My first ever second mitten!
I've drooled over many mitten patterns, from fair isle mittens to aran mittens to felted mittens to little striped toddler-sized mittens with oh-so-necessary idiot-cords holding the pair together. I've owned the book Folk Mittens for a while now and haven't done much more than look at it. I've started at least three mittens in my life and never even got to the thumb, much less the second mitten.
Why this gap in my knitting repertoire? The first one I tried, a two-color design in sport-weight yarn, had about a million stitches (it felt like) and I forgot all about the thumb, had to rip back, couldn't get all the stitches back on the needles, and then gave up. The second one was intended to be a men's size and I got about 2 rounds past the ribbing before realizing no man I know would wear them. The third one I barely remember; I think the yarn was too itchy. Plus, I don't really wear mittens. I wear gloves. I'm a cold-weather biker and it's hard to manage all the gear/brake mechanisms with mittens on.
But this week I was inspired to knit a pair of mittens. About a month ago, I was in Syracuse, NY to play a concert with Pam, a wonderful singer and good friend of mine, and Daniel came with me. We stayed with Pam's mom, who let us sleep in her guest room, fed us, and watched Daniel a few times while I tried to sleep off the unfortunate cold-flu I caught on the way there. So I made her a scarf and sent it as a thank-you (I'll do a separate entry on that later so it gets it due as a finished object). Pam's mom's friend lent us her granddaughter's portable crib, a car seat, and an assortment of toys so I wouldn't have to lug all that stuff on the flight, and on top of that, babysat Daniel for a whole evening so Pam's mom could go to our concert. I thought she deserved a little something, too, so I am making her a pair of mittens.
Here's the first one, perched atop the tiny pile of snow clinging desperately to the lawn; don't look too closely at the top. I thought I could just remember how to do Kitchener stitch/grafting and I was wrong. It's a little funky, but I'm leaving it.
(This is actually the left mitten, not the right one. It's just upside down.)
And now, drum roll please, here's the nearly-complete second one. Sorry about the bad light, but I did this entire thing today during naptime/post-Daniel's-bedtime and it's night now. It's like my needles are on fire! All I have to do is graft the top (I'll look up Kitchener stitch this time), finish the thumb and hide the ends.
Why this gap in my knitting repertoire? The first one I tried, a two-color design in sport-weight yarn, had about a million stitches (it felt like) and I forgot all about the thumb, had to rip back, couldn't get all the stitches back on the needles, and then gave up. The second one was intended to be a men's size and I got about 2 rounds past the ribbing before realizing no man I know would wear them. The third one I barely remember; I think the yarn was too itchy. Plus, I don't really wear mittens. I wear gloves. I'm a cold-weather biker and it's hard to manage all the gear/brake mechanisms with mittens on.
But this week I was inspired to knit a pair of mittens. About a month ago, I was in Syracuse, NY to play a concert with Pam, a wonderful singer and good friend of mine, and Daniel came with me. We stayed with Pam's mom, who let us sleep in her guest room, fed us, and watched Daniel a few times while I tried to sleep off the unfortunate cold-flu I caught on the way there. So I made her a scarf and sent it as a thank-you (I'll do a separate entry on that later so it gets it due as a finished object). Pam's mom's friend lent us her granddaughter's portable crib, a car seat, and an assortment of toys so I wouldn't have to lug all that stuff on the flight, and on top of that, babysat Daniel for a whole evening so Pam's mom could go to our concert. I thought she deserved a little something, too, so I am making her a pair of mittens.
Here's the first one, perched atop the tiny pile of snow clinging desperately to the lawn; don't look too closely at the top. I thought I could just remember how to do Kitchener stitch/grafting and I was wrong. It's a little funky, but I'm leaving it.
(This is actually the left mitten, not the right one. It's just upside down.)
And now, drum roll please, here's the nearly-complete second one. Sorry about the bad light, but I did this entire thing today during naptime/post-Daniel's-bedtime and it's night now. It's like my needles are on fire! All I have to do is graft the top (I'll look up Kitchener stitch this time), finish the thumb and hide the ends.
Comments
Nice cuff, btw - I have a mitten in progress right now for my sister using a cable rib motif as well. Great minds, eh? grin!