Baby Mittens!

The joys of first time parenthood.

Our daycare provider tells my husband (who usually does pick-up) that our baby's hands are cold when they go outside to play. Last winter he was immobile enough to just put a blanket over him. This winter, I guess we will need mittens.

Of course, we'd have to trek to a specialty store to get anything in his size. And I want to attach a cord so that he doesn't lose them when he inevitably hates them and takes them off (as he does to his socks). Online options look overpriced... I guess I'll make him a pair.

Luckily(?) I have a sick day that involves lots of trips to the bathroom but not actually feeling that sick. So, I cast on a pair of mittens to occupy myself, and manage to finish by the end of the day.

Well, I won't leave you in suspense, they come out looking like this:

Pair of red mittens with cord. Quarter next to them for size.

I made them out of a ball of mystery yarn that I have had in my stash forever. I found it under a bed in a hotel room in Israel in 2005. Burn test shows it to be wool, and it is a pleasing barber pole of reds, browns, oranges, and a bit of blue. I found it in a ball, so I actually don't know the full extent of the color changes - for all I know, it's green in the middle!

Mystery barber pole yarn

I used a popular free pattern on Ravelry: Toddler Mittens on a String.

Pattern notes: It might look a bit better if I used a smaller set of needles for the initial ribbing. I did a longer ribbing than the pattern called for, which will hopefully keep the mittens on NEB's hands longer. And I liked the instructions for the i-cord: simple and to the point.

I haven't made mittens in awhile, but I had quite a glove kick my freshman year of college. I only found pictures of 3 pairs, but I'm pretty sure there were a few more than that.

Blue mittens with white stripe made for charity, made in 2005 or 2006

Self-striping sock yarn gloves in crazy colors. Made for my cousin in 2006.

Sparkly black fingerless gloves. Also made in 2006.

Gloves are a great project for people who really like socks but want to do more fiddly bits. Even the mittens can get a bit fiddly with all of the needles and stitches on holders. I would not recommend magic loop as an alternative to double pointed needles if you are making gloves - there are just too few stitches on each finger.

Almost finished with the main part of the baby mittens.
Stitches on three double-pointed needles, thumb gusset on a stitch holder.

Anyhow, I finished up the mittens in one day and NEB has been wearing them. Not sure why I bothered to put thumbs on them though, since he hasn't figured out how to use that part of the mitten.

Wingspan Shawl

Finals done! Whoot!

Surprisingly, I actually got a lot of knitting done, though my spinning has been mostly on hiatus.

The end of the semester means a lot of presentations to sit through (no need for notes), not too mention our trip to Boston (which included an unscheduled 3 hour wait for our plane to arrive). It also helped that the Wingspan scarf was very intuitive, and consisted of nothing but knit stitches.

In other words, I have almost finished the scarf I was working on. I just need to block it, really.

Gradient Wingspan scarf. Not yet blocked.

I like how the gradient worked out, although the light green is a bit neon in my opinion. The short rows were really easy, and I can see why the pattern is so popular.

The edging was done with some black sparkly acrylic yarn that I have had sitting around. I think it was a gift, and I don't know the brand or anything, but I do have a lot of it. I wanted to use regular black yarn, but I didn't have any fingering weight black, and I refuse to buy more yarn for such a small project bit. I think the intended recipient will like it though.

Mystery sparkly black yarn

I like how the yarn looks, and I made a whole series of gloves with it awhile ago. But the plastic sparkles hurt my fingers when I knit with it, and I really prefer natural fibers.

Fingerless gloves from almost a decade ago

Anyhow, not much else to report. Progress on the linen hat continues. I will have some more time now, since the semester finished, so I can hopefully finish everything before the 20th. Sometimes it is nice to work with a deadline.