Landyshy

I told you all about my vacation last week and the knitting I gifted and received on the trip, but I failed to tell you about what I actually knit while on the road. This was a purposeful omission, as I didn’t finish the knitting until a few days after I arrived home, but let me correct it immediately by showing off my Landyshy wristies:

This pattern, Lily of the Valley Wrist Warmers "Landyshy", first came to my attention at last year's Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival in a booth filled with the most beautiful Russian lace shawls ever imagined. Each and every shawl was gorgeous, complex, and made out of the softest and lightest yarn I’ve ever felt—usually qiviut or cashmere. Not having the money or inclination to knit such complex projects, I immediately fell on a pair of cuffs that were just as lovely as the shawls but were much more achievable project.

I made my pair out of the laceweight alpaca yarn that I handspun during the 2010 Ravelympics. Being my first handspun laceweight, it’s pretty thin but has some slightly thicker sections that made these wristies turn out a little denser than I had hoped. I honestly think that this pattern should either be made with a very thin laceweight or on needles a half- or full-size larger than the 1’s specified. I might actually knit the pattern again on commercial yarn with larger needles to see if things come out a little better.

I really recommend the Landyshy wristie pattern (Ravelry link) as it creates gorgeous wristies that are quick and straightforward to make, so long as you are comfortable with nupps. If you're not comfortable with nupps, you should check out the crochet-hook method for making nupps because I've found this is the only method for making nupps that does not result in an embarrassing amount of profanity. My wristies are the first project for this pattern on Ravelry and I really hope that they will not be the last!