I coined 2012 as the “year for wrist warmers” earlier in the Summer… and have yet to knit a pair. BUT i knit my husband a pair of mittens for our evening walks instead! I’m not completely satisfied, but he is and that’s what counts.
Read on for the pattern and my suggestions/reflections.
Firstly, i find knitting for others a bit challenging, as i can’t use my own body parts as a reference as i knit. Luckily i live with this gift recipient, so i was able to borrow his hands on occasion. Secondly, i really hate knitting swatches. A lot. Despite both of these hangups, i tried out this free pattern by Martha Stewart for a pair of traditional mittens for my dear husband who gets such chilly digits.
The pattern reads quite easily and is not challenging in its construction. The gray stripe looks a little wonky on these mits because i used some handspun yarn that wasn’t quite the same gauge – they’d be tighter and smoother along the wrist if i’d better matched the yarn thicknesses. I like the little curled cuff and made it a bit shorter than the pattern called for. My major complaint with this pattern is the directions on how to decrease for the fingers. There isn’t any. I guessed and decreased one like a sock and the other like a hat, and don’t love the results with either. I’m also quite displeased with the holes at the join between hand and thumb, but that’s probably more my fault than the pattern’s.
Do you have any tips on avoiding those pesky holes? Comment below with your tips!
Ps – see the sweet mug my hubs is holding? That’s a photo of me, my dog and my horsey back home when i was a teen. 
Love.
Pick up several more stitches along your gusset than what you need and decrease in your first thumb round, and try to pick them up specificallly in that join area. You can try twisting your stitches when you pick them up as well, it’s supposed to make a smoother, tighter pick up.
Katie recently posted…Fall Into the Holidays #13
Thanks, Katie! I’ll try that!
Beautiful! Nice job! I’m going to print those instructions. Love to knit and crochet. I knitted a corgi from the book “Knit Your Dog”.
Deena O’Daniel recently posted…Pets Who Wish They Could Go To a Dentist, Too
awe- i’ve seen that book! so cute – please post a photo to my facebook page, i’d love to see it!