Mittens!

My husband, Mr Dibulous, is currently working at home, and spends all day coding at the computer. As soon as the weather turns cooler (which it just has - snow on top of our local mountain this morning!) his hands get really really cold, so a pair of fingerless mitts is the perfect thing for keeping him warm, but still able to work.

He actually picked out this wool so I could make them for a Christmas present. Last Christmas. Oops. Fortunately they still ended up as a present: for his birthday this week! The wool is Lang Merino 70 (deliciously soft and squishy, 98% merino, 2% polyester), and the pattern is this free one (the same one that Karen used for her stripy mitts last year). Karen mentioned in her post that the pattern didn't use as much wool as described, but I found I did use nearly a ball of wool for each - you can see how much I have left in the photo below.

These were super quick to knit up. The first one took a little longer as I needed to decode a few instructions, but the second one was knitted in an evening. Mr Dibulous has ridiculously giant hands, so I lengthened the mitts: 4 extra rows of rib at the wrist, and 2 extra rows of stocking stitch between the thumb and final ribbing.

I did a test square to check the tension gauge, and it was exactly what the pattern stated, but I thought these came out quite loose-fitting. Perfect for Mr Dibulous, but I think I would knit them just slightly smaller if I make them for myself (which I might!) - you can see the difference in the fit in the photos where I am modelling them. This may also be because of the wool - I have an inkling that the wool is slightly heavier weight than that suggested in the pattern. I would also reduce the length from the end of the wrist ribbing to the thumb, so it fits a bit more snugly at the base of the hand.

I followed Karen's tip and tied a red thread inside the right-hand mitten so it was easy to tell them apart.

Overall very pleased with these! I've been putting off knitting smaller items (i.e. gloves, socks and hats) as they just seemed so complicated. These really weren't! Mr Dibulous loves them, and has hardly taken them off since I gave them to him!