Gwendolyn Update

During the past week, I’ve been knitting away on my Gwendolyn shawl.  By Saturday afternoon, I had finished about 1/3 of it! I am hoping to finish by the end of the month. I am getting the “hang” of the pattern and am having less difficulty keeping track of where I am in the pattern. I doubt I’ll be able to memorize it like I usually do, due to the somewhat irregular increases.  The designer has done much work to integrate the new stitches into the pattern very well. While the rows are getting longer, I have found that they feel shorter since I don’t have to watch the pattern quite as closely.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law has commissioned me to knit a pair of fingerless mitts for her sister as a birthday gift. As you can see the first is finished already. I have knit several pairs for her in the past, and am happy to do the same for her sister. She has chosen a lovely shade of muted blue and a mitten pattern that I am converting to fingerless mitts. The yarn is a little heavy for the pattern, so I removed a pattern repeat. I began with an inch of twisted rib followed by starting the chart at the last increase row. This pattern is worked from the fingertips down to the wrist, which I have not done before. They have an afterthought thumb, which I don’t usually like (due to being too snug), but since the hand is still a bit loose, the thumb does not feel too tight. I like the pattern so well, that I will likely knit a pair for me that follow the pattern.