New Mittens for a New Year

 

On the knitting side of life:

I knit 42 pairs of mittens in 2021 and sold more than that on Etsy, so our stock is super low now.

But rather than simply restocking from the same old patterns, we think a new year begs for a new design added to the Nautical Nordic Scandinavian mitten line! After all, we were created in the image of our Creator to be creative!

One January evening I sat down with my "boss" [younger sister who owns the business and manages the shop] to pore over an amazing book for inspiration. In "Selbu Mittens" Anne Bårdsgård shares more than just a selection of classic patterns, hundreds of charted motifs, and a feast of photo inspiration. The reader is also given a history lesson with real stories and faces behind this beautiful and creative tradition.

Of course the design we both settled on had no pattern or chart, so out came the magnifying glass, graph paper, and pencil. Then it was my turn to be creative to make it fit my yarn/gauge. Plus I tried a new style of thumb gusset increases inspired by other photos in the book and added a little flair to the thumb itself.



Finally, type it all into my (proprietary) computer template, add our most popular yarn colors, and...

We love the result!

But pictures will have to come later. ;-)