Purple Paws

It's proper winter at last, after an unnaturally warm couple of months that used to be autumn. Greenhouse gases are go! Now that it is finally cold, our heating is so ineffectual that we can see our breath in most of the flat, so I've been knitting warm things from Artesano Alpaca, in the damson colour. I love this yarn. It's slightly fluffy without being tickly, it keeps your extremities from freezing up, and it's really, really bouncy. There's probably a technical term for a yarn's ability to boing back into place, but whatever it is, it results in extra coziness in winter accessories.

First, I did these things (Wristlets? gauntlets? mitts? armwarmwers? So many names out there, I think I'll call them mittlets). I used ten repeats of a stitch pattern called Large Eyelet Rib from one of the Harmony Guides (450 knitting stitches, volume 2) and 3.5mm dpns. This made a really springy, quite dense fabric. I had strung a load of small metallic beads onto the wool before I started, using a loop of thread to pull the fuzzy wool through the tiny holes (a quicker process than you'd think). After some experimentation I placed the beads in a single row up towards my middle finger, with one bead above each eyelet hole, and knitted one plain round with a bead in each stitch before casting off. The thumb was made up as I went along, with two repeats separated from the hand stitches and a rudimentary gusset knitted between the thumb and hand. They fit well and are great for working at the computer for long, chilly periods.