Hands Will Be Warm

I am turning into a mitt(en)-knitting machine. Last week, I whipped out those fingerless mitts. This week, it's all about the mittens for my LYS's mitt-along. I am simultaneously (well, not really at the same time, but I guess you could say in tandem) working on mittens for both me and Rainbow. Here is a current progress shot:

I finished the first mitten for Rainbow last night. She very conveniently fell asleep with one arm extended on top of the covers, so I went into her room several times to hold the mitten up to her hand and measure it. (It's a good thing she's a deep sleeper.) I am knitting her the smallest size of Susan B. Anderson's Waiting for Winter Mittens, though I shortened the total hand length by a bit because there's nothing worse for a kid trying to play outside in cold weather than too much fabric in her mittens. Rainbow tried the finished mitten on this morning and proclaimed it a perfect fit, so we are a go for the same length on mitten #2. I did start the cuff last night but only got about an inch done, which is why it isn't in the picture. Considering how quickly the first mitten knit up, I wouldn't be surprised if Rainbow has a finished pair by the weekend.

I made a little bit of progress on my own mittens (Kirsten Kapur's Wood Hollow Mittens) on Saturday while knitting at my LYS; I have finished the thumb gusset and put those stitches on scrap yarn, so now I am just cruising up the hand.

While this project isn't moving along as quickly as Rainbow's mittens, I am enjoying it. I know some people have found it a bit confusing to work the cable pattern and the gusset increases at the same time (because the cable crosses occur every other row but the gusset increases occur every third row), but I've just been paying close attention to my knitting and haven't had a problem. I am also doing my cables without a cable needle -- my preferred method, if it works for the pattern -- so the knitting moves along at a good clip. I would hope that a good solid evening of knitting would be enough to finish the hand of this first mitten.

When both of these pairs are done, I'm planning on casting on a third pair in the leftover Spud & Chloe Sweater. I'll be doing the Waiting for Winter mitts again, and I'm planning to donate these through my LYS. Rainbow also keeps asking for a pair of fingerless mitts, so I'm contemplating making her a pair as a Chanukah present, perhaps using handspun. After that, I think I will be quite mittened out for the year!