The minute I saw these gloves in the Fall/Winter 2010 Piecework , I knew I was going to try to make them. They just looked so gorgeous and even though I can not fathom where or when I would be able to wear them, it doesn’t matter. I will find a time & place for them. I basically wanted them in my life.
Oh, and they must be the same color as shown in Piecework, RED. No shy away red, but right in your face RED. This way they will draw all the attention that they so rightly deserve.
Luckily I had a willing yarn candidate in my stash, Phildar’s Chambord in ROUGE, lace wt, 70/30 acrylic/wool blend. Great color with a nice twist. Too bad they don’t make this yarn any more.
I worked up a swatch on the suggested size 0 needles, and was quite pleased with myself when I thought I had gotten the suggested gauge.
So off I went merrily following the pattern not ever thinking that the size might not work out for me. After all—- I “thought” I got gauge.
Well I finished the cuff and on to the increases for the thumb gore. Knit knit knit, the color is so pretty, & the pattern is an easier than you might think 4 row repeat.
It wasn’t until I slipped the thumb sts onto a holder did the thought come to me, perhaps the one size of this adapted pattern from the “How to Use Florence Knitting Silk No.4” would not render me an especially well-fitted mitten as the Piecework article described.
So, yes, I pulled it off the size 0 needles, and tried it on my hand. Insert BIG SIGH, yep, it is too big.
Seems I had NOT gotten the suggested gauge 🙁
Granted I think that back in the 1880’s this type of garment may have been utilized as an over mitt. Perhaps to be worn over other not so fancy ordinary gloves, and in that case, they needed to be somewhat large to cover on top of plain mitts, & to go over the sleeve cuffs of a coat.
Well this is not how I wish to use them, so seems I am off on an antique knitting adventure of my own.
Now I have always been intrigued by older patterns, & I have been collecting some over the years, but have only copied one.
For my first daughters’ communion, I crocheted a child’s size version of a tiered cape from a very old book of crocheted patterns. I have to get out to my studio and find this book so I can add the title to this post. I should really see if I can find a picture of my daughter in it to add here as well, but it always seems as though I am doing the posty thing at the last minute when I should really be doing something else….
Now I don’t have the original pattern from the “How to Use Florence Knitting Silk No. 4”, so working from the Piecework adaptation, I figured I would have to eliminate 2 of the 9 st lace pattern repeats.
So I have cast on 64 sts to start over, but I am not taking back the first mitten just yet. I want to use it as a comparison as I go along.
So my Red Rule No. 24 mitten has been thrown into the ring!
I love a challenge, even when it is just an imagined challenge, that I have challenged myself to.
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