Progress on Grandma's Mittens

I'm pleased to say I've made lots of progress on my Grandma's mittens. The double pointed needles I was waiting for were in the pair of Irish flag mittens when I wrote the last blog, but I finally got them out and got into this mitten in a big way. I also learned in these mittens, as compared to boyfriend's mittens, that the plastic needles in the hand and as a stitch holder for the thumb are significantly superior in that they can bend a little so the rounds above the stitches on the stitch holder can be knitted closer together rather than having this weird slight gap like boyfriend's do.

This is the same pattern I used for boyfriend's mittens, except first of all I made the women's size, and second I decided to use US 3 and 4 needles rather than US 4 and 5 like the pattern says, so I added four stitches to it to compensate. Since I added four stitches to the pattern, I was a little nervous at how the mitten would work out, especially once I got the the hand and decreasing. I added two stitches to each side of the thumb, and it seems to have worked out perfectly. The mitten is a little snug, but in a good, cozy way.

I was a little nervous to do the thumb, but it came together perfectly. It's a good size and fit and looks good. Altering the decrease wasn't really bad. It took me a little bit to figure out what to do, but I managed it, and I don't think you can tell that it's a little weird.

All in all I'm very pleased with how my grandmother's first mitten turned out. There is one more difference between this mitten and boyfriend's mitten that you may notice. When I made boyfriend's mitten, I missed the part of the pattern that said knit until the piece measures x inches long, and then put the stitches for the thumb on the thumb holder, so imagine my surprise when I went back to the pattern to reference for my grandma's mittens and i saw that and realized I hand't done it on his mittens! So I did it here and they fit great and look great, but I don't think boyfriend's mittens fit poorly in any way. They just look a little silly. And of course I caught it before I finished his first mitten, but not by much, and it fit okay, so I decided not to rip out the whole thing. But now I know.

The variegated yarn looks great, the mittens fit great, and I'm getting better at mittens. This year's knitting is going very well!

Happy knitting!

Irish Flag Mittens

Good morning all! I hope your days are starting as well as mine. Boyfriend didn't work until 9 today, so when he got up just a little bit ago, he made the coffee, so I'm already sitting here with my cuppa!

At this point, I can't for the life of me figure out why I was so scared of mittens. They're going miraculously well as well as quickly. So quickly that while I meant to take a picture after I finished the thumb gusset, it didn't take years and I was so excited that I moved right onto the hand of the mitten. Of course, I haven't started shaping the top of the mitten yet, nor have I tried knitting and attaching the thumb, but I think I can handle it.

At this point the piece measures just about 8 inches and is on the US 5 double pointed needles. I wasn't sure what a stitch holder was or if I even had one, but I figured my cable hook would do the trick, so that's that.

This mitten looks huge to me, but I have to keep in mind this is the men's size, and I have pretty small hands anyway. I've had boyfriend slip this on a few times to make sure it's coming along correctly, and it looks great on him. Once these mittens are finished, I'll be sure to have him model his hat, scarf, and mittens all together.

Happy knitting!

Boyfriend's Mittens

When I decided to start my grandma's mittens a few days back, I was thinking that mittens couldn't be that hard, and I could use some practice knitting in the round with those double pointed needles anyway. I still had some green orange and white yarn left from the Irish things I've made for boyfriend, and I estimated that I had enough between the three of them to make him some mittens as well.

These mittens are from the same pattern from which I'm making my grandma's mittens. I'm using the men's size and not making any adjustments which means I started with US 4s for the cuff and I cast on 44 stitches. After I realized adding a few stitches to mittens might not be as easy as adding stitches to other patterns, I swiftly decided to do everything for the hand of boyfriend's mittens first so I can see what they look like following the pattern exactly and where to make adjustments for my grandma's mittens.

Originally I was going to have just the thumbs be white and the left mitten be green and the right mitten be orange. Then I thought I could knit one mitten green and white and one orange and white, but then I tried casting on and knitting with two strands and quickly scrapped that idea, and then I thought why not have the cuffs be white and then depending on how I feel when I get to it the thumbs can be white or not.

The color still isn't super because this is right next to the window by necessity, but the cuff is worked in ribs: k2,p2* all the way around

The only real problem I had with these mittens that I didn't have with my grandma's is the needles. All of my other needles are metal and these are plastic. I've never worked with plastic needles before and I was disconcerted at how much give they had in them. Unfortunately they are my only set of double pointed 4s, so I'm stuck with them for the other cuff of boyfriend's mittens as well as the bodies of grandma's mittens. But good news: I'm done with the first cuff of boyfriend's mittens so as soon as I have time and courage at the same time, I'll start on the hand of the mitten with US 5 double pointed needles.

Happy knitting!

PS. Tomorrow the post won't be up until, at a guess, around noon as I have a job interview at 9:30, but it will be up. Wish me luck!

Grandma's Mittens

Last year sometime, I bought some of this really gorgeous green variegated yarn, and I knew that I wanted to make something for my grandmother with it, but I didn't know what since the year before that I had made her a hat and scarf (blogs on those are forthcoming). This year, I finally decided that I was going to try to make some mittens, and mittens out of this green yarn for my grandmother would be perfect.

The color on this (and unfortunately many of my pics as of late) is a little off due to some technical difficulties which I'm working to resolve.

So I looked up a pattern, which you can find it here, and figured it wasn't going to be that hard. Instead of starting with US 4 (3.75mm) double pointed needles like the pattern says, I decided to start with US 3s (3.5mm), and so I added 4 stitches to the pattern. This does mean I'm going to have to do some finagling with the pattern, but I already have an idea of how I'm going to do that, so it should be alright.

Casting on and knitting with those tiny double pointed needles was another story. I messed up my stitches and had to pull all of my work out and re-cast on at least a dozen times, including at least two times when I somehow magically picked up a stitch. It's amazing that I didn't just quit with them long before I got anything substantial knitted. However, I didn't quit, and several days after I started the first mitten, I have the whole 3 inch cuff finished.

I was really worried about the size the whole time I was knitting this, so I kept sticking my hand through my work to make sure it was snug yet comfortable on my wrist. Luckily, I know that my grandma and I have about the same size wrists. Hers might be a little smaller than mine, but my wrist and later my hand is an accurate enough measurement.

The next step is to start on the hand of the mitten and switch to the larger (US 4) needles. I'm excited and a little scared to start on the hand because I am going to have to adjust the pattern a little and if I mess it up, I'm going to be heart broken; but that's not an issue just yet because at this point my double pointed US 4 needles are in another project which I will be unveiling later this week.

Now it's time for me to sit down with some chocolate mint green tea and homemade sourdough toast and work on my knitting. Happy knitting!

Knitting in the Round

I decided that I wanted to give knitting in the round a go to make a hat that I wouldn't have to sew a seam into because I hate that part and it looks a little sloppy in my opinion. So I checked out the method that seemed easiest to me: knitting in the round with one circular needle. Okay, cool. I can totally do that. Knit normally, only the needles are really only one needle.

That's all fine until I got my stitches cast onto the US 11 (8mm) circular needles I have only to realize the thing was 29'. Much too long for a hat. Okay, so I checked the other three sets of circular needles I have. All 29' or more. I got them from my grandma and she used them to make blankets. To my knowledge she never did make a hat.

So once again I am discouraged by knitting in the round, and I've given up on it again until further notice.