1846 Driving Mitts - Final Update and Pattern Notes

I have finally finished the second mitt!  The first one took four days, the second took two weeks.  Darn second mitt syndrome...lol



So on to the Pattern Notes:

 Needles and Yarn: Fingering weight yarn and 2.25mm (US size 1) DPNs
The patterns calls for "4 pins No. 15 and 4-thread fleecy".  It didn't occur to me until later, but "4-thread" obviously means "4 ply" which is still a term for "fingering weight" in many places.  I mean, it was obvious anyway, but I'm surprised I didn't put that together.

Thumb Gusset: The shaping is very straightforward.  I would say the only potentially confusing part is were it says to "work the pattern on the thumb".  I say potentially confusing only because the stitch count on the thumb changes and you have to pay attention to where you're putting your purl bumps.  I ended up charting it out to where you put the thumb stitches on a holder.

Changes I Made (and assorted "could go either way" decisions):
- After placing thumb stitches on holder, I cast on 8 instead of 7.  This was to keep the stitch count a multiple of 4.
- I counted the cast on stitches as the start of the next round instead of the end of the previous
- After picking up the 8 stitches and 14 held stitches for the thumb, I needed to either add or lose 2 stitches to keep a multiple of 4.  I chose to decrease where the held stitches met the picked up stitches, thereby decreasing 2 and preventing gaps in one shot.

First mitt - complete!

Well, ok...I still have to weave in ends.  But the knitting is done!

I opted to do less stitches on the thumb rather than more.  I figured the decreases would do well to hide and wonkiness from where the knitting met the picked up stitches, and it seems to have worked

I followed the instructions for the ribbing length exactly, even though I was a little worried about the length of the thumb - I've had to shorten thumbs in the past.  But my fears were ungrounded and it's just about perfect.

I still have to knit a second one, but here's my thoughts about this pattern at the moment:
- What are the odds that I'd find an ancient pattern, sub in yarn and needles I happened to have handy, and end up with something that fits perfectly?
- This is the sort of thing that if I'd seen a picture I probably would have passed on as uninteresting.  I'm actually glad this pattern had no picture.
- The stitch pattern seems so bland on paper, but when knit up like this is actually really nice.  I'm adding it to my "simple but so awesome" mental file, along with ribbing, seed stitch, and garter stitch.  Sometimes simple can also be perfect.
- I confirmed my dislike of singles yarn while knitting this, but I love the result.  It's warm and soft...and will probably pill like crazy.  Oh well, I knew that going in. :P

Making Progress on the 1846 Driving Mitts

Can I just say, I love the texture of these!  It's almost a diamond patterns, but at the same time it's still mostly stockinette.  It's absolutely gorgeous.

I've been following this pattern as faithfully as I can.  Some parts are vague of course.  I like that this pattern was written assuming that the knitter knows what they are doing.  I mean, I know that's pretty much standard for patterns of the era, but still.

That's not to say there haven't been parts that I've had to fudge/figure out because it was vague.  The instructions for the thumb say to work the stitch pattern on the thumb, but since the thumb's stitch count is changing every couple rows you actually have to think about where you're placing your purl bumps.  I ended up charting it out, which would probably be a good idea even if it was row by row instructions.

I have tweaked just a couple things though:
- The instructions for an increase that are written in the beginning of the book amount to a yarn over.  I didn't want any holes, so I substituted a backwards loop.
- It instructs you to cast on 7 over the thumb hole.  Doing so results in an odd stitch count, so I cast on 8 instead.  I figure a one stitch difference won't make a lot of width difference, and it has the advantage of keeping the stitch count a multiple of 4.  I plan on doing a similar thing with the thumb - as it is written the thumb will be 21 stitches around - 22 with the extra cast on.  I'll have to see when I get there if I go for increasing or decreasing.

An Undertaking of Historic Proportions

Ok, not so much.  But I wanted to fit the word "historic" in there.

I've mentioned Nerd Wars before, right?  One of the challenges this month is to craft something related to the history of our craft.  At first, I wasn't so sure about this.  Sometimes a challenge will grab me immediately, sometimes I never come up with something, and usually it's somewhere in the middle.  I was originally thinking this one fell into that second category.

But then I remembered something.  Something absolutely perfect.  Years ago I went looking through google books for free knitting/crochet books, focused mostly on the really really old stuff because, well, it was more likely to be free.  Also it was really cool seeing the way people described these crafts way back when.

I never really tackled any of the patterns seriously.  Even though I was a pretty decent knitter back then, most things would require quite a bit interpreting and guessing about appropriate yarn and needles, and I just didn't have the patience.  But now...now I have a reason!

This time around I went looking for something that A) Wouldn't take tons and tons of interpreting, B) Something I had a purpose for, and C) Something that looked fun to make.

The answer?  A pattern for "Driving Mitts", which is just an old fashioned way of saying Fingerless Mitts.  What's old is new again, right?  And perfect because I've so been thinking about them a lot lately.

For those curious, the book is Knitting, crochet, and netting by Eléonore Riego de la Branchardière (totally copy pasted that name, lol).  The pattern is simply called "Driving Mitts" and is on page 31.  This book was published in 1846 in London.  So cool.

So, to knitting.  The pattern itself seems pretty straightforward.  The yarn and needles I of course had to guess at.  The pattern called for "4 Pins No. 15, 4-thread Fleecy", and while I know that back then the bigger the needle size the smaller the needle, that's all I know.  I haven't the slightest idea what "4-thread fleecy" is, perhaps a brand?  But the stitch count and small needle says "sock yarn or similar" to me.  The pattern calls for 56 stitches to be cast on, which is right within range of sock yarn weight patterns I've been looking at recently.  Apparently no one thought gauge was an important addition to patterns back then.

I happen to own one set of sock size needles - maybe two but if I have a second set I have no idea where it's at.  This pair is, apparently, US size 1 - which is 2.25 mm.  Looking at how "size 1" is just as arbitrary as "No. 15", I have a sudden desire to start using mm sizes exclusively.

Someone in the NW challenge thread posted a link to a conversion chart of old needle sizes for those who might be tackling old patterns, and said chart says a 15 is a lot smaller than what I've got.  But I've just got the one set.  And as I've been looking at newer fingerless glove patterns off and on for days, this size plus fingering/sock weight yarn seems right on track to make something that will fit me.

Digging through my meager thin yarn stash, I finally settled on some Knit Picks Chroma that's a wonderful orange colorway.  Since I'm guessing with yarn and needles anyway, I figured I'd just knit the cuff and see if it fits.

I actually finished the cuff this morning, but got impatient before then and tried the cuff on at about 10 rows in.  It fits, so yay, good sign!  I'm just now starting the actually patterning part, so we'll see how that goes.

You can follow my progress here at my public Ravelry project page, though I'll try to remember to post updates here about it because this is just so cool.