Tartan Mitts Spark

I knit in herringbone.

And, I knit in houndstooth.

 Both are traditional weaving patterns.

(That I knitted.)

(And that other knitters had knitted before me.)

How could I not want to take that further?

I looked at tartan plaids, and I learned that there have been many attempts to replicate them in knitting.

Most of them were aimed

(more)

at

replicating the tartan plaid

 rather than

creating a workable knitting pattern.

An example:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35213081@N04/4608519430/in/photostream/

Most

(as in this example)

also involved adding vertical rows of duplicate stitch.

I do think this looks amazing,

but,

I also thought, why not do a two color tartan plaid?

Worked in stranded colorwork?

It would be easier to knit,

 and would not involve duplicate stitches,

or intarsia.

I spent (much) time with my charting software.

I think that it took seven attempts at charting,

and almost as many swatches,

until I got to this:

This is a photo of the actual swatch that I sent to Interweave Knits for their Call for Submissions for Holiday Gifts 2013.

The yarn is

The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering 

(50% Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino, 20% Viscose Bamboo; 200 yd [183m]/50g)
  in the colorways Sarsaparrilla and Acai.

I loved these colors together and I loved the yarn.

But I am glad that the Interweave editors selected the red and black colors:

© Interweave Knits/Harper Point

The yarn is

Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering

(100% Wool; 310 yd [283m]/50g)

 in the colorways Bougainvillea and Storm.

The pattern, my own,

Tartan Mitts.

For even more colorwork examples of knitted checks, plaids, and other patterns see the

"Workaday Color" story, pages 106-122, of

Interweave Holiday Gifts 2013.