There’s just no going around it – Ysolda’s Veyla are a brilliant pattern and that’s it. I’ve made them several times by now – they are done quicker than expected, putting them together feels like magic and the finished objects lead the onlookers to ask one question and one question alone: “Can I have a pair too?” You have no idea how many people have asked me to knit them Veylas… I haven’t indulged them all. But some people are extra-knitworthy.
When Maja asked me to knit her a pair, I decided to savour every step of the process.
Over one Saturday morning coffee, I gave her my own pair of Veylas to wear for a while, to check if they fit, and to make sure that the yarn wasn’t making her too itchy. Then she showed me how much longer she wanted them, I made some measurements and we were done for the day.
At first I thought I’d just knit the cuff longer and that’d be it. I knit both lace cuffs. But after trying them on I realized they might be too tight on the bit of the arm where they would sit and changed my strategy. I ripped the bind-off on both cuffs and re-did them as per size L. I then picked up stitches as for size L, knit for about 7cm decreasing a stitch here and there to follow the curve of the arm, and finally, when I got to the stitch count for size S, I continued making the mitts as per pattern for that size until the very end. A detailed description of my mods with stitch and row counts is available on my project page. It might sound a bit fiddly, but I quite enjoyed ripping a bit here and there, calculating and adapting the pattern to give me exactly what I wanted to get.
I had found the perfect buttons even before finishing. Very early on I got the idea that the dark blue mitts would go wonderfully with white pearly buttons. Luckily I found just what I was looking for in a local yarn shop and I couldn’t have been happier.
In the end, because I found out rather suddenly that I would be leaving the country soon, I ended up with a bit of a time crunch for delivering these. I was still sewing in ends and blocking them a few hours before they would be delivered. And so it came to be that I sewed on the buttons while waiting to meet up with Maja on the busy main square of Zagreb in the early July 2011. I must have been a sight! I was so excited!
I got the photos a few months later. They were worth the wait – they reminded me that not only did I enjoy the making, but I also ended up with exactly what I had set out to do – make the most elegant pair of mitts imaginable for the biggest lady I know.
The amazing photos, again, generously, by Matea Lemac.
fridica 