Convertible mittens are almost done!

I need a long car ride/vacation so that I can get something done. I was sick last weekend and then all this week, I was so busy at work that I didn't have much time to work on any of the many projects that I have on needles. Neither did I get much work done on the Helping Hands quilt -- but that's for another post! But today I sat down and finished the body of the convertible mittens that I have been making for a friend.

Then as I told you in a previous post, I began using the idea of blogger Rebecca at ChemKnits to create convertible mittens from any pattern. I highly recommend this video if you are interested in trying to make your own convertible mitten. I got the opening made on both mittens and I have knitted the ribbing around the opening on one mitten.

For the ribbing around the opening, I stepped down the needle size from a US 6 to a US 4. I can't imagine getting a size 6 into the stitches. It was really hard to pick them up since I had used such a thick waste yarn.

Winging it has its advantages. I have watched many videos and read a lot of posts on Knitting Paradise.  I have taken a lot of ideas from many places. And  you learn by making mistakes, and I have been learning a lot! It has been fun.

One of the interesting things that I learned concerns picking up stitches. When you pick up the stitches before you open up the mitten, because of the way knitting stitches interlock, there will be one more stitch to pick up on one side then there is on the other. I am glad I saw that somewhere in my "travels" or I might have had an awful mess on my hands.

If I get any further tomorrow, I will post the results. Happy knitting!

Cabled Convertible Mitten

The cable begins

There is something about cables that just speaks to me. If you remember, my last socks were cabled, but that did not get the cabling out of my system. A friend asked me to make her a pair of convertible mittens a few weeks ago, and since it was finally time to start them, I thought about doing cables, but I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. I began looking at the convertible mitten patterns that were out there and it occurred to me that perhaps I could use any mitten pattern that I wanted and just use waste yarn to create the flap.

Fortunately for me, one of the knitting blogs that I follow, ChemKnits, put out a post on just the very idea that I had! In her video, she shows a regular mitten pattern on which she is using a waste yarn method to change to convertible. My plan is to take her idea one step further and add a convertible thumb for texting since I know my friend likes to text.

Here is one of the mittens in progress. I chose a plait instead of a two strand cable. I love the color of this Cascade 220 worsted weight -- it is called dark chocolate. Well, yeah, what else would you call it! The yarn has beautiful stitch definition with what is for me, the perfect amount of stretch in the fibers. It has a firm texture which holds up and does not leave spaces where the cables pull the stitches over.

I decided to knit the mitten from the fingertips to the cuff. Since I have done several socks lately, I realized the toe of a sock closely resembles the fingertip of a mitten. I haven't ever done a pair like that, but hey, why not. Of course, that would make it more difficult to work a mitten with a gusset thumb, so I will use the waste yarn again to work a peasant thumb.
I do have two lessons already learned. For the first, I forgot how a cable pulls the stitches in. That wouldn't be a problem normally because you wouldn't worry if the palm got pulled around a little, but the white waste yarn highlights the fact that the opening and the ribbing that will be knit along the edge will be visible from the back of the hand. So when I make another pair, I will make two more increases (four extra stitches) on the back/braid side of the mitten. This will give enough width across the back of the hand that the opening will not be pulled around.

The waste yarn

The second lesson learned is similar to the first. The mitten turned out pointier than than I care for because the cable is pulling it inward. I think that I would modify the figure 8 cast on and add four extra stitches at the tip so that the end is wider. This would also require fewer increase rows and that would give a rounder look to the top of the mitten.

Until next time, "Happy Knitting!"