These mittens were a bit of a disaster. Do you remember that reindeer hat I knit when I was first learning? The hat that had a circumference more suited to a sweater than a head? These mittens are a little like that.
They look deceptively ok, just lying there like that. What you might not be able to tell from this picture is that each of these mittens is twice as long as my hand. I thought I was knitting at a nice firm gauge (these were going to be for afghans for Afghans, and I wanted them to be as warm as possible), and I knit these mittens fast and happily, threw them in some water to wash, pulled them out -- and then the yarn relaxed and they grew and became mittens that perhaps might have been suitable for Paganini, or those long-fingered aliens. The pattern (Spiral Ribbed mittens) is from Homespun, Handknit, and is my favorite pattern for mittens. Because of the construction of the thumb, the mittens can be worn on either hand, but the rib pattern makes this kind of design more comfortable than it often is on other mittens.
I'll keep them and use them as an outer layer for snow-shoveling, I guess. I cast on again right away for a second pair, but screwed those up, too, so I ripped and moved on to something small and gauge-less until I feel ready to come back to mittens.
I realized, at some point, that I'd been having an informal Knitter's Almanac-y summer. In June, I made the Ganomy hat. In July, I knit a simple shawl while traveling, although it wasn't a Pi shawl.
So I made some Christmas Fiddle-Faddle (August's project) with some odds and ends. I don't know if I'll keep going with the Almanac in September, as delicious as warm wool leggings sound.
Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!
Love,
Gwen
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