Knitting: Mittens!

Another knitting project finished:  mittens for oldest grandson.

Years ago my mother-in-law made wonderful mittens for our children.  They were speckled mittens quite often, with two colors on the hands with alternating stitches. This makes a nice thick warm mitten.  I found the same pattern called Fish Scale Mittens on Ravelry, a free download. 

There are a few measurements to take if you would like them to fit nicely:

Wrist to end of longest finger
Thumb bone to end of thumb
Distance across widest part of hand (to help you choose size....these were the smallest size, casting on 40 stitches)

For this pair I used US size 5 needles and US size 6 needles.  When I make them for adults next time I will use size 5 and size 7.  Also I will use double pointed needles for the whole mitten.  Well, maybe not for the cuff, but for the rest of the mittens.  On these I use two circular needles to cast on and knitted the cuff and up to the afterthought thumb stitches then switched to dpns and knitting one mitten at a time.  The reason for this was that the stitches seemed a little tighter with the circs.

Since mittens MUST be made with wool to assure that hands stay warm even if wet,  I chose Lamb's Pride, a worsted weight yarn, in Blue Boy and Red Baron, which I purchased at Country Woolens.

This pattern uses an afterthought thumb.  That makes the knitting go really fast.

When you get to the spot for the thumb, knit x-number of stitches in waste yarn then go back and knit them again with the mitten yarn and continue on until fastening off the top....THEN go back and knit the thumb.

When the top of the mitten is done you just pick up the stitches above and below the afterthought thumb stitches.

Stitches picked up to knit the thumb.  The thumb goes very fast...