January is for Mittens

Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.
-Leonardo Da Vinci

January is for many things - you've already seen my Manos Throw, Salt Lake City sweater (more coming on this soon), and my new Bearfoot socks as a promising start to a new year of knitting. I've also bought into the premise of A Loose Knit Group (Yahoo/Ravelry), attempting to knit ahead for the holidays. There's a theme to every month, and this month it's mittens and gloves. How handy that I'm currently in the middle of a mitten-fest! The first pair of mittens was actually started even before I heard about the group.

You may recall the complaints of my poor husband who doesn't have enough handknits (or so he says) when I ripped out the Baltic Mittens he'd claimed. I promised him another pair, and sent him a long list of links for his perusal. His choice actually surprised me a bit. Turns out that he's a traditionalist. (Which I suppose makes sense given his interest in Dale sweaters . . . This could be very good.) Turns out I have a lot to learn to knit for tall people. It's a good thing he was around to try them on as I went, because I was seriously underestimating how much larger his hands are than mine. So seriously, I had to re-do one of the cuffs. But it worked - do you see how happy the recipient is?
Sedestal Mittens
Pattern: from Folk Mittens
Yarn: Cascade 220 - 1.25 skeins of the green and approx 0.2 skeins of the natural (most, but not all, of the leftovers from the Hallard Mittens
Needles: US 2 dpns
Notes: I made several modifications, all for size. I knit on US2s at a gauge of approx 7 sts/in instead of the 9 sts/in called for. This gave me the hand circumference I needed with the 80 pattern stitches. The pattern, however, makes almost no allowance for the cuff to be smaller than the hands, which didn't make sense to me. So I cut out one pattern repeat of the snowflakes and started with 70 sts and then increased for the hand. If I were to make any other mods, it would be to recongize that my row gauge changed as well, and I would have started the thumb gore a little earlier.
Best Thing About This Project: This photo - I love these mittens, but I'm not sure they qualify for my Loose Knit givne how quickly they were snatched away. So I started another pair I'd had my eye on, and am contemplating a third. Coming soon, with photos, something far less traditional. You'll love it; I promise.