Saturday, May 2, 2009

Success! A Fingerless Mitt!!!!!

Wow, knitting these is supposed to be easy. Hah!

Well, they will be, they will. Gimme a couple under my belt, and I'll show you the world. I am going to make hundreds of these things! They are freaking amaaaaaaaaaaazing! I can see why Ravelry has a whole, active, enthusiastic group devoted just to them. "Fingerless Glove Fanatics." It's an apt name, I now see why people are so devoted to these little units.

It took me for-freaking-ever to get my first one made. I am shamelessly proud of it. I am wearing it. I think I'll sleep in it. In any event, I'm starting its mate TONIGHT. Here it is.

Oh yes, and I'm using my latest homespun. Mostly a worsted weight yarn, 2-ply, Superwash BFL, hand dyed by Squoosh on Etsy. Great colorway! The unspun top, and the spin itself, is covered in the post below this one for anyone who wants to see the fiber.

So here we have it lying on the table (an odd looking thing when not on, I know.) But this shows the details best. Pattern: Maine Morning Mitts (only change... mentioned below).


It was worth the wait, and all my frogged starts and fretting-over-needle-size problems. These will make great outdoor mitts. They fit snug, they're dense because I used 3.0mm needles on what's close to a worsted weight yarn, and they come almost down to my finger knuckles. Perfect length for outside wear because if I make a fist, my fingers will tuck up inside, which I know I will end up doing during quickie barn trips. For that reason, these might end up warmer than my SSG Horse Trainer gloves.

See how snug they fit with fingers closed? Heavenly feeling thing! Oh, Love 'Em! (Well, "it" so far.)




As snug as they are, they give me absolutely no argument with my fingers splayed all the way wide.

Oh, just noticed - this photo LQQKS like there's pulling or something by the thumb tube when stretched out. Not at all. It gives without stressing the palm section one bit! The photo lies.





I am ALWAYS finding something I would have done differently. Always. I wouldn't change anything on the way this turned out. Perfect length, and full finger movement (stretch), yet complete bounce-back when fingers not opened. I mean, I love the yarn, but to have something this practical to boot? Yeee-haw! Love it, love it, love it!

Okay, pattern modification: I was totally boggled by the thumb, but today drove 25 minutes each way to the LYS and she showed me how to set it up. Not sure I can do it again because I'm not sure about a couple of things, but I got the gist. Anyway, we picked up 5 sts., not the four called for in the pattern. It just made more sense spacewise, but also that gave me 15 sts. which makes the thumb ribbing pattern come out right. It wouldn't have otherwise. I think there may be a couple typos in that pattern, and I strongly suspect needle size is one of them, unless the designer knits even tighter than I did, and I just don't think that would be possible. Only other change was length, I stopped at a mitt length of 7 inches on the finger side, because that final 8th inch would have put them down past my knucks.

I'm gonna live in these. Need more, more, more!!