FO: Mittens! and CraftyFail: Also Mittens

After the success of knitting my fair isle hat (which has been washed and blocked, but still needs the hem sewn down) I thought I’d cast on for another fair isle project. The cute, adorable, Plum Blossom Mittens by Valley Yarns have been on my mind for awhile now. And since I just so happen to have 2 skeins of the yarn required, I thought I’d give them a go.

Or, really, a no go. I tried them on DPNs (guage too loose and uneven) and I tried to knit them Magic Looped (gauge too tight).

Here’s me, late Saturday night after a frustrating bout with the first half of the chart:

Hi, I’m half of a mitten, with too-tight gauge and floats showing through. I am ugly and wonky.

The next day, I wanted to redeem my failure and just knit something decent already. I turned instead to the simple, classic stylings of Kate Gilbert’s Gifted mittens.

A few hours later, I had two mittens knit. A quick seam on Sunday night, and I had a pair ready to wear.

Pattern: Gifted by Kate Gilbert  (Ravelry link)

Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky in Red Purple (85% wool, 15% alpaca), about 1 skein

Needles: Size #10.5 bamboo straights

Completed: December 13-14, 2009

Mods: Absolutely none, followed the pattern exactly for woman’s size

They just fit, which is a wee bit disappointing because I think they could use a bit of felting to make them even warmer. And felting would just make them smaller, so that’s not likely to happen. Lesson learned for next time – make the next size up (in this case, the Men’s size).

But other than that, this was a great antidote to the feeling of crafty failure. Instant mittens! A definite thumbs up!

And as I learned in this photo shoot, it’s hard to take a photo of both your hands wearing mittens and still be able to work the camera and the remote. In case you were wondering.