Nesting, designed by Kate Metherell was first released last year, along with patterns by Renee Callahan and Rachel Coopey, to celebrate the Birds of a Feather colourways dyed exclusively for YAK by Life in the Long Grass. Now, freshly revised, the pattern is now available on Ravelry. There are a few projects up on Ravelry already by YAK pals, Suzanne, Wendy and me, Eugenie. We have test driven Nesting, the pattern for the lovely mitts she designed. All of us are very different knitters in experience so we’ve all decided to give you some feedback about Nesting. After all, now days are colder, you might be interested in covering your hands with some cool knitwear right?
Kate Metherell aka. @___yak
This pair were my first test mitts. With this design, inspired by the colourways designed for YAK by Life in the Long Grass, I wanted to highlight the variegated colours with the little twisted stitches, something which wouldn’t get buried by the colour. My other aim with the design was to create a nice tight glove, almost like a second skin. My feelings on gloves is that they shouldn’t have room to move around, you want to be able to put your hand in your pocket and take it out again without your glove falling off! Likewise they need to fit inside the cuff of your coat without adding too much bulk. Basically no loosey goosey!
It has been great seeing these project pop up on Ravelry, knitted and enjoyed.
Eugenie Girou aka. @eugenie_odwulf
For my part I was really excited to get started as I never knitted mitts or gloves before and so I expected it to be quite challenging. As you can see from the photos, the mitts are fingerless and decorated with left and right twisted stitches similar to thin cables . It was also the first time I used magic loop so overall there were several technical points that was completely new to me and thus perfect to improve my technique.
To make things even more exciting I chose to use this yarn I had my eyes on for a little while; the Malice colour from the Hedgehog Fibers Skinny Singles. Dark reds and blues fade into paler purples and pinkish/red, exactly the kind of colours I like for my winter accessories. After swatching on to make sure the tension was fine, I was ready to start.
All the instructions in this pattern are pretty straight forward which makes it a really good project for less experienced knitters. The twisted stitches are moreish, easy to achieve and very decorative. Overall Nesting is a great alternative to completely plain mitts but still easy enough for knitters of all level to appreciate them. Now I am just waiting for the temperatures to drop a little bit more to be able to wear them.
Wendy Young aka. @wendeeflys
Kate’s Nesting design is a lovely combination of simple knit and great fit. The stitch was new to me, even so they knit pretty quickly.
I used the gorgeous Shilasdair Luxury 4 ply (Cashmere/baby camel/angora/merino ). I went up a needle size for a few reasons, big hands, tight knitter and because the Shilasdair is a slightly heavier 4 ply.
The end result? A gorgeous pair of mittens that fit beautifully and are both cozy and elegant.
Suzanne Stallard aka. @alabamawhirly
Knitting a pair of fingerless gloves was one of my first projects as a young teen and I have been a hand warmer/mitten/glove addict ever since. I loved making this pattern by Kate – it really appealed too me with it’s design element for the way the thumb was shaped and the close fit feeling created by the ribbing and twisted stitches. It is a very rhythmic knit and I may have got carried away with the rib section and knit further than prescribed but I lam happy with the extra length.
I used Life in the Long Grass Fine Sock in the Goldfinch colour way bought from YAK – I don’t usually use such variegated yarn for mitts but I thought the colours worked great with the pattern.
This is a lovely pattern with really pleasing results, suitable for all knitters and especially geeks like me that love a good thumb shape
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If you too would like to cast on the Nesting mitts, they are now available to download on Ravelry. Please do send us some photo if you decided to cast them on!
Until Next Time… Happy Knitting!
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