FO: Flip-top Mittings
I’m done! I’m done! Mitting #2 is complete! No more projects requiring DPNs until I’ve forgotten how difficult wrestling with an octopus is!
Actually, thanks to all the good advice from you guys and my Lovely Yarn Lady, I am no longer openly hostile toward double-pointed needles. In fact, I might even be somewhat comfortable with them. I’ve come a long way, baby!
Here are the flip-top mittings fulfilling their destiny: warming the trumpet-playing hands of my Darling Daughter. She’s delighted with her new mitts; she even wore them to sell pancake breakfast tickets for the band. In fact, it’s so cold here that she wears them IN school since they allow her to write and keep warm at the same time.
Jamie, you asked for the pattern. Elizabeth, a.k.a. our own Lizard Knits, found this one for me. She suggested several very nice patterns but this happened to use the right weight yarn. (The yarn I used, BTW, is Malabrigo Bobby Blue, nice and soft and warm.)
Here’s the link to a whole mitten wardrobe and it’s free:
http://www.spunmag.com/article/060421mittens
WARNING: There is one mistake—I’m sure a typo—in the cast-on instructions for the cuff (Step 1). You are told to cast on 32 stitches (which did seem a bit small to me but I always follow instructions the first time around). Then you are supposed to increase 6 stitches so the total count reaches 42 stitches. I’m embarrassed to say that I did this without question and then recounted my stitches about four times wondering where I had gone wrong before I figured out this was a mathematical impossibility. Once I cast on 36 stitches everything worked out.
SUGGESTION: I added a little bit of length to most parts of the instructions (cuff, flip-top, thumb). My daughter may have slightly longer fingers than average but the first mitting was somewhat skimpy on her wrist and hand. If you have small hands, the proportions might be fine for you.
Monica, you were right about the dangers of knitting something handy for the band. DD’s best friend, a piccolo player, has already requested a pair of mittings. I just smiled and made no promises.
Actually, thanks to all the good advice from you guys and my Lovely Yarn Lady, I am no longer openly hostile toward double-pointed needles. In fact, I might even be somewhat comfortable with them. I’ve come a long way, baby!
Here are the flip-top mittings fulfilling their destiny: warming the trumpet-playing hands of my Darling Daughter. She’s delighted with her new mitts; she even wore them to sell pancake breakfast tickets for the band. In fact, it’s so cold here that she wears them IN school since they allow her to write and keep warm at the same time.
Jamie, you asked for the pattern. Elizabeth, a.k.a. our own Lizard Knits, found this one for me. She suggested several very nice patterns but this happened to use the right weight yarn. (The yarn I used, BTW, is Malabrigo Bobby Blue, nice and soft and warm.)
Here’s the link to a whole mitten wardrobe and it’s free:
http://www.spunmag.com/article/060421mittens
WARNING: There is one mistake—I’m sure a typo—in the cast-on instructions for the cuff (Step 1). You are told to cast on 32 stitches (which did seem a bit small to me but I always follow instructions the first time around). Then you are supposed to increase 6 stitches so the total count reaches 42 stitches. I’m embarrassed to say that I did this without question and then recounted my stitches about four times wondering where I had gone wrong before I figured out this was a mathematical impossibility. Once I cast on 36 stitches everything worked out.
SUGGESTION: I added a little bit of length to most parts of the instructions (cuff, flip-top, thumb). My daughter may have slightly longer fingers than average but the first mitting was somewhat skimpy on her wrist and hand. If you have small hands, the proportions might be fine for you.
Monica, you were right about the dangers of knitting something handy for the band. DD’s best friend, a piccolo player, has already requested a pair of mittings. I just smiled and made no promises.
posted by Nancy Herkness at 8:56 AM
14 Comments:
And if you make her a hat and a matching scarf you will be making them for their entire section ... trust me .. I know of which I speak.
They look great, Nancy! I love the color too.
Heck, Nancy, I want a pair of mittings like those!
Beautiful color.
I'm so glad one of the pattens worked out! The Malabrigo Bobby Blue is gorgeous. Lucky girl your daughter!
Elizabeth
Thanks, guys! I was pretty pleased with the result. Sometimes the struggle makes the end result more satisfying.
Monica, I will heed your advice and avoid knitting a matching hat and scarf. Did you REALLY make them for the whole section? And which section was it?
Elizabeth, thanks again for the pattern!
Very nice! I'm so glad they worked out for you. Be warned, though -- now that you have the knack of dpn's, you might become addicted!
Nancy, I just took a closer look at the mittings and OMG!! You did individual fingers, Herkness! You were just a few measly inches from a G L O V E, something I can't imagine ever tackling.
Five fingers!
Excuse me, but I'm feeling dizzy. I have to go lie down until this feeling of awe wears off . . .
It might be time to teach the band how to knit ;) They look great!
Well I have to confess, I only made them for the 4 bandies we carpool with. I wasn't knitting for the whole section, even though all the clarinetist wanted knitted goodies. Some of them did get some for Christmas, but not all of them. That is just too many fingerless gloves and hats.
Theresa, there's no chance in the world I'll become addicted to DPNs. I think tolerance would be the warmest emotion I could muster. :-)
Barbara, trust me, the fingers were the easy part. I could keep oriented on them without a problem. Plus you just use the tail to fix any holes around the base (of which I had a few).
Anne, you might have something there about teaching the band to knit but I'm definitely NOT the woman to do it. We'd have broken DPNs all over the band room.
OMG, Monica, I can' believe you knitted EIGHT of those little monsters! You're a very courageous person. My mitting knitting career is on hiatus indefinitely.
Looking good!
See, Nancy, it's just like in a romance novel. First, our high-spirited heroine (that's you, doll) despises the hero (that's the dpn's ... how phallic). Then she discovers she can't quite avoid him. Then she realizes maybe he isn't quite the lowest life form ever to walk the planet.
And then she can't keep her hands off him.
Yep, you're on your way.
Theresa S., ROFL!!!!!
ROLF, Theresa!
Nancy - they're wonderful! I bookmarked that pattern. I'm going to be selfish and knit myself a pair first.
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