Alright, here’s the thing. I’ve only heard back from a few of you who are interested in the mini-KAL. The motivation for having this KAL initially was to help out knitters who love this glove as well but are scared of the Japanese. I’ve decided that instead of having a KAL, I’d just write out my interpretation of the pattern in English for everyone to see. That way, those of you who are interested in knitting one up - be it now or later - can have something to refer to. The pattern copyrights belong 100% to the original authors, and what I am merely doing here is just giving you an interpretation of what I did. With that said, hopefully I am not stepping on anyone’s toes.Pattern: Herringbone Gloves by Tata&Tatao
Suggested Yarn: Rowanspun 4-ply (brown& beige), but I used Regia 4-ply (brown and cream)
Suggested Gauge: 40 sts + 44 rows = 10 cm (mine was 10.5 sts x 10 sts to 1″, using 2.50mm Addi Sz 1 40″ circular needles in magic loop)
Shortcut method: use babelfish to translate most of the pattern by typing in the url. The translated instructions may or may not make sense to you at this point, so here’s where I come in.
My interpretation: Instructions for the right glove is given. Basically you start knitting in the round from the wrist up, then increase for the thumb. After that, you’ll knit the thumb, the little finger, the ring, middle and index finger, respectively. The last 6 charts at the end of the instructions represent the thumb pattern and its decreases (top two), the rest of the fingers and their decreases(middle two), and the little finger and its decreases (bottom two). Work k2tog and ssk accordingly for left or right slanting decreases.
To start, CO 64 sts and knit 2 rnds in brown. From rnd 3 to rnd 18, follow Pattern Stitch A. Starting from rnd 19, you will begin increasing between St 41 and St 42. The increasing instructions are given in the chart below Pattern Stitch A, where the black boxes represent the increases on the palm side (salt and pepper). On the hand side (herringbone bone), just keep repeating Pattern Stitch A. You will increase 24 sts over the next 36 rows on the palm side. It is helpful to place a stitch marker before St 41, and another stitch marker before St 42 to keep track of your stitches.
After the increases are completed, you will be knitting the thumb. Place all sts EXCEPT Sts 33-57 (24 sts total) on scrap yarn. The 24 sts that you have left on your needle is the thumb. On the first round of thumb, you will CO 4 additional sts after the 24 sts (I used backward loop), giving you a total of 28 sts for thumb. Follow the thumb pattern for 16 rnds and switch to the decreasing pattern for thumb. At the end, you will end up with 10 sts. Kitchener st these by placing 5 on one needle, and the other 5 on the other needle. This completes your thumb.
Place the remaining sts back on needles and work Pattern Stitch B for 8 rounds. Now you will be knitting the little finger.
The first 8 st on the HAND side and the last 8 sts on the PALM side will be used to knit the little finger. Place all other sts on scrap yarn. Now you will follow the pattern for the little finger (bottom two). Knit the first 8 sts according to pattern, THEN CO 4 additional sts, then follow the pattern again for the last 8 sts. There is an error in the diagram here. The 4 additonal sts that you have to CO was wrongly placed at the end of the pattern. Instead, it should be placed between the first 8 and the last 8 sts. The 4 CO sts lies between the little finger and ring finger. Work 20 rnds from the little finger pattern, then continue on Rnd 21 for the decreases. You will have 10 sts remaining. Kitchener these sts as you have done with the thumb.
Place remaining sts back on needle. Follow Pattern Stitch C for 4 rounds. Now you will be knitting the rest of the fingers, starting from the ring finger, then the middle, and finally the index finger. The method for knitting all three fingers are the same. Each finger will have 24 sts total - 8 from hand side, 4 additional CO, 8 from palm side, and 4 sts which are picked up from the previous finger’s additonal CO sts. I’ve included a picture to show you what the 4 picked up sts and the 4 additional CO sts look like. Instead of having flat fingers, you actually knit 4 sides. Follow the Finger pattern for the 3 fingers and kitchener the 10 sts as described previously. Weave in loose ends and call it a day.
That sums up the right hand glove. (And that is my index finger - not the middle one). For the left glove - which I haven’t started, basically you copy and save the pattern diagrams in Photoshop, then click on “Image“, then “Rotate Image” and click on the “Flip Image Horizontal“. That should give you a mirror image of the diagram and so you’ll have both L and R hand charts.
Phew.

