Tags
Fiber, handknit, handspinning, handspun, knit, knitting, mitt, mitts, sun, sunprotection
I have to be extremely careful of the sun. So I protect myself by covering up as much as I can. I like my wide brimmed hats but the past couple of years I’ve started to also wear little gloves whenever I’m outside. Unless it is really cold I wear ones with the fingertips open. Some are just for sun protection, some have a bit of leather on the palms to help prevent wear. However, all of those have the fingers except for the tips covered. Which means that I don’t like how it feels if I try to knit wearing them. I tension my yarn by winding it around my fingers, and not being able to feel the yarn between my fingers is just wrong. I don’t like it enough that I don’t knit when wearing them.
Years ago now when one of my kids was in marching band I made up a design that protected the backs of my hands and wrists from the cold while leaving my fingers and palms open. Those were made from a very soft, lofty, handspun, softly spun, wool. They were open palm, double knit, and I made up the design. I wrote about it in Ravelry here.
The double knit open palm mitts are great for winter, as the double layer of softly spun yarn keeps the winds from blowing through, but in summer I don’t want all that. So I’ve devised an open palm mitt out of linen for summer. Here is the Ravelry link.
I did Ma’s Favourite Ribbing which has the best recovery of any ribbing I’ve ever used. I happened across it there on a Ravelry forum post and have been using it ever since.
At some point I need to get new photos of the original double knit mitts, as the originals aren’t nearly as good as what can be done today.