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The Ins and Outs of Woven Spot Stitch
Mary Lou Egan’s new mitten/mitt pattern makes variegated yarns sing.
Like most knitters, I love a great hand-painted skein. But it can be hard to find just the right project that does the watercolor hues justice. The woven spot stitch that Mary Lou Egan chose for her Montana Mittens makes perfect use of a variegated yarn. Let me walk you through it.
Woven Spot Stitch
Mary Lou used a motif with a four-round repeat—two rounds are stockinette and two rounds are “woven” by moving the working yarn in front of and behind stitches. Super easy! This creates a great balance between ground fabric and the woven elements. Color mixing from the variegated yarn is then shifting between the knitted ground stitches and the punctuated woven bars that appear on the right side of the fabric.
The four-round repeat includes two “woven” rounds.
Montana Mittens—and Mitts!
The mitten pattern (linked below) also includes instructions for a fingerless mitt version. I love knitting mitts during the summer. They are small, portable, and such a great project for gifting to those I’m traveling to see during the warm months.
Kate's mitts in the Lupine colorway.
We only photographed the mitten version for the pattern instructions (link to the pattern below), so I decided to knit the mitt version to share with you here.
Well.
The hardest part was picking a colorway from Mountain Colors on their Montana base. So, I asked owner Nicole Gilcher if she would send me several colorways to share with you here. They all create very different results—and I love them all!
Kate worked with three colorways: (from left) Northwind, Peppergrass, and Lupine.
Like most knitters, I love a great hand-painted skein. But it can be hard to find just the right project that does the watercolor hues justice. The woven spot stitch that Mary Lou Egan chose for her Montana Mittens makes perfect use of a variegated yarn. Let me walk you through it.
Woven Spot Stitch
Mary Lou used a motif with a four-round repeat—two rounds are stockinette and two rounds are “woven” by moving the working yarn in front of and behind stitches. Super easy! This creates a great balance between ground fabric and the woven elements. Color mixing from the variegated yarn is then shifting between the knitted ground stitches and the punctuated woven bars that appear on the right side of the fabric.
The four-round repeat includes two “woven” rounds.
Montana Mittens—and Mitts!
The mitten pattern (linked below) also includes instructions for a fingerless mitt version. I love knitting mitts during the summer. They are small, portable, and such a great project for gifting to those I’m traveling to see during the warm months.
Kate's mitts in the Lupine colorway.
We only photographed the mitten version for the pattern instructions (link to the pattern below), so I decided to knit the mitt version to share with you here.
Well.
The hardest part was picking a colorway from Mountain Colors on their Montana base. So, I asked owner Nicole Gilcher if she would send me several colorways to share with you here. They all create very different results—and I love them all!
Kate worked with three colorways: (from left) Northwind, Peppergrass, and Lupine.
[PAYWALL]
Montana is a worsted-weight two-ply yarn spun from US Merino-Rambouillet wool. It’s springy, has a touch of luster, and is super soft. The colorways I chose included a high-contrast dark palette, a high-contrast medium palette, and a more subtle palette of blues that remind me of Montana skies.
Fingerless mitt shaping can be quite personal. I like mitts that are not much taller than my knuckles, but the pattern indicates were you could knit yours longer if you preferred more coverage. This is the Peppergrass colorway.
Swatching
Because the woven rounds of the pattern are very responsive to tension, I found it really helped to do a quick swatch first. I suggest casting on for your size (I knitted the small) and working three repeats each of the two motifs used: Slip Stitch Rib and Woven Spot Stitch. After that, if you feel like you’ve hit your knitting stride, you can rip out the swatch and cast on for your real mitts.
Swatching in the Northwind colorway.
Happy knitting!
—Kate
Mary Lou Egan's Montana Mittens is worked in Mountain Colors Montana Silver Anniversary colorway.
