Wearing Hand-Knitted Mittens

ざっくりミトン, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

I wore my hand-knitted mittens today. The photo here shows what I put on. It was my first time to put them on.

They are extremely warm mainly because they are knitted with bulky yarn, Anny Blatt's Mini-sport.
The cuffs fit so well. I knitted them with size 4 (3.3mm) needles and that made the fabric so dense. They also have adequate length.

I've never thought of fair-isle knitting with bulky yarn. Now I think it is not so bad.

Bulky Mittens

ざっくりミトン, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

This pair of mittens is my first finished object this year.

It was a quici-knit. I started knitting the left hand mitten on 1 Jan., and almost done. I went to see kabuki plays on 2 Jan., and didn't knit that day. On 3 Jan., I finished the thumb of the left hand mitten, and casted on the right one and done.

Fair-isle knitting is what I adore a lot, but I'm not good at it at all. I've tried it several times, though.
What I needed was knit with thick yarn, such as this one. This pair looks still awkward, but it's better than other fair-isle knitting stuffs I made.

In the book, these mittens are in gray and red, and natural and dark blue. Mine look too bold, but they look bright and warm in chilly weather.


Via Flickr:
Designed by MIKUNI Mariko
Yarn: Puppy Mini-sport 711 (purple) & 685 (green)
Needle Size 4 (3.3mm) & 6 (3.9mm) DPN
Started on 1 Jan. 2012
Finished on 3 Jan. 2012

No.25 Crochet Gloves

No.25 手袋
Originally uploaded by Garyou.

I was supposed to knit mittens this autumn and winter.
What I made is this: a pair of crochet gloves.
This is a side-to-side glove so you have less yarn ends than ordinary circular knit or crochet one. If you go circular, you have at least 10 ends: 8 for a thumb and 3 fingers, and 2 for a cast-on edge and a finger.

The most difficult part for me was making slip stitches for edging. I made them too tight, and I had hard time to make single crochets (double crochets, for English) on them. I had to rip them all at the first time.



These slip stitches and single crochets become gussets, as you might see in the photo below. Before making the gloves, I'd thought it might be too tight. These gussets give you enough room.



I used Olympus' Fiore. This yarn shimmers a little, maybe because it contains silk. This yarn is made of wool (60%), mohair (17 %), polyester (15%), and silk (8%).

These gloves are so warm, I won't need another pair at all.
What should I do with my plan to knit mittens, now?