1994

Who hasn’t, at some point, lost their mittens? And which knitter has not wanted to recreate a piece of knitwear based on the evocative memory of something they once wore as a child? Recollections of her favourite pair of childhood mittens motivated today’s designer, Rebecca Tsai, to create her pattern for Warm Hands, which she’s named 1994.

Hailing from Massachusetts, Rebecca is an accomplished designer of accessories – particularly mittens.

(Objects in Space)

She’s also one of many knitters who creatively adapted my Paper Dolls pattern with their own beautiful charts – Rebecca’s beautiful version was inspired by Saint Exupery’s Petit Prince.

Here’s Rebecca to tell you more about her knitterly inspiration.

“My knitting is inspired by so many things . . . nature and wildlife, sports, hobbies, culture, extraordinary people. I also enjoy classical music, ballet, musical theatre, glass blowing, embroidery. I have tried some of these things, but some I simply admire from afar.”

(Layback Spin)

“I’m an avid mitten knitter, and ever since I started knitting mittens, I’ve really wanted to recreate a pair I had when I was little.”

“The only problem was that my only memory of those mittens was that they were green and possibly had some cables . . .”

“. . . so I just started playing around with different types of texture and cables and finally ended up with this interesting pair. Knitted in a heavy yarn at a tight gauge (so they are very warm), the mittens have a long cuff, and, against a background of reverse stockinette, twisted and travelling stitches zig and zag over the surface of the hand.”

“. . . playing around with ideas and finally producing this pair of mittens was a very enjoyable process. My resulting design perhaps, in the end, bears little resemblance to my original mittens – and yet – the process of knitting and creating the design was also like finding them again.”

“. . . in creating this design for the Warm Hands collection, I took my own journey back to 1994.”

The 1994 mittens are like a warm hug for your hands. Thank you, Rebecca, for a design that’s as evocative as it is cosy!

Links
Warm Hands book
1994 on Ravelry
1994 yarn pack (this design is a great way to try our Àrd-Thìr yarn on a small project)