Whew

In a crazy fury of knitting I finished these mittens late last week. I was simultaneously working under deadline on edits with my advisor on a book we co-wrote over the past year. Apparently when my adrenaline kicks in, and caffeine from the insane amount of coffee I was drinking to get it all done, my knitting benefits.


These mittens are from a lovely pattern and I highly recommend it for experienced knitters. I did have a very difficult time achieving gauge and proper sizing however. It was likely due to my inexperience with two-color stranded knitting, but I wanted to give a word of caution. Be sure to check out ravelry for lots and lots of feedback on other peoples experiences with these mittens.


I made two, well actually three, modifications to the pattern. The first which isn't really a modification, but is a departure from the pattern, is that I used worsted weight yarn. I had a terrible time getting stranded knitting to look right with fingering weight wool so I went with a heavier weight instead. The second modification was to cut 8 rows from the pattern for each thumb. The mittens are already on the big side, and will need to be felted a tad, but if I had stuck true to pattern the thumbs would have reached almost to the top of the mittens. The last modification was that I added a picot edge. The pattern called for a purl row edge and I thought this was a tad more decorative. I also have to say how much I love the braided cuff detailing and will be using that again on another pair of mittens in the future.


You can find the rest of the details (needle size, yarn, etc.) on my project page on ravelry. For my history with these mittens you can scroll here.



As of tonight I have two sock projects on the needles and I have cast on for the first of two hooded wallaby sweaters. I'm definitely back in the swing of knitting again!