Ok, I did it. The mittens are a fait accompli! I'm happy with the way they turned out and would recommend this pattern to anyone knitting for a toddler.
I used this pattern, from Quanah's web site. The yarn is Zara, which is a lovely merino wool made by Filatura di Crosa. I absolutely love this yarn. It has a nice roundness to it, which gives great stitch definition which is something I really like to see in my knitted projects. It comes in a lot of weights, but this one in their Fine weight which gauges in at 23 stitches per 10 cms. I used the charcoal grey which is colour number 1468.
The nicest thing about this pattern is the generous cuff, perfect for tucking inside the snow suit sleeve, and then the decreases at the wrist which make it much less likely to come off. You could even run a little cord through the stitches at that point and tie them on if you've got a real mitten tugger. I have a friend who's kid would never keep mitts on, even if it was freezing. She said he could shuck them faster than a pro-hockey player about to brawl. Good mental image, especially for the more combative toddlers.
This gives you an idea of how big they actually are, which is smaller than my hand, but bigger than I thought they would be, which in numbers is 5.5" from top to wrist. I have such a hard time eyeballing sizes for my Baby. I still think of him as a little baby, but he's actually a full-fledged toddler boy, and looks more like a kid than a baby most days. Sigh. He's growing up so fast. Cliche, cliche I know, but its true.
My mother-in-law thinks its funny that I make grey and black things for the baby, and its true, he probably has more grey and black clothing than your average kid. But I just love those colours, and he looks so good in the dark neutrals, with his fair skin and strawberry hair. But these are maybe a bit too sombre for mitts. I think I'm going to embellish them with a little duplicate stitch in a nice bright red. Not sure what motif, but when I figure it out, I'll show you.
Awesome! My first thoughts: Oooh, wool! Oooh, charcoal! Oooh, thinning at the wrist: how smart!
And then you mentioned all those things and now I feel validated. I love wool most of all, and I love greys and blacks; they are mostly what I wear and C always complains about my relative lack of colour. A complementary red accent does sound perfect, though!
It is just so cool to see how fast you produce stuff. Like, you have an idea and then shortly, there it is. It's so cool and convenient and you have just what you want!
Are the materials generally expensive, do you find, if I made it a hobby? If I knit, I'm going to want only different types of wool or the like. I want to make things I would want to buy or give as gifts.
Posted by: steph | 01/04/2010 at 07:21 PM
PS. I totally love how you paid attention to the background when you took the second photo.
Posted by: steph | 01/04/2010 at 07:22 PM
And the first, actually!
Posted by: steph | 01/04/2010 at 07:23 PM
cute mitts! I've used the Zara worsted before and loved it, so I'll definitely be on the lookout for lighter weights
Posted by: Rebekah | 01/08/2010 at 03:28 PM