03/01/2016

Itching to knit something new while waiting on yarn for Latvian mittens to arrive. Thought I’d give this pattern a try, and with the right choice of yarn color it doesn’t have to look too feminine.

Per the pattern, I measured my hands and cast on an extra 12 stitches (6x2 for about 1.5” extra circumference around my hand), for a total of 60 stitches. I like that the pattern offers this option, rather than having to go up in needle size just to fit larger hands. Let’s see how it works out!

03/02/2016

Pattern goes nice and quick. I’ve made two passes through chart A so far. One more and then it’s time to start thumb increases.

So far there’s only been one “X” where the bright red in the yarn has shown up. Hopefully there will be some more really bright colors showing spotlighting soon.

03/04/2016

Decided to do an extra Chart A before starting thumb Chart B - it seemed like it would be too short otherwise.

03/05/2016

Working through Chart B.

03/07/2016

Slow going with lots of other distractions - first mitt done. (The pattern suggestions you can get a mitt done in 4 hrs. It’s taken me 7 days!)

First mitt used 20g, and there’s still 82g of yarn left in the ball.

For the thumb, the instructions call for picking up 7 additional stitches. I picked up 15 instead, and it seems just right for my thumb.

03/08/2016

Started the second mitt.

Forgot that I had increased size to 60 stitches and had to rip out and start over. Doh.

Got through ribbing and first repeat of Chart A.

03/10/2016

Still slow progress, but I finished all four repeats of Chart A - next will be on to the thumb-increase rounds in Chart B.

The first mitt went smoothly. This second mitt must have had more distractions as I’ve had to do a fair amount of ripping out and doing-over. Most recent issue was probably caused by too much chatting while knitting, and forgetting to click my row counter. Ended out doing two rows, instead of just one, of plain stockinette between where the top and bottoms halves of the X meet. Didn’t discover it til 4 rows later, considered letting it go, then realized it would just stand out too much…had to rip ‘er back….

03/10/2016

IDEA!!!

I’m wondering what these mitts would look like done 2-color (per the alternate instructions), with Tosh Merino Light “Graphite” for the background, and then something more vibrant and green, with various shades of green (maybe even with flecks of brown), for the foreground X color. Could it look like vines on a trellis? And if so, could little TINY flowers (purple with white or yellow centers?) be dotted here and there on the trellis?

Hm, I even wonder if the foreground can be done up with some skips in it…so it looks like the trellis is only on the outer halves (of palm and back of hand) of the hands? Could be cool!

03/11/2016

Charts B and C finished.

03/13/2016

All done.

First mitt and second mitt weigh 20g each - so consistency is good! 63g remaining of the yarn…

Perfect fit for me, but Brett feels they’re feminine, both from yarn color and pattern. I agree the pattern is feminine…disagree on the yarn - although the pics make them look a bit pink (they’re not). Might have to find a lady friend with bigger hands - or maybe I’ll offer them up for the work auction.

08/26/2016

I didn’t get to attend the work auction this year - wish I could have. Jen R. win these - just need to get a picture of her wearing them.