Fingerless mittens from Valle in Setesdal

Here comes yet another pair of fingerless mittens in my series of mittens based on Heidi Fossnes' book "Håndplagg til bunad og folkedrakter". The original pair was found on Løyland farm in Valle in Setesdal. They do not know how old these mittens are. You can find a picture of a reproduction of the original pair of mittens here.

These fingerless mittens are knitted in a yarn called Falk from Dale on 2 mm needles. The embroidery is done with a fine wool thread from Appelton. I doubled the thread to give the pattern more fullness.

I knitted two pair of mittens; one white pair and one black pair (like the original). The white pair was the first one I made, and the black pair was the last mittens I made in this series of mittens.

These were by no comparison the most difficult pair to make, despite that they looked strait forward. However, the angle of the stitches and the coarse knitted fabric made it virtually impossible to get the edges of the hart pretty and even.

Furthermore, on the black pair, I was not able to transfer the motif by tulle and fabric pen, as I was able to on the white pair. Thus, I needed to sew the pattern on the black pair by freehand.

These are not the pair that you start on the first time you try to make such mittens. They are far to difficult to make. But if you have some practice, and you get the angles right, they become really beautifull.