I knit myself these mitten-gloves back in May of 2006 – well past the end of winter, but I was determined to have a new pair to replace the ones I was wearing at the time, which were falling apart.
I knit these with one skein of white Cascade 220, which I dyed with Kool-Aid to achieve a very bright rainbow of mini-skeins. This pattern is a bit of a pain to knit – not really, just a bit futzy because of all the little fingers and getting the flap attached just so.
But they’ve served me well. The initial investment is well worth the return – I’ve had almost two winters’ worth of wear – hard wear over long Minnesota winters – out of these, and they are incredibly warm and comfortable. I love the flexibility of naked fingers when I need to manipulate small objects like keys and zippers, but the warmth of mittens with my fingers sharing their heat with each other. I was a little overwhelmed with the brightness of the colors when I first knit these, but between the natural fading of the food dyes and my own familiarity with them, I’ve grown to love the colors.
Alas, they have started to show their wear – especially the right one, which is my free hand when I’m carrying Sophie and also seems to be the one I steer the car with more than my dominant left. The thumb was almost ready to pop through…
The edges of the index finger have started to fray a bit…
And the poor join between the thumb and the body of the hand is all stretched out. Actually, this is something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately when I consider the next pair, which I will probably get around to knitting some time in the spring. I really want to do a better job with this join – I have a few ideas, but if anyone has good tips on improving thumb joins, I’d love to hear them!
The thing about mending knitting is that I always forget it needs to be done until I’m ready to put the things on and run out the door. Which was the case in point earlier this week when I realized that I’d better go ahead and mend the things pretty quick or they would be beyond the point of possible return. It’s not a great job, and it only took five minutes, but the loose stitches are secured, and the worst of the threadbare ones are reinforced.
Of course, the other thing about darning knits is that it is never long before the stitches just outside the range of the mend start to fall apart as well. Hopefully we won’t get to that point before the final thaw of spring.
In the mean time, it was crazy-cold here again this week. The kind of shocking cold that I still have a hard time believing exists, even after living here for ten years. It was a day to pull out all the stops on warm winter-wear.
Yes, the hat is warm. No, I’m not sure what kind of fur that is, but it is real – my father won it in a ski race about 20 years ago, and I begged it off him when I first moved to Minnesota. Before you ask, it’s the same story as the chicken – hold on to the good, reject the bad. And the mittens? They are just as warm. For now.
My DH was in Minneapolis this week for business. Arrived on Monday, got the flu on Tues. night, spend all day Wed. in the hotel sleeping, then begged an earlier flight yesterday to come home to recuperate.
Even though he was not out and about for too long, he said he was never soooo cold! Then he had to listen to my stories of living in Duluth, where we had the summer and the winter mail box, for the snowbanks. (military kid) BTW he has to fly out a few more times… I may have to get a similar hat for him!
LOVE to color on the mitts!!
I am working on a pair of the same mittens for my dd. I am on mitten number two and hopefuly will have them done this weekend cause I got some really nice new sock yarn that is calling to me.
From the weather reports I have been seeing, it is a good thing you have such a warm hat!!!!
Karyn
I want a hat like that!!! (I’m freezing here in Winnipeg… thankfully it warmed up a wee bit today.)