Italian Memories - hanknitted 18th century mittens

 When we travel, and N is driving, I quite often knit. In fact any packing starts and ends with, what am I taking to knit. I need stuff to mindlessly knit in the dark, I need stuff, that only needs to look at once in a row for daytime car riding, and I need my regular stuff to knit in hotels and such. 

When I made my red 18th century dress last summer I knew that sooner or later I am going to sew the cape, and also I will need mittens to go with the set, so when we went to Italy in september, I took a skein of red from my sockyarn stash, and I've knitted this on our way to Rome. 

As usual, I looked at 18th century mittens online. Most of them are sewn, though there are a couple of knitted ones to, one in particular in Colonial Williamsburg. I've also looked at a few that costumers knitted, and then I winged it, so no pattern.

Though, I've knitted quite a few mittens mostly "half fingered" ones, with a few fingerless piece, but I always started them from the fingers, from the "top down", this was the first one I started at the cuff. 

Quite simple piece, from the cuff there are decreases to the wrist, then increases for the thumb, thumb's stitches put away, the hand knitted and finished with a few short row to shape the point over the fingers.

Thats it. Five grams of yarn. Next time I knit this, I will decrease on the outer side of the arm, opposite of teh thumb, not because it does not fit this way, but it looks better, when I put it down.

Photos: Norbert Varga (@Bodeszphoto)

Yarn: Drops Fabel