Now that the weather is warming up I've started a pair of mittens. I've been wearing (and darning) the same pair of red mittens for three years and they're really showing it. I got his yarn (Cascade 220 paints, colour #9925) in Ottawa last February especially for making these mittens but never got around to it. When I finished my Solstice socks last weekend I realized mittens would be a perfect new portable project.

I got out my copy of Knitter's Almanac  and read the mittens chapter before turning to the "pithy directions" for mitred mittens and casting on. After that I got a little distracted and read most of the rest of the book. Elizabeth's writing is always such good reading. She's so chatty. Eventually I did some actual knitting and have a few inches of mitten to show for it. The mitring is really neat. I love knitting that makes me feel clever.

Pattern: mine because the one I was originally using didn't make sense (or fit) even at gauge.
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Possum Worsted in Ratta (70% Merino, 30% Possum)
Yardage: most of two skeins
Needles: 3.25 mm dpn's

I've actually been wearing these mittens for a few weeks now but only attached the i-cord dummy string (dummy string out of idiot cord - ha ha) attached today. They are much warmer than my previous mittens (which I bought and are made of some unknown fibre that survived the washer and the dryer) and I can actually carry things around at -30 and still feel my fingers (otherwise I tend to keep my hands in my pockets for extra warmth) - those possums must be cozy critters! I'm always worried I'll leave my mittens somewhere (because I have before) so I decided to give this pair some dummy strings so I wont have to think about it (or find somewhere to store them when they're off).

I put this little green marker on my needle and it settled into the red yarn and I’m sure I could smell cloves and cinnamon. It’s hard to believe we are heading into our last week of November. I’ve got our Christmas boxes out but I don’t like to start any decorating until we are officially in December. The advent calendar will go up on Saturday (I’ll have to think of what to put in all the little pockets) and everything else will follow some time later.

For those interested these stitches represent my in progress red possum mittens. I’m about half way through the first mitten ... for the second time. I did the first one at gauge and it was way too big for my hand. This is a little smaller than gauge and seems to be working out perfectly. I don’t know if I have abnormally small hands or if the pattern designer just really liked roomy mittens. I like my mittens to be a little snug so I can put my hands in my pockets easily.

I haven’t frogged the first attempt yet and I should probably get to that. The yarn is going to need blocking and will take a while to dry. I don’t want to have to wait too long to get these finished. The temperature dropped on Friday and it’s much too cold to be wearing mittens with holes in them.