Thumbs up!

After completing my first sock (second sock to complete the pair still pending...), I thought I would attempt a pair of mittens for my next project. They hopefully will make a very nice Christmas gift for a friend... So, I picked out the perfect yarns, packed my needles in my carry on luggage, and intended on knitting them while travelling to and from New Mexico.

However, with the upgraded security at airports these days, I decided it would be best to ask when checking in to make sure I could bring the needles onboard. Well, the Check-In people were not very helpful at all, and said that I would have to ask the Security folks. If I decided to do that, by the time I asked them, if they said no, I would have had to either toss the materials or bring them back to check-in. Rather than risk it, I decided to check them. Turns out I would have been just fine, so I did do some knitting on the way back home.

Turns out mittens are fairly easy to knit, and also knit up fairly quickly! The one in the picture was my test mitten, to make sure I could do the techniques right (I knit the one mitten in maybe two nights in front of the tv). I didn't really like the pattern itself on the mitten, so I then started another mitt with my own stripped design (I'll post the finished pair after the holidays...). It sure is a lot of fun to play with different colour patterns (which are endless with a bit of imagination), and knitting the mittens has also given me a new love of knitting in the round. It allows for more complex colour patterns (sometimes they keep me up at night, honest! Plotting and designing in my head... and then graphing and sketching when I find the time...). I think I'll try some Fair Isle designs soon (those patterns are fantastic!!). And I say if you're feeling adventurous, give it a try. If you get stuck on the thumb part, remember that YouTube often has some really helpful videos.