Mitts Week 4: Peacock

For week 4 of the mitts project, I found some bright Red Heart yarn I had left over from some other project I don’t exactly remember. I thought it would go good with some small cables on each side of the back of the hand. The kind of get lost in the colors, but it makes it look rather nice.

I managed to knit most of these while babysitting and watching a classic movie marathon on Netflix. Which was good, because I started them at the end of the week instead of the beginning.

As always, you can find these and others on my Etsy Shop.

Impromptu, Uneccessary Gloves

I picked up a lovely (now discontinued) skein of Chroma in Buttermint with my last Knitpicks order and was looking for something to make. Then I found these puff stitch gloves.

They call for an 8-ply yarn, but Chroma just so happened to be a 4-ply yarn. For the math-challenged, that means I could hold the yarn doubled to make it exactly the right weight. The pattern also includes the puff-stitch, which was a new-to-me stitch, so it made it a learning opportunity as well.

The Chroma yarn is really soft and fluffy, which made it nice to work with. It also bloomed nicely when I blocked it so the gloves themselves are extra soft.

They are really comfy, except not exactly wearable. Don’t get me wrong, I will probably be wearing them all fall long. But it is nowhere near fall temperatures here. That’s right, I just made a pair of fuzzy, wool gloves right before an over-100° heat wave. It’s so hot they had baseball practice with water balloons on Saturday and cancelled soccer practice today to keep the kids from melting in the park. So these will stay in my drawer for a bit longer before they actually get used.

You can find slightly more technical details on these on their Ravelry project page.

Mitts (Perhaps a Bit Late)

I had the grand notion of making mitts for all the kids for Christmas. You probably know where this story is going by now. Had the yarn, didn’t have the time, continued making them now. I started the first, smallest pair on December 22, and then left them to sit in a drawer until about last week.

Once I actually got started working on them, it took less than a day for the baby size. I don’t think it was much longer for the bigger ones to fit a small child. These are just basic mitts, 2×2 rib on the bottom and top, stockinette in the middle with a slit thumb worked back and forth.

Exact recipe for the baby mitts (ages 2ish-3ish):
Materials:
– Knit Picks Stroll Sock Yarn
– Size 1.5 (2.5mm) and 2.5 (3.0mm) circular or double point needles
Gauge
9 stitches x 10 rows = 1 inch in Stockinette Stitch
Instructions
1. Cast on 52 stitches. Join to work in the round.
2. Knit 2 Purl 2 rib for 1.25 inches.
3. Change color and work 3 rows stockinette (Knit all stitches).
4. Switch to knitting flat, slipping the first stitch of each row (knit one row, turn at end and purl back, turn again and knit, etc.) for 1 inch.
5. Rejoin in the round and knit for .5 inches.
6. Change to ribbing color, knit 1 round.
7. Knit 2 Purl 2 rib for .5 inches.
8. Bind off using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off or any other bind-off that will stretch with the ribbing.

As you can see, the big kid’s (ages 4ish-6ish) version isn’t much different, just larger proportions:
Instructions
1. Cast on 60 stitches. Join to work in the round.
2. Knit 2 Purl 2 rib for 1.5 inches.
3. Change color and work 5 rows stockinette (Knit all stitches).
4. Switch to knitting flat, slipping the first stitch of each row (knit one row, turn at end and purl back, turn again and knit, etc.) for 1.5 inch.
5. Rejoin in the round and knit for .75 inches.
6. Change to ribbing color, knit 1 round.
7. Knit 2 Purl 2 rib for .75 inches.
8. Bind off using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off or any other bind-off that will stretch with the ribbing.

As always, if you make these, leave a comment with a link to pictures. I love to see everyone else’s take on things like this. Also, do you have a favorite glove/mitten pattern? What is your policy on Christmas presents that don’t get finished/given for Christmas? Do you just give it whenever, or do you hold it over until the next Christmas/gift-giving opportunity?