Mizar Inspired Mitts

Pattern: A combination of the cables found on Mizar using a modified Jack-in-the-box mitten construction for the flip top
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in the Cypress colorway
Needles: US 6 / 4mm

The last of the holiday knitting went to my DH who was pressed into service in checking mitten length while I was knitting all those other mittens. He wanted convertible mittens, and I wanted to make him something different from all the other mittens I had already knit - re-casting the mizar cables into mittens worked out especially well, as the cable pattern was already adapted to form a nice mitten-top shape. I adapted the shaping on the top of the mitten to closer mimic a rounded toe on a sock, and actually grafted the remaining live stitches, rather than simply running the tail of the working yarn through to secure them.

Mmmm. Malabrigo - lofty and soft, and really nice yardage - I hadn't expected to finish this entire pair of mittens with one ball, but I did....now I'm looking for something to knit with the other ball of malabrigo I had set aside for this project...perhaps I'll have to try for a matching hat...or maybe a matching pair of mittens for me?

Staghorn Flip Tops

Pattern: Jack in the Box Mittens, from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves
Yarn: Paton's Classic Merino
Needles: US 6 / US 7 (4.0mm, 4.5mm)
Pairs Knit? Lots.

Pattern Notes: The pattern is written for 4 sizes of mittens - childrens, Womens M, Womens L and Mens....I happened to knit all 4 sizes, even doing a pair in colorwork (cabling + colorwork? Doable - but definitely challenging) I've always liked the idea of flip-top mittens, and I figured these would be welcome in colder climates - especially given the snow that seems to be flying around this winter! The pattern is clearly written, and both the staghorn and zig-zag cables are quick to memorize. If I could just figure out a way to reduce the bulge at the overlapping points on the mittens, I'd be happy - given time, I could probably figure something out with a finer yarn...but I was working on a holiday knitting timeline. I hope the recipients enjoy them and put them to good use :D

Chevalier Mitts

Pattern: Chevalier Mittens
Yarn: Spritely Goods Fey, in limited edition red maple colorway, held double stranded (one skein).
Needles: US 5 / 3.75mm

Comments and pattern modifications: Once cast on, I knit these pretty much entirely from the chart - I did shorten the cuff section by a little bit, and I made the cables mirror each other on the left and right mitts. While the cabling (without a cable needle) using yarn held doubled was a little bit troublesome at times, these mittens were a pleasure to knit - and they came out really nicely too :) The subtle variegation in a semi-solid handdyed yarn really suits the mittens, I think. If I was to make any further modifications on these, I would change the final decreases for the tips of the mittens - The decreases, stacked as they are, resulted in a little bit of gapping between the stitches. I'm really happy with how these turned out - and I love how bright and colorful they are!

Orchid Lace Mitts

Pattern: Orchid Lace Mitts by Anne Hanson of Knitspot
Yarn: Spritely Goods fingering (merino nylon blend, yet to be named)
Needles: US1

Comments: Quick to knit, I completed these mitts just in time for Rhinebeck, and wore them around the sheep and wool festival to help keep warm. I selected this yarn specifically to test its wear properties (and also to use up the rest of the skein after knitting my Slipstream Cuffs. Since the knitting is shifted around when knitting the edgings vs the main body of the mitts, they can't be done both at the same time on one really long needle (my preferred method for knitting pairs of tubular objects). I should also point out that the tight cables at the wrist on the underside aren't a part of the pattern either - I have notoriously small wrists and I realized I didn't account for that while knitting up the mitts, so rather than rip back, I opted to drop a bunch of stitches down, pick them back up and cable them tightly to draw in the fabric - I think it came out quite well :) These mitts are also an in-between length when compared to the pattern - longer than the short, but shorter than the long...The cuff edge at the forearm is a touch roll-y but I think it's because my cast on wasn't stretchy enough. Regardless, the yarn is wearing very nicely, and I'm very pleased with the finished mitts.

Slipstream Cuffs

Mmm. Cables.

