In-between knits

Two days ago, feeling a bit nostalgic about my summer trip to Iceland, I went rummaging in my stash and brought out two small cakes of wonderful light gray lopi, locally produced in Þingborg, near Selfoss. And what better pattern for a quick and pleasurable knit than Karen Templer’s Wabi Mitts? One can’t help but marvel at its subtle simplicity and ingenious construction. An ode to the opposable thumb, if I may say so (check out that reverse stockinette gusset, surrounded by those two neat slipped-stitch ridges). Though the yarn is labelled as “2 ply”, it’s actually two strands of unspun lopi, which you hold together (I separated them and used only one fragile strand for the last three rows and bind-off).

These fingerless mittens provided a very enjoyable break from my Streymoy cardigan, which is nonetheless advancing at a reasonable pace.

I find these in-between projects, which knit in a couple of days (such as that baktus scarf I also recently made in Noro Silk Garden as a gift for a friend) very satisfying. They provide the kind of much-needed instant gratification that give me the courage to keep slogging through the longer endeavours. All right, “slogging” is a ludicrous choice of words. I’m having a blast on that cardigan. For now.