These were such fun to create.
I had a couple of goals in mind with these mittens:
Firstly, of course, was the challenge of creating a balanced design with equal quantities of the five Wild Skies colourways (a single Quintet in Summit Sock, in this case). To be honest, pink with blue is a little out of my comfort zone, but I persisted in the belief that nature does not err and the sky would surely have its own intrinsic harmony. The hot hues of Alpenglow are nicely tempered by Grey Day, while the somber blues of Twilight have a steadying influence on the bright energies of Dawn and Ultraviolet. The most brilliant colourways were allowed to play together only in small doses within the trim and mitten tips.
Secondly, in keeping with January's theme of Possibility, I wanted a sense of lavish exuberance, and I was inspired to that end by Lizbeth Upitis' wonderful book documenting the mittens of Latvia. I utilised a traditional sun motif as the centrepiece (as befits the sky), modifying the surrounding flourishes to fit.
The palms, however, were designed in a fit of pure whimsy:
The perfectionist in me can't help but conceed that it would be nice if all the letters fell in areas of identical contrast, but the design was intended to honor the spirit of impulsive ecstasy - that happy creative place where every possibility is on the table, and the work of pruning and perfecting still a long ways off. For me, it does exactly that.
I love love love them. Absolutely gorgeous!
Posted by: Sue | 27/01/2011 at 12:33 AM
Gorgeous!!
Posted by: Rose | 27/01/2011 at 04:05 AM
Those are really nice. Great job. (And I think the pink/blue part looks just as fab as the rest.)
Posted by: kingshearte | 27/01/2011 at 04:29 AM
they are truly exuberant mittens - fully expressive of possibility! the pink and blue doesn't bother me at all.
Posted by: Linda M | 27/01/2011 at 07:08 AM
wow! I love the palms the best, so much fun!
Posted by: colleen | 27/01/2011 at 08:18 AM
Wonderful!!! I really like those palms. Kudos on persisting past perfection.
Posted by: LaurieM | 27/01/2011 at 08:38 AM
Soooo beautiful.
Posted by: dclulu | 27/01/2011 at 09:46 AM
Love!
Posted by: Cookie | 27/01/2011 at 11:41 AM
Terrific! I love mittens, and these are great ones.
Posted by: Pam | 27/01/2011 at 03:42 PM
Rocking mittens! The color scheme REALLY doesn't work for me - usually - but these are so gorgeous that I'm asking around my students to see if anyone would like something like these.
Posted by: Allison | 27/01/2011 at 03:56 PM
Awesome design! And the colors play so well together!
Posted by: BerlinBat | 28/01/2011 at 01:36 AM
Beautiful!!
Posted by: Hege | 28/01/2011 at 07:15 AM
They're beautiful, Ruth! I love the colours...they're warm and glowy!
Posted by: Kerri | 28/01/2011 at 12:49 PM
What a beautiful pattern. I love the sun on the thumbs!
Posted by: Louise | 28/01/2011 at 03:40 PM
WOW!!!!!! Are you sending me the pattern to proof? They are really wonderful!
Posted by: Deb | 29/01/2011 at 08:47 AM