Smitten with mittens? I think knot!

Thursday, as I was rifling through my yarn stash looking for just what I had in mind to knit an oceanic version of Stephanie's Desert Shadows Scarf, I came across this sparkling skein of fingering weight yarn. Oh, I probably bought it because it was different, but more importantly, because the glitter in that yarn is sterling silver and the combination of merino, silk and silver was too powerful to pass up. Don't tell anyone, but I think I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to yarn. Since it felt a bit scratchy, I knew I didn't want to knit something that would touch my neck, but what would I make with this one hank of yarn? For two years, the yarn has been waiting for attention and it looked like its day had finally come. I immediately abandoned the hunt for the scarf yarn faster than Leo can change his mind about anything the instant he sees a squirrel.

That fast.

I sat down with my laptop and traveled to Ravelry where I looked up Kraemer's Sterling Yarn projects page and saw a pattern for fingerless mitts. Truly, I wasn't looking for yet another pattern for mitts--I was looking for what others had done with this yarn. I fell hard for the cabling on the front of the mitts and felt the Celtic flavor of the cables matched the beautiful green of the yarn. I clicked to the pattern page, willing to pay any price, and was surprised to find the pattern was free.

But wait, was this the same pattern? It couldn't be... this pattern was for gloves. Knotty Gloves. Uh-oh.

Being somewhat intimidated by all that fiddly, really small diameter knitting, I've avoided glove patterns. I think the knitter of the fingerless version may have felt like me and when she got to the end of the hand, she bound off. Not me. I decided I'd stick my toes in the water, so to speak, and it would be gloves or bust. All ten digits would be warm or I would go back upstairs and look for the scarf yarn. It helped that when I cast on for this adventure, the outside temperature was in the single digits. Freezing cold weather with a subzero wind chill factor is a powerful motivator!

That only looks insane to knit! There may be five needles there, but only three of those are in play. The other two are holding stitches waiting to be knit.

I cast on late Thursday night and got too busy working to knit. All day Friday, I knit the cuff and the hand and by Saturday, I was ready for the fingers on the first glove. I spent the day--off and on-- knitting all of them. I don't think it took 30 minutes to knit each finger. By last night, the right glove was done and I cast on for the left. Yes, the water was just fine and I'm glad I took the plunge.


The pattern is really well written, though I think there are some parts a novice may not understand right away or without more in depth direction. I found the best thing was to simply follow the instructions and not over-think the pattern making it more difficult than it is. This--so far--is a quick knit and another notch in my knitting belt of things I've conquered with sticks and string.

Next up? Stephanie's scarf...just as soon as I finish the left glove.