The Last of the Christmas 2015 Knitting

Last fall I asked the very short list of people that I am wont to knit Christmas gifts for if there was anything on their minds. Armed (ha) with the requests for two sets of fingerless mitts, I eyed the stash and spent far too long wading through patterns on Ravelry.

And then after knitting two pairs of mitts, I wrapped them up, went to the post office and....

entirely forgot to take pictures.

Sibling-the-Elder to the rescue. She took some pictures for me and I reuse them here with her permission.

First up, for said Sibling, was a pair from a BMFA Rare Gem. It was a lovely pink shade that never made it into the official stash.

The pattern is Fear of Committenment, though I made some modifications.  Rather than the 2x2 ribbing called for in the pattern, I went for a 1x1 ribbing. As delicate as the cables are, the 1x1 seemed more appropriate. Also, StE's hands are a bit smaller than mine and I didn't want these to be loose.  

I started not with the pattern but with 8 rows of ribbing. I prefer to have full ribbing at the cuff so it's consistently stretchy before I launch into cables. 

While I wanted these to be nice and long, I wasn't going for the opera length that the pattern proposes, so when I reached the decrease section, I did them every 4 rows rather than every 8. This cut my repetitions of the cable pattern down a few but didn't affect fit that I noticed. For the tops, which always stretch out on all of my mitts, I switched down to size 1.5 (2.5 mm) needles from the 2 (2.75 mm) needles I'd been using for the rest of the project. 

The pattern definitely needs a solid or tonal wool, I wouldn't try to tackle it with anything highly variegated. 

Next up was the search for mitts for the Incredibly Patient Mother and for this I had an idea of what yarn I wanted to use: the Mrs. Crosby I won last year for knitting that frais rainbow hat.* The colorway is Peacock and, after great deliberation, the Lisanne Mitts seemed an appropriate choice. 

If you click through you'll see the designer knit the original mitts in a similar color, which probably influenced my choice, but overall I just liked the pattern. 

These went quickly on size 4 (3.5 mm) needles. I don't remember making any modifications, I didn't write any down, so this should be pretty true to pattern.  I like the broader cable on the back and tighter ones on the palm.  It was challenging without being overwhelming.  

I do like knitting mitts though it's not ever going to be as mindless as sock knitting and that means less time to work on them. Stilll, might have to round up a few more of those patterns I queued and see what else I can create.  

*Speaking of that hat, I can't find it. Anybody know where I put it?