On Mittens

I've been going on (and on, and on...) about how I needs me some mittens. I spent the back half of last Winter wearing shabby, ripped nylon ski-type mittens, something NO knitter should do, especially a Canadian Knitter.

I've held back on knitting a pair for myself because I really want to do some stranded colourwork, and I don't have the right yarn for it in the stash (I know, we've been over this...). But over the past few weeks, it's been getting colder, and my hands are not enjoying the freezing cold steering wheel in the morning. It was time.

Enter Jared Flood's Grove mittens, from the Made in Brooklyn booklet published by Classic Elite. I saw these knit as a sample at the LYS a few weeks ago and was instantly smitten. I loved the leaf-y motif, the narrowness of the hand (I've got small-ish hands), there was nothing I didn't like.

I'd just finished a project with Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist (aka The Never-Ending Skein of Alpaca), so I knew I wanted to knit these mittens in the same yarn, so they'd "match". Never mind for a moment that the hat was a slouchy rasta-type hat, and these mittens are sleek, sophisticated and dainty. The yarn would match, at least, and that was good enough for me.

I was warned that these mittens, even though they're supposed to fit an "average woman's hand circumference" were really, REALLY narrow when knit to gauge, so I went up a needle size and knit at about 3.75 inches for 25 sts instead of the stated 3. The only other issue I had with this pattern is that the chart is much, MUCH too small, and it took me a while to pick up on the different symbols for a k1tbl and a p1tbl, so the first mitten is pretty much all k1tbl. Luckily, because of the way the decreases are set up, you really can't tell (at least, I can't tell, and that's good enough for me).

These mittens were quick and easy, and while they're very pretty, they're not what you'd call "warm". Definitely Fall mittens as opposed to real frostbite protective gear, you know?

No worries though, I've got an order of KnitPicks Palette on the way that'll take care of that (and then some....)

Happy Knitting Everyone!