Wednesday 26 May 2010

FO- Norweigan Snail Mitts

I've always had a fondness for snails.

I grew up near a big, sandy beach that had areas of rocks and tidepools. This was the perfect location for plucking snails off rocks and watching their rubbery bodies retreat far into their nautilus shells.

Maine

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It doesn't hurt that they are also delicious in a butter and/or cream sauce.

Norweigan Snail Mitts

Norweigan Snail Mitts

I love these mittens. They took some time to complete but I kept plugging away at them. They seemed like they were about 4" long for about a month, and then I got determined and completed them in three days.

Norweigan Snail Mitts

I made these two at a time on two size US 1 circs. I had to stop and untangle every few rows- having four balls of yarn to keep track of seemed exponentially more difficult than two. I kept telling myself that if it got too hairy, I would put one aside and finish one at a time.

Norweigan Snail Mitts

I used two skeins of Artyarns Ultramerino 4. They both started out light blue, but I threw one in the dyepot and got a deep marine blue. The green on the cuffs and the duplicate stitch is some Shibui sock yarn in "Seaweed" that I had leftover from a pair of socks I made last year.

Norweigan Snail Mitts

I love these and I'm keeping them. They are tucked away waiting for the first icy arctic blast to hit, or perhaps a trip to Patagonia. The stranding makes them double-thick and quite warm.

The specs: The pattern is by Adrian Bizilia from "The Knitters Book of Yarn". I used two skeins of Artyarns Ultramerino 4 (Color 121), which is a 4-ply fingering weight 100% merino sock yarn. It was 380 yards total, and I had just a little bit of each color leftover. They were done two at a time on two circs- I used size 1. No pattern modifications except that I did a provisional cast on so I could line up the first welt smoothly. They weren't difficult, just a bit fiddly with the cuffs, and the colorwork requires constant attention.

These are also part of my ongoing A-Z stashdown challenge.

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