Split Finger Mittens

Darliss to the rescue.  Those black gloves that were too big (scroll down if you click)?  Remember I frogged them.  But I still owed my daughter her glubs.

And Darliss had just finished for herself a pair of Split Finger Mittens.  Here's the finished product.  Fun to make and quite cute tho they look out of proportion until you put your hands inside.

The "L" is for "left hand" and the right hand has a red thumb.
No confusion here.

Sorry, but no link for the pattern since it's from Darliss' storehouse of creative ideas.  The yarn is Patons Canadiana, stash from the 5 Christmas Hatts.  (Here).

I love the bright contrasts and the stripes.  The colors are the school colors for Concordia Lutheran School in Tacoma, where grandson is in 4th grade and his mom and dad are loyal supportive parents.

However -- adding color always means lots of weaving in of the ends, unless you can carry the contrast  without cutting the yarn (which I didn't do.)

Messy messy and lots of ends, the pesky kind.  I'm listening to S.J. Parris' Heresy, more English turmoil during the days of the Reformation.

Here it is "sorted" as the Brits say.

Hoping the Conductive Thread works so the wearer can use mobile devices even while wearing the mittens.

It's twirly twisty 'thread' and hard to sew with.
I hope the 'blob' will suffice.

Meanwhile, the clown quilt is ready for backing and quilting.  This has been a fun project and went very quickly.

 Busy week ahead with quilting and sewing some projects.  Hoping you each have a pleasant week with a minimum of chaos.

Strolling toward the end

The Strolling Mitts are working up quite nicely.  The right hand is ready for thumb knitting.  The left hand is in the process of shaping the thumb, which means that putting those 15 left thumb stitches on a holder is very close at hand.

Right hand mitt is waiting to have thumb completed, while
left hand mitt is in the middle of thumb shaping.
Scarf and mitts are nice together, I think, especially
with kitty pin as a blending accessory.

I checked my DPN's that say US 6 on the label.  Danger, Batman, Danger!  The millimeter measure is quite different and I was almost had by the manufacturer.  The standard correlating millimeter measure for US 6 is 4 mm.  But check out this label -- it says 4.25 mm.

Maybe you don't think such a tiny difference would
make a difference -- but it does.  All of the Clover
needles I own that say No. 6 are, in fact, 4.25 mm.

Luckily I located my other set of US 6 DPN's, which are labeled as 4.00 mm.  If you are not a knitter, by this time you're thinking:  Do these hand knitters really have to worry about so many details?  That would drive me bananas!  Yup, it might drive you bananas and yes, it now and then drives the knitter over the edge.  Very glad I caught this difference.

I will use the 4.00mm US 6 DPN's for the thumb knitting where I have only 15 stitches.  Three stitches for each of three needles and a fourth needle for knitting.  Picture will appear in a later post.

Meanwhile, the stroller mitts are serving as a wonderful and satisfying diversion from Thuh White Shawl.  Notice the title has now become official and I've added initial capitals to seal the deal.  It's quite a mission, this shawl.  I have 2 balls of yarn remaining, each with 218 yards.  I have a goal to knit until I use up one of the two balls of yarn, reserving the last one for the crocheted fringe.

The back length of the shawl in this picture is 24", from the
top point to the bottom of the holes / stripe pattern.  The
instructions call for 36" but I am sure that if I were to knit
to 36" you would have to call someone to take me away
as I babble about yarn overs and purls.

Here's a closeup of the pattern and you gotta admit it's gorgeous.

Thuh last pattern in Thuh White Shawl

But back to the mitts -- looking good and soon to be completed.  I'm loving these detour projects, after 2 hours and 4 rows of the white shawl.  groan

Close -- very close.

Detours and staying the course.  Both of them help us to make progress in knitting and in life.  Lessons learned in each case.  Detours are sometimes risky but usually give us quicker rewards, as in sooner completed.  Staying the course teaches perseverance and commitment, with a thing of beauty as a final reward, plus the confidence to tackle something else equally (or more) complex.

Choose your path.

Detour -- another set of mitts

Addey left a comment that pointed out how fun it is to take a detour into a small, quick project -- while working on a larger one.  I call this a detour and remember, not all detours are a waste of time and fuel.

I'm forever searching for new patterns.  Often they come to me in emails from the various sites I follow.  This pattern came from Red Heart, though the original site for the pattern is not Red Heart.  I'll leave lots of breadcrumbs so you can find it if you like.

Strolling Mitts are from Stitch Nation but I got them via an email from Red Heart.  Check out Stitch Nation cuz they have knitting and crochet patterns; many are free.

Does that hot pink yarn look familiar?  It's the same yarn
as the Hat for TKGA submission.  In the upper left of the pic
you can see the thumb section.  I'v added stitches and then
put the loose stitches onto a piece of darker yarn, so I can
finish the body of the mitt.

Mistake -- again I tried to do both mitts at the same time, using Magic Loop technique.  The mistake this time was that I was trying to use just one ball of yarn.  So for one mitt I was pulling the yarn from the middle of the ball and for the other mitt I was unwrapping yarn from the outside of the ball.  Major tangles, twists, annoyance, etc.  Tooooo much time spent on untangling and untwisting. 

So after a few rows one of the mitts was side-lined to a couple of DPN's.  The second mitt stayed on the long cord US 6 circular needle, which I am using for the Magic Loop method.  I do like the method, just that it seems to work with less chaos if I knit only one thing at a time.

The Mitts are knit around, so there's no seam.  My choices are a) DPN with about 13 stitches on each of 3 needles OR b) the Magic Loop method with 20 stitches as the front 'side' and 20 as the back 'side'.  For me, at least, 20 stitches allows for a bit of 'regular knitting rhythm.'

Here's the one mitt on the long cord and the other mitt being held by the two DPNs.

That's about as far as I got before I had to choose to reduce
the chaos.  On the left you can see the lovely wooden tips
of the long circular needle.   I'm ready to begin the pattern
'side' of the mitt.  The palm side is just plain stockinette.

Addey's right.  I've taken a break from the white shawl.  While lovely and with promise of great beauty, the white shawl work can be both tedious and boring.  Each row is so time-consuming.  Sometimes I just cannot face another row of that and then a row back to begin again.  So I decided to do these mitts.

Hoping your detour choices offer both relaxation and inspiration.  At the very least, a detour gives you a break from whatever routine your knitting -- or your life -- may have created to mire you down.  Lighten the journey with a trip to a new project.