Mitten Joy!

Mitten School was just delightful! We had a cozy group and got expert hand-holding and attention. I can confidently say that it dramatically and fundamentally improved my colorwork in just one weekend. As soon as I finish Ron’s Flocked Mittens (I realized mid-cuff that these were Ron’s colors, not mine), I think I’m going to dust off some mitten charts I made up last year but balked at actually knitting.

So. The Mitten! The pattern won’t be officially released for a while yet, so right now you can just admire them and wish you’d gone to Mitten School yourself!

I knit mine pretty much per the pattern, with the only variation being a 2-color braid, since I wanted to learn how and I figured mistakes would be more evident with a contrasting color. I also knit the year into one of the cuffs. Mine (and everyone else’s) are Quince & Co Lark in Gingerbread & Honey.

I’m knitting mine inside-out (thanks, Amy!), which keeps my floats loose.

One of the really cool things about this pattern is the amount of potential variation built in to the design. We discovered quite a few variations of our own from those rather rare happy accidents of knitting. It turns out that fucking up the colors on the Flocked Mittens can actually yield some dandy results.

Melinda’s Mitten (before and after blocking)
Melinda accidentally cast on in the CC instead of the MC. Instead of frogging (since we’d all just knitted in the date and woven in a gazillion ends) or reversing the color scheme, she decided to switch to the MC after the braid, which gives the impression of a little lacy trim, a very feminine touch. Her mittens were in in Honey & Glacier, with lining in Quince & Co Tern in Wampum.

Ellen’s Mitten (before and after blocking).
She cast on and started with the correct colors but ended up starting work using the inverse patterns I’d just handed out, so it gives the pattern a lovely negative effect. Ellen said they remind her of Medieval gauntlets, and I agree. These were knit in Delft & Honey. The color in the first picture is closer to true.

I’ll finish my 2nd mitten tonight, but I’ll probably hold off on the lining for a couple of weeks, since I’m behind on pretty much everything!

Tomorrow, I’ll be doing some last-minute dyeing for my classes this Saturday at The Wicked Stitch:

Next week, I’m hoping to churn away at my Überlist and catch up on some cooking and crafting.