Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you my Appropriately-Sized-Mitten Prototype.

(This is the best all-over shot I could get before the batteries in my camera died. You’ll see a possible cause for this in a minute.)

Some of you may remember my first attempt to make a mitten (intending it for a *child* no less!)

(For an idea of scale think “oven mitt”.)

I was a bit wary of trying again; that is, until the temperature here dropped. I wore my winter coat the other day for the first time this season, and when I shoved my hands in the pockets I found one mitten. That’s when I remembered that I’d lost its twin last winter. I do have several other pairs of mittens, but they are still packed away somewhere. Clearly the answer here was to try again to make a pair. (What do you mean, “Why don’t you just unpack already?” Who’s side are you on?)

I grabbed some Bernat Satin and went to it.

I started by using the same pattern of stitches I used on some coffee cup cozies I made last year:

ch 13
sc in second chain from hook, 11 more sc across, ch1, turn.
12 sc, back loop only, ch 1 turn (repeat this as many times as needed. I did 30, but I think that was a few too many)
hold the last row against the first row, and sc them together to form the cuff.

Next I sc around one end, doing on sc at the end of each row of the cuff, and joining. I figured this would be easier to work with.

I then lifted up 36 loops to start the Tunisian Knit Stitch part. To work Tunisian in the round you need a double-ended hook and two balls of yarn. The loops I lifted up were green, and I worked them off with red. Because I’m like that. ^_^

I kept trying it on as I went, so I could keep an eye out for the thumb placement. To leave a hole, I did 6 yo, and skipped 6 stitches, then kept on going. It was a bit tricky working those yo off, but I managed. It seemed to work ok, anyway.

Trying it out; I did this a lot while making this mitten!

And the back:

Once I passed the thumbhole, I kept going with the Tunisian Knit Stitch until I almost reached the tips of my fingers. I then did a series of decreases that I don’t really like, so I’m not going to do them that way next time. ^_^

I did a few more decreases once I felt it was long enough, then did a sort of drawstring gather that didn’t really work too well. I ended up “fixing” a lot of the problems it caused when I was weaving in the green end.

I went back to the thumbhole and worked it the same way as the rest of the mitten, just with fewer stitches. I picked up 6 sts each on the bottom and top of the hole, as well as an extra stitch on either side.

I was quite pleased to see how well the stitches blended in.

I didn’t quite make the thumb long enough for my liking (I was terribly excited that I was nearly finished. Also, I really need to get a shorter double-ended-hook if I’m going to keep making mittens this way; 14 inches is *way* too much for 6 or 7 stitches!)

I do like how I finished the tip of the thumb, though, and will have to try it for the tip of the fingers on the next one. I did a few decreases on the last round, then bound it off with slip stitches like you would when finishing any other Tunisian project. Then I used the long tail I left to weave through the slip stitches and pulled it closed like a drawstring. This worked much better!

The really fun part about this mitten?

It’s reversible!

A closer shot:

Things to do on the next one:

- don’t decrease on the hand part until a round or two from the end
- longer thumb
- some kind of stitch around the bottom of the cuff for a more finished look
- find a stitch for the top of the cuff that won’t leave little holes
- join the Navy

The worst part about this whole ordeal is that I’ve been too sick to craft! Can you even imagine?

So, today I present you with crafts I’ve made in the past that have been keeping me warm (especially during that blackout we just had!)

First, the slippers. I made these to wear at work. I just hate wearing shoes there, but walking around in my socks has given me funny looks and can be quite disastrous when they mop the floor!

These are the first slippers I’d ever made:

I got the pattern for these from a friend of mine. Basically, you pick a fuzzy yarn (so as to hide what you’re doing), and start working in the round. Make some increases until the circle is big enough to go around your foot, then do one stitch per one stitch to form a tube. Sometimes I find I need to make some decreases while making the tube… just keep measuring it against your foot as you go. When you get near your ankle it’s time to stop making a tube and start making a u-shape. Keep going back and forth in the u-shape until you reach your heel. I find it very useful to pull the slipper tight every time I measure it against my foot… they seem to last longer that way. When it’s the right size, cut the yarn leaving a really long tail, finish off, then use the tail to sew the two sides of the u-shape together to form the back of the slipper.

Repeat for other foot.

It’s really quite easy. Using the fuzzy yarn really hides any fudging you have to do with increases and decreases. Oh! I also find it best to start with a circle made of sc, then do dc for the rest.

Here are the last pair I made for myself:

I used Bernat Soft Bouclé for all of my slippers. The green ones are “Sage Stripes” (which doesn’t seem to exist anymore… that really sucks!).

From my feet we move on to my head. I made myself this hat:
It can’t talk to you right now.

And finally, I present to you a photo essay detailing the creation of the Giant Pink Mitten of Doom:
The Thumb:

Where I ran out of yarn:

Finished! It’s a bit on the big side: