Mittens

I'm a little obsessed with hands.

In 2004 I had my hands read by a professional hand analyst.  Later that year I started a year long journey to become a certified hand analyst myself.  In 2005 I had the certification and have been using hand analysis professionally to help my coaching clients ever since.

Is that why I've become obsessed with mittens?

I've been on a quest for warm hands since Snowmageddon 2 years ago.  While I have gloves that were purchased, in a rush, from the shelves of a local big box store, they really aren't my cup of tea.

When I started knitting again this summer I decided that I wanted to make mittens (and socks, but that's another post) because they seemed more complicated than scarves and I thought I could do fun things with glove design once I figured out what I was doing.

I'm an intrepid knitter.  Rarely do I have a clue about what I'm getting into before I start.  (Like most things in life) I think this is a good habit because once I'm "in" I can't simply quit.  I also feel compelled to finish the project I start.  Sure, I frog a decent amount, but sometimes I can't quite figure out what I'm supposed to be doing until the entire project is done and I can review my work to find my mistakes. 

Oh.  So Mittens.

I bought some Manos Maxima from my LYS, Fibre Space in Alexandria a month ago.   I have a pink colorway, a blue/green colorway and a tan/pink/yellow colorway.  Anyway.  I found the Mittens to Fit pattern by Slavi Thomsen on Ravelry and dug in.

The first attempt was the pink pair.

The larger mitten on the left was the first one I did.  I'm new at reading patterns and it seems that Slavi was new at writing patterns.  So as far as I'm concerned, he and I learned together.  I used #2 US dpns and went to town.  This is where I learned that somehow I knit in the round backwards (inside-out).  Because although I was knitting the finished work was purl side out. 

This was okay though because when you get up to the tippy top of the mitten you're supposed to somehow work your mitten inside out (getting the needles through there was impossible for me) so that you can finish with the 3 needle bind off.

Since my mitten was already inside out, I simply did the bind off and THEN turned the mitten inside out.  >Brilliant!<

I then went hunting on YouTube to figure out how to finish the thumb.  (Beginners like me need details -- like, uh, yes, you want to pick up the thumb stitches with more than one needle so that you can knit in the round).

For the second mitten I was feeling more prepared and the knitting went faster, the thumb finished up nicely (although if you look closely on both thumbs you'll see where the purl was outside in, til I decided to purl instead of knit and made it look right).

I used almost the entire skein of yarn (~219 yards/200m) for these.

All told, I'm pretty happy with these -- first pair, they're for me and they keep my hands warm and are in a fun color!

You'd think I would be a pro by the time I went for the second pair. 

Not so much.

I intended these for a friend's Christmas Gift.  She's a forgiving friend so I may well give them to her still. 

I'm a perfectionist and don't like the bind off on the mitten on the right.

For these I started out with the Fried Chicken Mittens because I thought they looked a little easier to follow. 

Then somewhere along the line I realized I was doing the inside-out/backwards thing again and also decided to improvise.  From there I sort of combined the Fried Chicken and the Mittens to Fit and created my own.  (Does that make me a designer?)

The mitten on the right was first - and because I had corrected my inside-out knitting along the line, the bind off was awful (since I still have no idea how one is supposed to turn a mitten inside out and bring the needles through). 

These were knit with Manos Maxima too.  And they were done with US #8 dpns.  and I have nearly half a skein left of the ~219 yds/200 m I started out with. 

They feel softer to the touch than the smaller needled pair.  Since I have so much yarn left I think I'll make another pair or try something fun with fingerless mitts.

So, anyone reading this -- do you have any idea how I inadvertently seem to wind up having my purls on the outside when I knit using dpns?