Oh my lord, I think I got it! 4 more fingers to go……. on the first glove..let’s not even mention the possibility of a second glove syndrome here.
Yea I know that cuff is curling like crazy.. maybe I’m not doing my Double- Start CO right.. but this color-knitting business sure is addictive…
Update: So it seems that I managed to get another knitter to hop in the herringbone wagon with me. From the comments that I’ve received, it seemed like some of you are interested, but a little put off by the Japanese. I’m just tossing this out now… and it may or may not happen depending on the level of interest.. but would you gals like a mini-KAL for this?

Monogamy in knitting is over-rated. I know you all expect me to whiz through that Renaissance tunic in no time flat, but alas, there’s been some stealth knitting on the side. Yes I’m cheating on the tunic. Seems to me that the current trend in knit-blogs these days is FairIsle Knitting… and I’ve also caught the bug. Now this multi-stranding business is not easy, and it also involves alot of frogging. I’ve been trying to translate the Herringbone glove pattern to English and I think I’ve finally figured out 50% of it. Here’s a shot of my second attempt at the herringbone pattern: Update: Here are some helpful links if you choose to knit these gloves as well.
I’m practicing the two-handed technique with help from this great tutorial, sans the weaving part. Right now I’m just letting the yarn “float”. There’s still some tension problems, but I’m excited to be “multi-yarning” (you know I so totally made that word up). I’ve managed to translate the pattern until the increasing for the thumb part, and still a little stuck with knitting the fingers. A little help? So I know you want progress pics of the tunic.. and I will happily oblige. I’ve completed the back and front of the sweater, even did the 3-needle bind off for the shoulders already. I figured I might as well work on the collar while I’m at it and then start the sleeves. As you can see (or not) from the picture, my purl stitches are pretty uneven because the lower body is knit with recycled yarn that was frogged from a disastrous project. Will blocking help even the purl stitches? And which method do you wonderful gals recommend? I’ve already tried on the sweater, and it hugs me nicely, but the nasty uneven sts are giving me migraines. Steam blocking? Yes? No?

Ever looked at a pattern and thought to yourself, :”I must have that.” I’m sure you all have. That’s me - for the Renaissance Tunic designed by Teva Durham. I started this project late sunday evening, and so far I have this. Hopefully by the time I’m through with it, it will look like this.I wavered between knitting the Renaissance Tunic and Demi from Vintage Style for a while, and in the end decided that it was time. See, I bought the yarn for this about 6 months ago and have always thought this project would be something that I would “aspire to do” when I’m good enough. Ah, fug it. Itchy fingers have a different plan.
This pattern is knit from the bottom up in the round, and the picture you see above is right where I should be dividing for the front and back now. I got the easy part out of the way, and should be heading towards short row shaping for the bust and god knows where else. Just don’t expect the usual crazy knitting speed from me on this one - I predict it’s gonna take a while…

It’s good to be back home! I spent the last week at a conference and I finally made it back to LA last night. Not much knitting going on recently, except that I finished a pair of really really bright knee-highs.Materials: Regia 4-ply Jubilee Color 5473 (100g, 75% wool, 25% polyamide), Sz 0 + 1
Pattern: Figure 8 CO, 60 sts in Sz 0 all the way up to just before calves, then Sz 1 needles for another 6 inches, and finished off with 2″ of 1 by 1 ribbing with sewn cast off
Notes: Not much.. except that it’s done with k4p1 and I used up every last bit of yarn. I like knitting socks with Sz 0’s to produce a firm fabric and I think this Regia yarn has been the best sock yarn (in terms of softness) that I’ve worked with so far. The colors are abit crazy, but I’m sure no one will notice them under my jeans. It’s great to have a pair of cheerful handknit socks for this winter.
Now that I got these out of the way, I have some time to decide on my next project. I’m leaning towards the Renaissance Tunic by Teva Durham, and even obtained gauge for the pattern. But Demi is calling out to me too, so I’m having a little trouble deciding which project to dive into. I have Jaeger Shetland Aran in burgundy for Demi, but I haven’t swatched yet so we’ll see. I’m still trying to catch up with the blog-reading (boy you gals are chatty) and am looking forward to spending the weekend relaxing in my pj’s and sleeping in. Seems like you all have been busy knitting while I was away.. good thing too, because I need some serious inspiration to get my knitting mojo back in gear. For those who have emailed me while I was gone, sorry I haven’t replied. I’m still sorting through the messages but I’ll get back to you eventually.