These mitts developed out of my husband’s request for a crocheted hacky sack. I don’t crochet very well at all, so I turned to my knitting group where a barter was arranged: two hacky sacks for a pair of mitts.
At the same time I found myself obsessed with diagonal stripes - Hats, scarves, you name it, any time I picked up a pair of knitting needles I was yielding similar results, diagonal stripes. It was really no surprise that when I went to knit some mitts this pattern developed out of my diagonal obsession.
Baratto is a fast knit and makes a great last-minute gift project, especially for those knitters (like myself) who like instant gratification projects.