When I stumbled into my kitchen this morning in pursuit of coffee, it was 58 degrees. Inside.
Sigh.
So let’s turn back the clock 72 hours, when I was still in sunny California, wandering around botanical gardens and taking pictures of my finished mitts.
My mitts saw some lovely orange flowers …
And saw some koi:
They enjoyed a bit of sunbathing:
And spotted a turtle doing the same (but maintained a respectful distance):
The pattern is Jen Arnall-Culliford’s Hyacinthus armwarmers, the first pattern from A Year of Techniques. Each month, a new pattern for a small project is released which teaches a new techinique — this month’s was helical stripes, a really fun and addictive way to stripe your knitting without a jog!
I knit these in the wool the pattern calls for — Schoppel Wolle’s Zauberball in the “Tropical Fish” colorwar. The Zauberball’s long color changes make it ideal for this kind of project. By chance, one mitt ended up predominately blue-green-yellow and the other red-orange-yellow … so these are my hot and cold / earth, wind, fire mitts! I like that they’re a non-matching pair!
I made a very few modifications to the pattern: I cast on fewer stitches for the mitt and increased to fewer stitches for the thumb, and I’m very happy with the fit. Full details on my Ravelry page.
And I liked knitting these so much, that somehow, a second Zauberball has wended its way to my house …
I can’t wait to cast on for a second pair … and to see what April’s Year of Techniques pattern will be!
What are your plans for the weekend? Happy Saturday!
fiber and sustenance 
I just love your mitts! Gee, I have several balls of Zauberball in the stash… must cast on and get cracking on my own pair of mitts.
How did you get the ribbing at the top and bottom to exactly match? I also like that the two mitts don’t exactly match, but the ribbing pulls it all together.
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Yes the Zauberballs are so fun for this project! So to get the matching-ish cuffs … well, to knit the project, you have to divide your Zauberball in two. I decided I wanted to start with dark blue and knit through the first mitt. Because there’s more than enough yarn in a Zauberball for the pair, for the second mitt, I just wound off a section of navy to the bright blue I ended with to start mitt number two with, if that makes sense. Since there is plenty of yarn, you can do a bit of color engineering to get things as you want them — when I got stuck in a really long color repeat, I snipped a bit out to help along the color changing 😀 Hope that makes sense!
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Oh man, I have a ball of Zauberball that’s been in my stash for at least five years now. I won it in a giveaway from Canada. I seriously need to knit it up and plan to for Box of Sox. Your mitts are fun in this colorway. I like how they’re not heavy and can be worn on cool nights, not just freezing cold ones.
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Ohh lucky duck! I had never had a Zauberball before this and they’re so fun. You’re so right about them being lighterweight — they are perfect for wearing around the house (and knitting in) when you’re just a little chilly!
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Ohhh, I absolutely love these!!! 🙂
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Thank you, Melinda! They’ve been getting lots of wear now that I’m back in chilly Philly!
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I need to knit some of those mitts! I can see why you want to cast on another pair asap. 🙂 They are beautiful.
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Thank you, Andi! I definitely recommend the pattern and technique — so fun!
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I am jumping on board with everyone else to say that I also love these 🙂 I really like that they sorta match with the cuffs; however don’t really with the hot / cold aspect. I’ve never used Zauberball; however must buy some once I’m off my yarn diet. It’s always nice to have some cozy mitts when your hands are cold that also allow you to type or knit while also wearing them.
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Thank you Paula! They were so fun to knit. I loved the zauberball but if you had some sock yarn with longer color changes in it, that would work well too!!
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