I wanted to have these finished during my summer vacation of 2023 - when Leimomi came visiting and we took photos in historical clothes in historical backdrops... and then the mitts took longer to make than I had hoped, and I lost yarn chicken with the ball of yarn I had with me on our travels. So they only got definitively finished in January of 2024. (It's always the weaving in of ends that takes forever because procrastination.) Aaaand I'm only posting them here now. I have quite a lot of blogging to catch up on.
The yarn I used comes from the same deadstock haul the yarn in the baby blanket I made last year came from. This one is a 28/2 merino; preeeetty fine (I have a couple in 30/2, too; even finer). I doubled the yarn because undoubled it would be a recipe for madness, and also because the few fine wool items from the period of around 1800 I did find (most of them in the V&A) suggested to me a gauge closer to that. Here it's about 10 stitches and 16 rows per inch - I'm always proportionally higher on the row count than the usual 3:4 ratio.
I knitted the mitts according to info I found online in lots of places - both people's descriptions and pictures I peered at. I'm not certain I got it right, but at least I made a good stab at it. My favourite thing about this historical mitt construction as I've inferred it is the way the long body of the mitt is shaped - much like with historical stockings, you do the shaping along one line down the garment, on both sides of the "seam"; in this case, the "seam" is on the outside of the arm, opposite the thumb. It's easier to do than trying to distribute it evenly all around, and actually looks quite good.
Like so:
In this lightweight yarn, the whole pair used up only 44 g of it. Which makes it rather funny that I lost yarn chicken with it anyway. It goes to show that these were truly made from remnants :D - my ball was pretty small.
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I have quite a lot of this mustard yellow, actually. It's a colour I'm not sure would look good on me as a main garment close to my face, but for historical accessories, it somehow seems close to perfect for me. And yellow is such a cheerful colour.
I reeeeally want to make yellow stockings now. Do I have any use for Renaissance stockings? Nope. But I want to do it For Reasons. Also, I do have Knitting with the Modern Maker, I do want to make more than just socks out of it. (Given my short thick-ish legs, I was thinking I might have to adjust the pattern, whichever pattern I end up using; and then I remembered my row ratio and thought, maybe that would actually end up perfect.)
If I feel particularly crazy, I could turn this yarn into a sweater, and dye it into a more suitable colour... probably not. I also have this yarn in other colours, though. One is a perfect match for a beloved thrifted turquoise-ish turtleneck sweater that, alas, got shrunk in the wash years ago (I had carefully put it in the laundry storage area separately, someone grabbed it with the regular stuff anyway). I am about 99% certain that sweater must have been made from the exact same yarn, considering the yarn's industrial production origins. So there is one definitely madness inducing knitting project in my future. I think the original was indeed made from a single yarn; I'm not doing that, but a sweater on 2 mm needles will be bad enough.
For now, I started with modern socks, just to see how this yarn wears in something less madness-inducing - and to see how I feel in wool socks with zero polyamide in them. :-) There was recently a very funny situation when my mother and me met up for a brief spot of knitting in the park, we pulled out our projects... and they were both mustard yellow. :D With the difference that mine was a sock in this yarn, and hers was a not-sock in a regular modern sock yarn. :D
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I'm honestly not entirely sure how I made the thumb gusset anymore...
I might write up something about making fingerless mitts like this once I am more certain I know what I'm doing. I did write it up, but currently it's just notes for me to remember what I did - it needs a more substantial treatment for something presentable to the public. I do have a lot of yarn to use up, so I do intend to make more - also to go well with different outfits. (I have a lot of fabric to use up, too...)
Just the facts, ma'am:
What the item is: Fingerless mitts
How it fits the challenge: It's a pair. Strictly speaking, they're not paired to perfection, there are imperfections between them... but they're minor. :D
Material: Thin merino cone yarn, doubled (Filati Biagioli Modesto Lambswool extrafine 28/2)
Pattern: My own
Year: c. late 18th-early 19th century
Notions: 2 mm double pointed needles (in reality they're more something like 1,85 mm)
How historically accurate is it? I'm not sure; it's as good as I could figure out, but it's not perfect. I'm not sure if my thumb construction is correct (or more precisely, I'm pretty sure it could be done better). And I'm not sure how accurate the yarn is for my timeframe. (Merino definitely already was around, but I have no idea if they would have made yarn exactly like this out of it, or if they would have used it exactly like this exactly for mitts. Very fine wool yarn did exist, but I'm not sure exactly how fine we're talking.)
Hours to complete: No idea :O
First worn: In January 2024, as they were finished, just because. :D I got quite a lot of wear out of them in Autumn of that year with modern clothes - they do make a great addition to your wardrobe in changeable weather or cold rooms, and having the fingers free while staying more toasty is indeed great.
Total cost: I got the yarn for free! It's old unused stock remnants from work that was sitting in storage and being a moth hazard.
Further knitting facts:
Yarn weight: Lace - as mentioned above, Nm 28/2, i.e. 1400 m / 100 g; doubled. So gauge equivalent would be something in about 700 m / 100 g.
Gauge: c. 10 stitches and 16 rows / in
Amount used: 44 g
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