Silver Thaw Mitts

I have a finished project. Yeah! True, my finished project is aran weight mitts that made me feel itchy in the heat even as I just took the pictures. But a finished project is a finished project. Itches and all.

I cast on for these mitts last week because I needed a small project with mindless stockinette to carry around in my bag at last week's conference. The Easy Handspun Mitt by Vera Brosgol fit the bill.

While the yarn is not handspun, it does have that chunky look that only Noro can really pull off. This yarn is Noro Silver Thaw. I know the pic isn't great, but this was taken back in the days when I took pictures of yarn only for inventory reasons. In all honesty I liked this yarn better in skein. But, eh. It is what it is.

The original pattern called for a fingering weight yarn, but I went off some rough notes from the designer to make them in worsted. I did the k1p1 inch of ribbing and then I knit five and half inches before I started the thumb gusset. The pattern recommends a tubular cast on. I think this is a cast on you love or hate. I HATE it. So I went with the Jeny's Stretchy Slipknot Cast On.  Okay, I take that back. I cast on in my usual knit on that I first learned back when I was using the Lion Brand tutorials years ago to learn to knit. I stick with what I know. Change can be scary. So, what really happened was I used the Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off  LOVED the results, but put the knit on and realized I really should have did a stretchy cast on. You'd have thought I'd have learned my lesson by know as a former hardcore fingerless glove knitter, but no. I am stubborn and I will have a tight glove rather than change. Until know. I have been converted. If you make socks of gloves of maybe even hats (?) I REALLY recommend you check out this cast on and this bind off is pretty amazing for gloves, mittens, or socks. Or whatever. Okay, point made?

So, yeah to a finished project! Ravelry Project Page

And, speaking of finished projects. I made this necklace with some "junk beads" (a $5 pound of beads bag from JoAnn that I love for it's crazy diversity of glass beads). This really doesn't deserve a post of it's own, so I'll just throw it in here!