Carl’s Nordic Mittens

You know, my fella ,Carl, is a pretty extraordinary guy. For example, on Valentine’s Day, I woke to discover a very clever vintage card with a quote from Collette. Since I worked ’til ten on the day, he picked me up from work (even though the Leafs were playing) and thinking that 10 o’clock was a little late for a big dinner, laid out a beautiful spread of nibbles: prosciutto wrapped melon, cold shrimp, little grilled filets, red pepper hummus, and of course, champagne. He even respected my low-carb diet. And just look at these lovely flowers!

Because he loves all things knitted, knows enough not to sit on the WIP’s laying all over the sofa and thinks knitting in bed is sexy, I think he deserves a pair of Nordic mittens.

Through Ravelry, I discovered the exquisite designs of Heather Desserud who is, quelle suprise, Canadian! I only regret that Heather’s blog is sadly neglected, no doubt in favor of actual knitting (which is the great quandary of the knitting blogger: do I knit or do I blog?) Heather’s gorgeous Chrysanthemum mittens were published in Knitty’s Winter 2011 edition.

I must admit, color work is not my specialty. In fact, I think I’ve rather avoided stranded knitting because I don’t want to admit that I’m clumsy. I did work this fabulous pattern, Eva’s Hat by Mary Ann Stephens last summer. I was aiming for ‘tea cozy’ and wound up with ‘hat’. I’ve actually worn it!

Something I learned from working this pattern is that stranded knitting requires extra special attention to tension. Good, disciplined tension is a corner-stone of good knitting whether we’re working cables, color or just plain stockinette stitch. Who couldn’t stand a little brush-up?

Off to the yarn store 🙂