Little Mittens

It continues to be unseasonably warm around here, so perhaps knitting small mittens is having an effect? At any rate, I have made definite progress in small mitten land. The pink ones are for the girl and the blue ones are for her younger brother. Mitten strings have been crocheted and are ready to use if Mom wishes. The pattern is pretty much (with the addition of ribbing) the one from The Mitten Book. I really like this little book. The basic mitten patterns are straightforward and the stitch patterns are really charming.

Along the way, I've learned a few things (See, I can be taught!). I knitted the pink mittens on a set of 5 double-points. I often use only 4 dps as that is how I learned. Adding the 5th needle makes a huge difference when knitting with 2 colors and virtually eliminates any laddering, too.

I used the Magic Loop technique for the blue mittens as I was really getting a little tired of needle wrangling. Let me tell you, that Magic Loop technique is just tailor-made for knitting small things for even smaller people. It was, at least for me, much easier to work with the fewer number of stitches on these little mittens. I still have to practice a bit more to smooth out the transition between the 2 sides, but most of that blocks right out.

What is this third pair of wee mittens for? Well, I had thought that I could do a little stash busting by knitting the mittens from some leftover Trekking sock yarn. I knit the body of the mittens in eye-of-the-partridge to make them thicker. Great idea, but, alas, I did not have enough yarn to complete them. As I had knit (and reknit) this little pair more often than I care to admit (It seems that there are many days when I am unable to count to two.), I am now totally uninterested in knitting them yet again. For now, I'm regarding them as an alternative method to store leftover yarn.