They're Not Oven Mitts

They took forever to dry and then had to wait a couple of days for a natural light photo shoot, but here they are!

Pattern: Bird in Hand by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Cascade 220, color 4002 (MC), one skein, and Cascade 220 Heathers, color 9461 (CC), approximately half a skein
Needles: two 16" US 2 (2.75 mm) Addi Turbo circs and US 2 dpns for thumb
Started/Completed: December 14, 2007/January 29, 2008
Mods: none

I bought this pattern on a whim after a rough couple of days at work when I decided I deserved a little treat. I was so excited to knit it that I cast on right away (on a Friday evening) and finished the first mitten before the weekend was over. Then it took about a month before I cast on the second mitten; I have no good excuse for why that is.

There are a number of issues with these mittens, none of which has to do with the pattern (which is expertly written and well worth the price!). To begin with, they're a little too big. I've got probably an inch of extra space at the top of the hand and maybe a half inch of space at the top of the thumb. That doesn't bother me so much; I've had yet to find a pair of store-bought mittens or gloves that aren't long on me. They are rather loose around the wrists, which is unfortunate, because I love the patterned band and the picot edging (the braid is pretty too, but it was a major PITA to do). This is an instance when ribbing would have been really helpful. The mittens stay on fine if I put them on before putting on my coat, but, as we discovered when I did just that before taking these pictures, that also prevents me from being able to zip myself up.

The other issue is that my stranded work was not so great with these. It's passable on the underside of the mitten (as you see on the right in the photo above), but the tops are definitely lumpy and the thumbs pucker. I did try to keep my tension as even as I could and the floats as loose as possible, but I think it was a combination of the needles and yarn that did me in. I really felt like I was struggling with the circs on these, so perhaps I was pulling tighter than I should have been as a result. Clearly part of the issue as well was working with worsted weight yarn on what are essentially sock needles.

All those problems aside, I'm in love with these mittens and want to show them off to everyone I see. I may very well knit this pattern again, although next time I'll probably use dpns for the whole thing and knit a smaller size and/or use a lighter yarn. I'll also omit the braid next time. It's a nice touch, but it was murder on my hands.

By the way, do the colors look familiar to you? If they do, it's probably because these were knit entirely with stash yarn -- the brown was the last skein from the yarn for the Seamless Hybrid and the green is the same yarn I used for my CPH. It's nice to have handknits that coordinate, isn't it?

We're off for a quick trip to Cleveland in about half an hour. I'm taking my Chevron Scarf for my car knitting, as it hasn't seen much attention lately. Have a great weekend!