Over on the Stranded group on Ravelry we are having a KAL for the Hippocampus or the Selbuvott or not patterns. Both are patterns featuring a sea horse, and both from the same designer. It started on Boxing Day, but it is still going strong so it isn’t too late to join. I started mine on New Year’s Day.
Although I originally choose some lovely sock yarns out of my stash, I soon discovered they were not going to work for the pattern. I got some lovely Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 instead. I got mine at Net Garn on Banegårdsgade in Århus.
I’ve been wanting to work with Kauni for a long time, and I wasn’t disappointed. The Effektgarn is a 2ply yarn with long colour repeats. It is a ‘sticky’ yarn and thus perfect for colourwork. I really enjoyed working with it. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I’m thinking I might spin myself up some 2ply yarns specifically for colourwork projects.
I wanted to try to get my mittens to match as closely as possible (a bit of a feat since the colour repeats aren’t necessarily the same length), so I wound my yarn into four centre pull balls, two that started with purple, two that started with yellow.
I modified the pattern to have a ribbed cuff instead of a feather and fan cuff, but otherwise followed the pattern. I used the needles as per the small size, but included the extra rows below the thumb hole as per the medium size as I need the extra length in that area.
I’m pleased with the final results, though I feel as though the stranding could be much improved, and the mittens are a bit big. However, they will felt with wear, and I can always try felting them by hand if needed.
I really love how the two gradients work together. I think it gives it an amazing depth of colour.
The details:
Cast on: January 1st, 2012
Cast off: January 5th, 2012
Pattern: Hippocampus by Torirot Designs
Yarn: Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 in EQ (Rainbow)
Needles: 2.5mm (Personally, I’d use a 2.25mm next time. Your tension will vary.)
My project page on Ravelry: Deep Sea Diving
As a final note, if you are interested in knitting mittens, January is NaKniMitMo! That’s National Knit a Mitten Month. Join the group. Make some mittens. I have several more pairs of mitten that I’m planning to knit this month. Fortunately, I’m also in need of mittens. It all works out. :)