A Pair of Peculiar Mittens

Over the weekend, a very peculiar pair of mittens emerged. Not a pair really. Maybe more of a companion set. I've posted about the thrummed mitten before. These were supposed to be for my mom, and I do think she will get a pair, but not this single mitten. This is the just beta version.

Once I got to the point where I was knitting the thumb, it felt a bit bindy, and awkward. Not bad for a learning experience, with only the barest outline of a pattern. The next mitten will have the thumb gusset starting way down, only a row or two above the cuff and the gusset is going to have many more stitches. In a way this is OK, because now I get to keep a pair. Because they are going to be mine, I am not rushing to get the second one done. I'd rather be working on gift mittens right now. The yarn is an undyed Blue Faced Leicester aran weight held double and the thrums are from a slightly felted skein of Fleece Artist roving.

For the gift thrummed mittens, I think I'll use some of the same main yarn, but I have some lovely soft blue roving for inside them.

The other glove is a pair of mittens that were started as a work project. We had a really big windstorm and no one was out, so the boss suggested we start some of Elizabeth Zimmermann Mitered Mittens. These are being made of Mirasol's Hacho, a wonderfully springy yarn. This mitten is out of the beta stage (I ripped back three times, to get the right size, the right placement for the thumb etc.) and fits really nicely. It has a fairly long cuff, but this is a bonus. No cold wrist with these. The second of the pair is already on the needles and well along.

My next adventure is some stranded colour work mittens with Berocco's Love It. I played around with doing thrums from some corn fibre and while it works, I don't think the fibre is really quite what I want for long term wear. If I had some cotton fibre, ready for spinning, thrumming might go a little better. For the colour work, I have to pick up some white yarn, a bamboo yarn, I think, for the other colour along with the Love Its deep black. I am going to use one of the EZ's patterns for these.

So far it is a pair of mittens and techniques. There are dozens of more ways of knitting mittens, and Canada is a nation where you cannot have too many pairs of mittens. Maybe this year will be my year of the mitten.