Some Mitts and a Hat, Just Because

It started with the mitts. Or rather, it started with wandering into a fabric and yarn store in Oregon with my nieces last year. "Hey, no promises, but if anyone sees anything they'd like, let me know, and we can talk about it." 

Well, one of them saw a pair of fingerless mitts she liked. Kind of plain-ish, in dark gray or black. 

It took a while, and a little back and forth, but we settled on some yarn I already had at home, some dark gray (the color is called Dorian [gray]). It was a gift my friend Andrea had brought from New Zealand. It's 45% Polwarth (a breed of sheep) 45% Alpaca, and 10% Possum (NOT a breed of sheep). We also decided on the simple but elegant Roddin Mitts by Ysolda Teague, from her Knitworthy 7 collection. Ysolda creates these great collections of gift knits for knitworthy recipients - the whole collection is released as a book, and mid-December, the individual patterns are released. So part of the wait was my frugality. But in the end, so worth it. This yarn and that pattern made for a really cozy, yummy pair of mitts. I highly recommend that pattern, with great links to instructions for a tubular cast on and bind off, which I did on these. 

 After I sent the mitts away, or maybe even before, I started musing about how to use the bit of dark yarn leftover, and the sister skein of lighter (the color is Parchment) yarn I had to match. I decided to create a hat to match. I used almost every bit of the dark yarn to knit a brim or cuff in 1/1 ribbing, and then switched, as the mitts do, to 2/2 rib. Unfortunately, while I chose a number of stitches that divide evenly by 4, they didn't dispose themselves into symmetrical decreases. If I had to do the hat again, I'd try 112 stitches. BUT I still think it's pretty nice. I think it hits a plain but not too vibe that works with the mitts.

Roddin Mitts

• by Ysolda Teague
• US 2 and 4 needles
• Outlaw yarn Bohemia Worsted, 1 skein, color Dorian - this yarn has been discontinued, but Outlaw yarn's site is here.
  
• size M

A hat

• by me
• US 4 and 6 needles
• Outlaw yarn Bohemia Worsted, the rest of the Dorian leftover from the mitts, plus Parchment, 1 skein (there's some left)
• Size M adult

On Ravelry here, and here.