Knitting in the Shadows: The End of the Test

November 24, 2012

The End of the Test

The other day, I finished up the test knit I was doing for someone else's fingerless mitt design.

The knitting was pretty easy. The instructions weren't as clear as they could have been, and I shared with the designer some of the issues I found that might have caused problems for "newbie" knitters.

I was reminded a bit of why I so rarely just knit other people's designs... and why I'm usually so very careful to choose a test knit that I think I'll really like.

Now, these mitts are lovely,

But you can see in this phot one of the things that bugs me, personally, about them. Look there, under the thumb. There's a bit of bagginess there. Golf Pro tried them on yesterday -- he found the same bagginess for his hands as well.

When I design a mitt, I typically avoid this bagginess by actively shaping a gusset. This designer approached the gusset issue by simply making the hand from wrist to thumb-division big enough to accommodate the widest part of your hand. It works, don't get me wrong, it's just not as elegant as these mitts could be.

Ordinarily, I'd just up and change things, so that the mitss fit me the way I want them to. But one can't quite do that for a test knit. One must knit the mitt as written.

Yes, it's true, I followed directions. I did what I was told.

Mark that down in your calendars.

Well, maybe not. These mitts are supposed to be lace all the way around. I didn't quite follow that instruction, because lace palms were too much for me. Too much stuff gets caught in them. You can't knit with lace palms (and yes, I do knit while wearing wrist warmers. Don't you??). But at least I hid the variance pretty well...