Mashup

Ravely has this great feature that allows you to enter several patterns on one particular project. For example you could be knitting a plain stockinette slouch hat using the cast on numbers and measurements from one pattern and then decide that while you like the pattern for the overall shape of the hat, you'd really like to add in a color work scheme from a different pattern. This is what I call a mashup. The resulting garment is a mixture of both patterns. This is one of the many benefits of being knitters, of being the boss of your yarn. 

Every year my mother sends Kevin a pair of "trigger mitts" for Christmas. This is a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador pattern. Most knitters from here can knit these without a pattern. He thinks my mom knits then for him but she doesn't. She buys them from a friend of hers. They are hand knit, just not by my mom. Every year Kev wears giant holes in the mittens which I (being the great domestic goddess that I am) promptly darn them. 

Kev is hard on his mittens. He uses them when he is out clearing the snow. And this year we have had an incredible amount of snow.  So it seams that he is wearing holes in his mittens at a faster rate than normal. 

There really is something wrong with this picture. I am a knitter.  I am a good knitter even. Surely I can knit a pair of trigger mitts for Kevin. Surely they will be better and wear better than the mitts my mom's friend made. 

The mittens my mom sent are acrylic. Yuckity yuck yuck. They aren't warm and they don't wear well at all. I've darned them with wool and that part felts from the friction of the snowblower while the acrylic parts just wear away. 

I've decided to make Kevin a pair of trigger mitts using the warmest and the nicest of yarns. I will knit them tight enough that no cold shall penetrate and no holes shall wear in them. 

And I've decided to do a mash up. I don't have the pattern for the trigger mitts (though I do have several old pairs here to go by) and I'm using the colorwork from a pattern called "Vespergyl Mittens". 

So far, I'm happy with them. They are warm and soft yet sturdy. They have wool and cashmere and alpaca in them.  They will be amazing. But I will have to knit the second one. 

Edited to add that I've finished the pair. I ran out of the light coloured yarn on the second mitt but luckily I had a similar yarn (similar weight, fiber content and colour) in my stash that worked out. This is one of the MANY benefits of having a large stash. 

I am really pleased with how they turned out. And Kev is happy too. Now I just need to wait and see how they wear. It's currently snowing and blowing so I shouldn't have to wait long. It looks like tomorrow will be a snow blowing day for Kev.