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With Moss as the main color, I'd suggest Grasshopper as the 'fleck' - where the bright Tidepool is. For the Fair Isle band, I'd substitute Fedora where Moss had been, and Nutmeg where Grasshopper had been. If that's still too 'Christmas-y' with the red stars, you could try Eggplant.
Hollyberry is a little more difficult - once Vanilla is back in stock, that would make a great fleck. The rest you could keep the same, except change the star color. Alternately you could also work the whole Fair Isle band in shades of brown, black and white for a more 'traditional' approach.
Good luck! I'd love to see what you come up with :)
-Kerin
I have a question about a free downloadable pattern. It's the Queen of Diamonds Fingerless Glove pattern. I tried knitting the "cobweb fringe" cuff three times - ripping it out each time. Where do the loops come from that show in the picture? It seems like it should come from the dropped stitches on the 7th round, but mine don't turn into big fringey loops. Also, when I drop stitches per the pattern, the pattern says I should have 40 stitches (down from 60). Every time I do this I end up with 42 stitches. Anyone else have trouble with this pattern? I bought gloss yarn and size 0 and 1 dpns from knitpicks in order to make these, just as the pattern called for.
I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with the pattern. I'm not sure why you keep ending up with 42 stitches, but if you do the next time, it won't hurt to just decrease the last two stitches in an inconspicuous place in the rows before the Chevron Lace.
As for the loops on the cuff--you are correct that they come from the dropped stitches. It takes a bit of finagling with the dropped loops to make them very loopy, and blocking helps too. How loose or tight you knit is another factor. When I knit my first versions of these gloves, mine were much less loopy than the photo sample--probably because I'm a tighter knitter than the sample knitter was. Some people actually like the less loopy look better, while it sounds like you like it really loopy. In that case, perhaps don't start on the size 0 needles and just start with the 1s? I hope that helps!
I used this pattern for my first pair of mittens and used some Dancing (a discontinued fingering weight KP yarn). Mine werem't as loopy as the example on the pattern sheet, and I don't recall having problems with the stitch could. Once I finished the project I wasn't too impressed with the overall effect. Not one of my favorite projects, but it taught me a few things.
It's actually knit from the bottom up in one piece; the sleeves are knit separately to the underarm and then attached to the body and knit all as one till the collar.
Every time I knit anything with a Debbie Bliss pattern, it always comes out so huge!!! I have gotten to the point that I use the pattern as a reference and just create my own. Is anyone else having issues with her patterns?
Re the Chullo:
The applied I-Cord is best done wrong side facing (check Eliz. Zimmermann.) I did check this myself, doing it both ways, and applying it from the wrong side gives a smoother result on the right side--on the wrong side you can get peek-through of any color different than the I-Cord. Also, I'd suggest using markers for the decreases on the crown, easier to keep track of where to do the k2tog.
Size-wise, it seems to work up small to med for most people I talk to. If you have a larger head, you could add a 10 repeat or use a larger needle.
Other than that, awesome pattern! And a very nice warm hat.