Monday, January 21, 2008

FO Bird in Hand Mittens




Pattern: Bird in Hand Mittens by Kate Gilbert
Needles: Inox US1 DPNS
Yarn: Valley Yarns Southbridge and Ella Rae Classic (white)

My mittens finished drying this weekend and I've worn them out a few times. They are indeed very warm and the pattern is very cool looking. My tension was totally different for the second (left) mitt because I switched to keeping the main color in my right hands instead of the left. I really shouldn't have changed mid project, I think had these two yarns been similar in weight things would have been fine but since the Southbridge is thicker things got screwed up. They came out to be about the medium size which is what I wanted but they don't fit too well. I think because the row after the braid is so loose they move around on my hands a bit. I'll keep wearing them but only time will tell if they become a permanent wardrobe item. I would not recommend the Southbridge yarn for these, it's too far off and I payed the price. These mittens hurt my hand something terrible.
I went back to my Tangled Yoke and my hands kept hurting. I eased up a bit and took this as an excuse to cast on for Eunny Jang's Endpaper mitts Saturday. Two color knitting with fingering weight yarn doesn't bother my hands at all, yeay! I love an excuse to give in to temptation and cast on another project. I had the day off today so I managed to finish one up.



These are a fabulous knit. The pattern is really easy and only requires a quick glance at the chart every so often. We keep the house very cold and I often knit in a pair of pink fetchings
I made a while back. These work fine when using circular knits but since I've been using double pointed needles a lot recently I've run into problems. They are just too bulky and keep snagging my needles. I unfortunately picked up 8" DPNS at Webs last time I was there and it turns out that extra inch is pretty annoying. I really want these mitts so I think they'll be off the needles soon, probably before I continue work on my sweater. I left off the Italian tubular cast on from this mitt because I was too lazy to look it up and I think it was a mistake. I may undo this row and do the Kitchener rib bind-off the pattern called for at the tops of the mitts. This bind off technique isn't too hard but I either have no coordination or the cold house has caused me too loose feeling in my finger tips because I dropped the needles so many times. Thank goodness this isn't slippery yarn! It took me longer to do the bind off than to knit the ribbing. I'm hoping with practice it will get easier and I'll be happy I know it the next time I knit socks. I've managed to grasp the Italian tubular cast on for the second mitt, I recommend watching a video online as I had a hard time getting it from written directions. We'll see how it turns out as I get further into the mitt.

1 comment:

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

You are on fire! I love those Bird in Hands, that's the best color combo I've yet to see. And the Endpaper mitts-wow.