To Frog or Not to Frog: My Foray with Fingerless Mitts

In all honesty, I did make an effort, twice, to be eccentric. Unfortunately, neither yarn worked the way I hoped it would. I’m knitting something I need, and I’ve always found that when I’m on the hunt for a particular item, I tend to leave empty handed. The same cannot be said for things I don’t need, which appear in abundance (yes, I’m looking right at you self-striping sock yarn).

Fall has arrived on the east coast and the mornings are chilly, but not cold. It’s a bit overkill to wear a puffy coat and mittens at this point. But even with my coffee mug in hand as I walk the kids to the bus stop, I’m still cold and a pair of fingerless mitts would be enough, but not too much. I have small wrists, so I knew getting the right fit would be a bit of a challenge. I purchased some Quaere sport weight yarn in Tokyo Underground, but unfortunately, the density seemed more worsted, than sport. After knitting up a swatch, it felt less, or actually more, than what I desired. Great color, good stitch definition, but too bulky.

I also had some Quaere fingering in Billow, so I thought I would give that a try. I made it to the thumb hole when I realized that the striping effect was not what I was looking for in my mitts.

Unlike Tokyo Underground, which knits up in defined, contrasting stripes, the Billow has more of an ombre effect, with gradual transitions from one cool color to another. There is not as much definition as I pictured in my mind, so I’ve decided to frog them. I just don’t think Billow wants to be mitts. I’m not sure what it wants to be, maybe another pair of socks?

I’ve spent the week looking at hat patterns because I know for sure that Tokyo Underground wants to be a hat. So I’m going to see what headway I can make. Bon tricot!

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Bon Tricot

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