State Fair Mittens 2015 – We have a thumb…

Just a little update on how the State Fair Mittens are coming along. One mitten is done! Well, I still have to weave in ends, of course.

I really wanted to pattern match the thumb to the body of the mitten, but have never really been successful with that before. This time I really thought about how it would work when I did the design and I am thrilled with the result. The back of the thumb is a checkerboard like the edges of the mitten.

I’ve started the second mitten, but this in one of those cases where I am slapping myself for not taking better notes when knitting. I had my chart, stitch number and all that, but never noted where I changed from a size 0000 needle to a 000. This might not seem like a big deal, but it did make me restart the second mitten twice to get the picot edging to look just right.

Doing colorwork and knitting on such small needles and thin yarn has gotten easier as I go along. (When I took a break to do the advent calendar mitten in fingering yarn on size 1 needles, it felt downright huge!) I find getting started is a little tricky and if you drop any stitches, especially at the beginning, it is hard to pick them up. Also I am using my new Addi needles which are about an inch longer than the double-points I am used to. That makes them a little unwieldy when doing something smaller like the thumb.

These mittens will need a good blocking once they are done, but all and all I am quite happy with the results.