This project was ripped three times before I took a deep breath, cleared my thoughts and mustered all the Zen I could to devote time to it. It’s not that the project is a complicated one, far from it, but because the stitches have to be precise it required focus. For an experienced knitter this is a piece of cake, but I still consider myself new to this. In fact, any pattern which consist of more than stockinette or garter stitch and the odd yarn-over and slip-slip-knit is all new to me.
So then, 3 trips to the frog pond and 2 months later, I bring you my first pair of Rose’s Wrist Warmers. My Ravelry project page is on the link to the right. These gloves were inspired by those worn by Rose Tyler in the Doctor Who Season 2 finale entitled Doomsday. Here are two screencaps thanks to this site.
Here are my gloves just after I finished the bind off. I don’t know why it bunches up at the centre like that. I suspect it has something to do with the yarn I used. It turns out the particular Peru Alpaca DK called for in the pattern has been discontinued so the yarn I bought is slightly different. I is splitty and hairy and bunches up like that.
My daughter kindly offered to model them for me. As you can see, they stretch out pretty nicely and the diamond motifs and cable twists are clearly visible.
Another angle showing both gloves. She thought she was allowed to keep them for herself!
Things I learned with this project:
- Patience. I am not known for it so sitting down for hours at night and on weekends concentrating on each row is a major accomplishment for me.
- Neatness. Although this is not a very good example for it, I learned how to knit evenly and keep the same tension as much as possible. The first few cable twists were a right pain but they became fun.
- Memory-booster. Remembering how the cables on the diamond motif are worked is a good memory booster. I would know right away if I slipped the stitch in the cable needle the wrong way so I didn’t have to tink (that’s knit backwards, literally!) several rows.
This first pair which is intended for Sarah has been soaked in the free wool wash I got from The Loopy Ewe, the colour ran a bit in the water but not too much so as to alarm me. They are now being dried flat in the children’s bedroom. Hopefully I will have the second pair for Alex done in no time.
