Here is the prototype of my Holly Mitten. I’d eventually like to have many mitten patterns that avoid the second sock syndrome on hands. Make a Holly leaf for the left hand and and ivy leaf for the right and you can wear the Holly and the Ivy. Too Christmassy for January? I’ll come up with something else. Suggestions?
I tried making leaves that were in the round so they could be pretty from both sides (and use a double yarn over with knit and purl in the bottom as the thorn) but they laid flat, even if I had more decreases at the beginning than the end, to try to get the holly leaf arch.
So I let them sit for a long time, and worked on other projects.
Finally, I searched though Ravelry patterns, and my stitch dictionary, and found two basic oval-ish leaf methods. One starts with a long bit of knitting, with regular decreases down the center, and regular increases along the sides, forming two bias parallelograms, finishing up with regular centered decreases without the increases to make the pointed tip. Veined leaf is a pattern like this. The other main shape is centered increases (often yarn overs) then centered decreases. Since the stitch lines curve around parallel to the edge of the ‘leaf’ it doesn’t look like veins, so this sort is often called candle flames. The Candle tree is a good example.
After that bit of research and analysis, I felt better, but it was time to grab some yarn, needles and play. I got something that worked, but had to tick it to replicate it (oh the pain!) but I have it all documented now. I just need a smaller version for the smaller sizes I’ll be publishing. The thorns still want to curve under the stockinette, but I sewed them down individually and they behaved.
Of course, sewing motifs down individually is a pain too, but so far, I haven’t come up with a way of knitting in holly leaves.