Fair Isle...Oh Boy!

Quantum Leap fans, you know what I mean. That's how I feel...like when Sam from the show flashed into another time, another dimension, saying, "Oh boy". That's me, today.


The dimension: Fair Isle. Tiffany Mittens, to be exact.


It's time to start my very first attempt at colorwork, really. Now, don't get me wrong--I've done a sweater with different colored ribbing, and I've done striped blankets and scarves. But no one, no one, would confuse striping with the intricate stranded colorwork of fair isle. Here's the yarn, which arrived yesterday:

• Rhubarb pink - Knitpicks Merino Style
• Coal black - Knitpicks Swish DK
• Dusk blue - Knitpicks Swish DK
• Cinnamon brown - Knitpicks Swish DK
• Nutmeg tan - Knitpicks Swish DK

The colors look great, with the exception of the blue and black combination. To me the black (Coal) looked almost a little more grey than black, so I expected it to be lighter, and the blue (Dusk) looked a bit brighter. The black will be the main color, and the blue will be the circles part on the hand of the mitten. Just to see how they'd look, I laid out a strand of blue on the black to see if it'll stand up for itself:

Not bad. Like the website pics led me to believe. But without a flash:

You can see the problem. Blue sort of disappears. So now I have to decide if I should go with a lighter, brighter blue. I tried to match the colors to my general winter apparel, so I could wear these with almost anything. My main outerwear choices are a black fleece vest with pink detail (covered), brown or khaki sweaters (covered), black dress coat (covered), and my blue and black parka (wrong blue). Ironically, the blue that's too dark for the black is ALSO too dark to match my winter coat. :( This stinks.

Well, on the brighter side. I did the first gauge swatch (st. st.) with a US 2, and it's pretty darned close. A tiny bit tight, but I think it might be o.k., because my hands are a bit smaller than the mittens are supposed to be with the "correct" gauge. The second gauge swatch is supposed to be a stranded color swatch, so I decided to just get started. If I'm right on the second swatch, I'll just keep going. (And jump up and down triumphantly) If I'm off, I'll try again with a US 3. At least I'll have had practice at the actual pattern and the colorwork, too. So it's no harm, right? As long as I promise to TAKE IT OUT AND REDO IT IF IT'S OFF. You know me, I always want to "just keep going and see if it fits o.k."...terrible idea. O.k., I promise.

Here's what I have so far:

Not bad for a start. The Picot edge (there'll be a hem flipped inside the mitt later):

And a little better of the colorwork:

I think it's turning out pretty well. I'm taking special care to make sure it's loose enough on the inside, and I think it's going all right. Stay tuned for more updates!