sl1yof, C8B, C8B *brp1 ysl1yof (repeat from * to next marker);
     brp 1 sl1yof, C8B, C8B *brp1 ysl1yof (repeat from * to next marker);
     brp 1 sl1yof, C8B, C8B *brp1 ysl1yof (repeat from * to next end of round)
Round 9b (Colour B): * yfsl1yo brk (repeat from * to end of round)

Repeat rounds 2a and 2b a total of 3 times

Round 13a = Round 5a
Round 13b = Round 5b

Repeat rounds 2a and 2b a total of 5 times - you have now completed round 18b

Repeat from round 5a to round 18b a total of 5 times, ending with round 17b - or until the cowl has reached your desired height.

Bind off in a p1k1-pattern using colour B. 

Weave in ends - and block.

Triangulation Wrist Warmers

Knitted in one piece without cutting the yarn, these mitts formed first in a triangular then diagonal shape. They are first knitted back and forth, then in the round, then back and forth and in the end in the round again. Since they are knitted in one piece, you won't have to cut your yarn and you'll only have two ends to weave in per mitt.

Since they don't cover much of the hands, they are rather wrist warmers than fingerless gloves. 

About 4 years after publishing this pattern, Bernadette from Törtchens Blog tried to translate this pattern into German (thank you!!). And during the course of this translation, she discovered quite a few mistakes. So, in October 2017 I duly corrected them.

The German translation is available here.
Eine deutsche Übersetzung findet sich hier. (erstellt von Bernadette von Törtchens Blog)

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


Materials

• about 40 grams of fingering weight yarn
• 2.5 mm needles
• 3 (different) stitch markers

Techniques:

• Knitted cast-on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nJKC2xT0Q4

Construction

These mitts are constructed in a different manner of the normal in-the-round loom-style fingerless gloves. They are started at the lower edge with only 4 stitches CO. Then a triangle is knitted flat (part I); when the lower edge is wide enough, both ends are joined in the round and knitted upwards diagonally (part 2). Part 3 is knitted flat with decreases at the upper end, while part 4 is knitted in the round again, drecreasing again until thumb width is reached (see picture on the right).



Instructions

Part I - knitted flat

CO4
Set-up row: k2 place marker k2 (this marker will be called middle marker)
Row 1: kfb; k to st before marker kfb; slip marker; kfb k to last stitch; kfb
Row 2: k
Repeat until there are 60 sts on your needles (or until the lower edge is wide enough to fit around your wrists).
End with row 1,
then join in round - place marker (this marker will be called end marker)


Part II - in the round

Round 1: k
Round 2: k2tog; k until 1 st before middle marker; kfb; slip marker; kfb; k until 2 sts before end marker; ssk
Repeat these 2 rounds a total of 5 times

Round 11: p
Round 12: k2tog; k until 1 st before middle marker; kfb; slip marker; kfb; k until 2 sts before end marker; ssk
Repeat rounds 11 and 12 a total of 5 times

Round 21: k
Round 22: k2tog; k until 1 st before middle marker; kfb; slip marker; kfb; k until 2 sts before end marker; ssk
Repeat rounds 21 and 22 a total of 5 times

Round 31: p
Round 32: k2tog; k until 1 st before middle marker; kfb; slip marker; kfb; k until 2 sts before end marker; ssk
Repeat rounds 31 and 32 a total of 5 times

Round 41: k
Round 42: k2tog; k until 1 st before middle marker; kfb; slip marker; kfb; k until 2 sts before end marker; ssk
Repeat rounds 41 and 42 a total of 5 times

Afterwards k to middle marker - remove middle marker; and TURN WORK.
Now there is only one marker left.


Part III - knitted flat

Row 1: k to last stitch before end – if you want to avoid a gap at the upper outer edge, you can now connect the first and last stitches of that row like this: slip the last stitch to the right needle and - using a crochet hook - draw the working yarn through the first stitch of that row, put the loop on the left needle, move the last (not yet knitted) stitch back to the left needle, knit the two stitches together (see picture on the left). Alternatively, just knit the last stitch.

Row 2: ssk; k until the last two stitches; k2tog
Row 3: k
Row 4: ssk; k until two stitches before marker; ssk; slip marker; k2tog; k until two stitches before end; k2tog
Row 5: k
Repeat rows 2-5 rows twice more more.

Row 11: p
Row 12:  ssk; k until two stitches before marker; ssk; slip marker; k2tog; k until two stitches before end; k2tog
Row 13: p
Row 14: ssk; k until the last two stitches; k2tog
(if you started part 2 at 60 stitches, you should now have 40 sts on your needles)

Place marker (this will be called M2) and add 20 stitches by using a knitted cast on – place marker (this is the new „round end marker“) join in round. The picture on the right shows the naming and placement of the markers. I opted to distribute the stitches on three needles instead of using markers.



Part IV & thumb - knitted in the round

Round 1: k to M2: ssk *k1 p1 (repeat from * to two sts before) marker k2tog slip marker (this creates a small ribbing at the upper edge to prevent it from rolling)
Round 2: k to M2: ssk *p1 k1 (repeat from * to two sts before) marker k2tog slip marker (this creates a small ribbing at the upper edge to prevent it from rolling)
Round 3 = Round 1

Round 4: ssk k to two stitches before marker k2tog, repeat once more; you're now at M2, ssk *p1 k1 (repeat from * to two sts before) marker k2tog slip marker
Round 5: ssk k to two stitches before marker k2tog; repeat three times
Round 6: k all

Round 7 = Round 5
Round 8 = Round 5
Round 9 = Round 6

Repeat rounds 7 to 9 once more

 – if you started part 2 at 60 stitches, you should now have 18 sts on your needles.

For the thumb, knit 9 rounds of k2 p1-ribbing, bind off in pattern in 10th round.
Weave in ends.

Make two.