Mosh Pit Mitts

Now I have never considered myself a master knitter.  I don't knit that often to get that good, but it is another of the skills I learnt as a child and so I understand the knit / purl concept enough to attempt a pattern requested by my teenager that had "beginner" as its difficulty level, featured in issue 10 of Knit Now magazine.



The girls spent a while choosing what colour mitts they wanted.

I ordered the suggested yarn from Magpielly and had to wait a while for it to arrive as it was a special order (I'm guessing it was shipped from America). But it was worth the wait as the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece is lovely both in feel and to work with.

After blocking the mitts sat lovely and flat.

 

I had several false starts - from learning how to cable cast on (thanks you tube) to getting my tension right (had to use smaller needles than stated) but the main problem was getting my head around the unusual thumb opening.  As seen in the above photo the first stage is to knit some stitches with waste yarn and then carry on to knit the rest of the glove.  My head could not get this at first as I expected there to be an actual hole. Getting a bit frustrated (very frustrated really) I turned to Google and found a photo posted on Ravelry that made me realise I was in fact on the right track and so I was able to continue with a bit more confidence. After blocking the mitts I sat down to concentrate on the seemingly complicated instructions for the thumb opening.


I had to have my brow mopped while attempting this tricky procedure as I was worried I'd drop a stitch.

I had a practise first on this test one so i could get to grips with the idea (it's like open heart surgery) and slowly following the instructions it started to come together and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So then the fun bit came when I could sew on all the lovely sweet-like buttons.

 

And I am very pleased with the finished result.  I'm chuffed I persevered with this, as for me anyway it was a challenge.

My girls are really pleased with their new gloves too and have worn them to school today.