Pattern: My own, incorporating staghorn cables and a slipped stitch cable.
Yarn: Spritely Goods fingering weight merino-nylon blend, for evaluation
Needles: US 1

Just what are they? Well, it's basically a pair of footless socks....or short arm warmers that go from wrist to just shy of my elbow (yes, in the photo above, one of those is on my leg). They only work as arm warmers when freshly off the needles or when freshly blocked - they get rather short and squat when I wear em on my legs. I designed these primarily to go with my boots (the arm warmer part was pure serendipity):

The boots in question have a bad bad habit of chewing on my leg in one spot near the top of the zipper - I haven't found anything rough on the inside of the boot, however every single time I wear these boots, I get matching raw rub marks on my shins where the boots seem to rub.

My reasoning for knitting these without feet is because I can wear thin commercial socks with them and not have to launder the handknit part after each wearing. Call me lazy ;) I wore these out East, and I'm happy to report my legs are rub-mark-free and the yarn appears to hold up quite nicely to being stuffed into a boot.

Multi-color Mitten Along

Pattern: Norwegian Snail Mittens by Hello Yarn's Adrian, found in The Knitter's Book of Yarn.

Needles: For cuffs: US0; for the main body of the mittens: US4 (yes, my gauge is *that* different between plain color knitting and colorwork knitting.

Yarn: Harrisville Designs New England Shetland, primarily in Tundra and Olive. Color accents were pilfered from other Mitten Alongers - the Brown from Blogless Erika; the pinks and blues from Steve & Kiki.

Comments: Both Mittens were knit simultaneously, in the same manner that I knit socks (two at a time on one honkin huge circular needle). There was a little bit of juggling around to keep the yarn all untangled, but I managed. I should say that knitting the thumbs last was not fun - as I had the both mittens attached in a rather ungainly manner to my needles (yeah, I knit the thumbs simultaneously as well).

Overall, a very fun knit - the longer floats were a little challenging to manage, but I think things came out quite nicely. The welts were challenging - especially the first one (mine are probably slightly twisted because I didn't manage to pick up quite the right corresponding stiches on the cast on edge). Once the welts are done and you have a good hang of knitting with multiple strands of yarn, the only other real big kicker is the Row Gauge...I didn't check mine closely (I never do, mostly because when I am usually knitting, I can adjust the spacing of my shaping accordingly on the fly)...anyhow, row gauge nearly did me in...but as you can see, I wound up modifying the pattern to work :)

Incidentally, I now have a fine understanding of why shetland wool is superb for steeked colorwork projects. I did attempt to only rip back part ways on my mittens, with the intent of dropping stitches and picking them back up again to adjust the motifs accordingly - the Shetland Wool proved to be rather resistant to the whole idea and simply wouldn't cooperate (it kept sticking to itself). I should have had a clue given how sticky it was to itself even in ball form. The good news is, if for some reason your knitting gets away from you while knitting with this yarn, chances are you won't have lost too many stitches in the process!

Deviations from the pattern? Of course - but not many - in this case, I used quite a lot of other colors to complete the duplicate stitches (because i was lucky enough to have all those other colors at my disposal), the fern motif is greatly shortened due to my ridiculous row gauge, and the tips of the mittens are kitchenered - rather than being bound off using the recommended 3-needle-bind-off.

Oh - Start to Finish? July 4 2008 to July 12 2008. But Illanna beat me to the finish ;)

Cabled Mitts

Pattern: My own - totally made up from the top down, with shaping through the arm, ribbing at the wrist to the hand with a gusseted thumb. Complete with fat cables that match the Central Park Hoodie.

Yarn: More Patons Classic Merino (I'm burning off the stash that I had bought to complete the CPH) in Burgundy.

Needles: US 7 and US5.

Comments: Elbow length long mitts that are form fitting right through the hands - perfect for warming up if I happen to be sitting around in a Tee shirt and a sweater is a little too much. The paired decreases down the forearm keep the fit nice and snug while not distorting the cable at all - I converted to a ribbed pattern at the wrist and through the palm to keep the fit snug. Thumb gussets were knit in, keeping with the clean lines and seamless transitions. Judicious use of a smaller needle size also allowed me to adjust gauge as necessary.