Start to Finish: Mailou

Pattern:  Mailou by Bristol Ivy
Yarn:  Mineville Wool Project purchased at Soper Creek Yarn

I purchased Knitting Outside the Box in the fall and finished my first project from this gorgeous book.  First, the book itself is beautiful.  It's bound, with a textured cover that feels lovely to hold.  The design is like a coffee-table book - meant to be leafed through, picked up and reread from any given point.  The essays are interesting and provoke creative thinking, with stunning photographs to accompany all elements of the book.

I chose to knit the Mailou Mitts first.  They are fingerless mitts with a cable that twists around the hand and down the side of the mitten.  This is achieved through short-row construction and picking up stitches from a provisional cast on.

First, the mitten is knit side to side with a cable at each end:

Then short rows are used to build out a thumb at one end:

Then, the provisional cast-on stitches go on a needle to be picked up as a series of short-rows and decreases are knit to turn the cable down toward the wrist (almost a 90 degree turn):

All of these seems complex, but if you trust Bristol Ivy (and you should!) to simply follow her instructions, you end up with these:

I love the construction, love the finished product.  They are stylish and practical, a simple accessory with enough complexity to make it interesting. 

Next up from this book: Sharman, a cocoon-style shawl/shrug