Marra

Hello from the wild west of Scotland, where I may soon disappear into a freak gust and a power cut brought by this very sleety storm. . . . I’m blowing in this morning to introduce you to another pattern from the Colour Compass collection: the Marra mitts.

Designing and organising a collection whose key determining factor is limited yardage and multiple colours is certainly something of a challenge! In every project, large or small, I wanted knitters to feel free to experiment with colour in a wide range of different ways, developing palettes, putting shades together, creating interesting chromatic combinations. The amount of yarn in each Colour Compass box was necessarily limited, but the creative potential therein was huge. To a greater or lesser extent, then, every single pattern in the collection had to balance itself between freedom (in the knitters’ colour choices) and constraint (in respect of the amount of yarn they had available). Some smaller projects, using minimal yarn amounts were necessary. What might knitters be able to do with just two balls (200 metres / 220 yards) of Milarrochy Tweed? With that amount of yarn could they knit a pair of mitts? How about winding two balls together, and marling it, with the yarn held double? Would there be enough yarn for two sizes, to fit smaller and larger hands? And could we make the mitts reversible, so the knitter might choose their own preferred marl-y look?

I knit many individual mitts while developing the Marra pattern, each one its own marl-y swatch, a few of which were unravelled and reworked. I discovered that there was enough yarn in two balls of Milarrochy Tweed for the knitter to make a pair of well-fitting mitts with a thumb gusset in either of two sizes, but that to add a thumb itself might be cutting it fine. I really enjoyed playing with the new shades I had added to the Milarrochy Tweed palette. And, at the conclusion of my marl-y experiments I had three wearable pairs of mitts.

I find the fabric of the pink pair, in which Thrift and Hirst are held together, very pleasing (there’s something satisfyingly plump and velvety about that variegated reverse stockinette), but I like the the blue pair too, in which Outsea and Eyebright create a subtle combination in which each shade seems both a little less, and a little more than itself. The green stockinette pair, in which I held Garth and Gaskin together really interested me because the particular hue that these two shades make when blended was simultaneously so very soft, and so very intense.

Claire knitted the pair on the left, in the fascinating combination of Hare and Eyebright. Both of these shades have silvery undertones, which becomes even more apparent when the two are brought together. Claire’s marled mitts are so silvery that they almost shimmer!

Maylin selected two shades from the palette which I would have been unlikely to ever put together, but whose combination I find extraordinarily compelling (illustrating both why it is great to hang out with knitters whose colour preferences are very different from your own and that pleasant aesthetic surprises await when you step outside your chromatic comfort zone ). The shades she chose are Gloamin‘ and Backen‘, and their marled fabric, in combination is so deep, so rich and so luxuriant that you can almost taste it!

Maylin’s Marra mitts really started something for her: she would now be the first person to tell you that she’s become a bit obsessed with marling and the very different colour effects that can be created by holding two strands of yarn together.

Marra is a wonderful word in Scots, which can mean “companion”, “kindred spirit” or “match”. I hope you’ll find that whipping up a pair of small, simple, and quick to knit Marra mitts is a great way to experiment with the surprisingly companionable nature of different yarn shades when you knit the two together. And if you are interested in the creative potential of marling generally, then let me recommend two brilliant books: Anna Maltz’s joyously innovative Marlisle, and Cecelia Campochiaro’s marvelous Making Marls .

Thanks to Maylin and Claire, my companions in marls, and to Fenella, Iona, Kate C and Kendall for hand modelling high jinks.

If you’d like to join us in our new year knitalong, the Colour compass ebook (and yarn box) can be found in the KDD shop, and the e-book is also available on Ravelry.