Today I finished my red convertible mittens and they turned quite well, though I’m not yet sure I’ll be wearing them much. Usually I prefer fingerless mittens as they let me use my ipod quite comfortably. But the weather is definitely getting too cold for those and so I just had to try convertible ones for a change. What worries me a little is that the cap will get tangled up too easily. Also they seem a little clumsy. Oh well, guess I’ll find out as soon as they are dry again. (Right now they are in “blocking” stage.)
Anyway here they are:
- My red convertible mittens
LOL, it seems that the picture got accidentially turned around when I uploaded it. Will change that later on… if I remember. 😉
The pattern itself is great but as I prefer working with smaller needles I had to modify it quite a bit. Here is what I did:
I used 2.5 needles instead of the required size 4 and cast on 42 stitches (as required for L size in the pattern.) For the ribbing and thumb increases I followed L size of the pattern. But as my mittens were considerably smaller after those increases I worked another 10 rows before I moved the 15 stitches for the thumb on a spare bit of yarn.
After that I continued working in plain stockinette stitch (without the knuckle increases… my hands are very slim and there is plenty of space even without those increases) till my mittens had the right length. Before binding off I worked a couple of rounds of k1 p1 ribbing. (I didn’t knit the fingers for I prefer haven enough space to move my fingers even when I pull the mitten cap over them).
For the cap I followed the L pattern again. Only I didn’t do the chart. Also I slightly modified the decreases. There are 52 stitches for the cap, 26 stitches on the front and on the back of the cap. I worked:
1. decrease round: k2 k2tog k4, k2tog, k8, k2tog k4, k2tog, k2 (repeat)
2-5. k those rounds
6. k2 k2tog k3, k2tog, k6, k2tog k3, k2tog, k2 (repeat)
7-9. k those rounds even
10. k2 k2tog k2, k2tog, k4, k2tog k2, k2tog, k2 (repeat)
11-12. k those rounds even
13. k2 k2tog k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog k1, k2tog, k2 (repeat)
14. knit that round even
15. k2tog till end of round, cut yarn and thread through remaining stitches before pulling closed and sewing the loose end in.
For the thumb I picked up another 3 stitches and then knit till it had the right length. I did another couple of rounds of k1p1 ribbing before binding off. (It’s much more comfortable to have the use of the thumb too when listening to music on my ipod.)
While knitting I watched a couple of epidsodes of Breaking Bad. Omg, the ending of season 3 was totally unexpected and quite violent, but also really awesome. Can’t wait to get started on season 4!
Also I relistened to Kara‘s LibriVox recording of Helen’s Babies by John Habberton. I simply love that recording. The story is so funny that it still makes me laugh out loud though I almost know it by heart.
Anyway, back to knitting. As usual the pattern is from ravelry and can be found here: http://ravel.me/aravis83/dy54u …along with all yarn/needle details and some more pictures. 😀
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