I have a request for hedgehog mittens based on some photos. Unfortunately, the patterns we like are written for kid-sized hands, so I’m going to try to adapt this simple, basic mitten into hedgehogs. We’ll see how it goes!

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This is my first time knitting any type of handwear. I’m also learning two-at-a-time with this project, using magic loop. I’ve done magic loop before, but never TAAT. It’s a little messy for the first couple of rounds, but as long as I can remember to mirror the mittens (thumb-placement), I think it’ll work out.

(ETA: It turns out you don’t need to mirror these mittens, so that made it very easy to make them TAAT. Mirroring will only be necessary if there’s an obvious front/back of the mittens-- like cabling or colorwork that should be on the tops of both hands.)

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Beginning to wish I’d used a smaller needle for the cuffs, but maybe it’ll be ok. I made the cuffs only 20 rounds long, because that seemed long enough.

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I’m kind of stressed at the moment and in no mood to work on something where I’ll have to improvise, so these are going into mild hibernation. I’ll need to get K. to try them on before I can do much more with them, anyway…

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November 30th, 2017:
Ok! I’ve started over again! K. tried them on and they could be a big longer in the hand. Also, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the cuffs, the first time, so this gave me a second try with those.

Long-tail cast-on using this tutorial for casting on TAAT. Using a size 4 circular needle for the cuffs, then I’ll switch up to size 5 for the rest of the mittens.

The cuffs still aren’t perfect. Not every stitch is identical in size/shape, but I think it’s better than my first try. It’s going pretty quickly, now that I’m finally started on the re-knit. (Talking myself into the cast-on might be the hardest part of many knitting projects!)

Knitted 25 rounds of ribbing for the cuffs.

Intended to do the m1L/m1R on either side of the thumb gusset, but just realized I’ve been doing them backwards. Argh! Well, too bad. I guess those m1’s will just be extra standy-outy, because there’s no way I’m ripping them back and restarting again. (I am hating these mittens, at the moment, and just want them DONE.) Honestly, I doubt it will be noticeable to a layman. Once I add the hedgehog spines and embroidered face, the rest of the mittens will recede even further.

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When finishing the hand portion, I opted for gathering the stitches instead of doing the Kitchener stitch. (I grafted the first pair and didn’t love my results. Gathering looks much neater, for me.)

I used atricristatus’ alterations for reducing gaps at the thumb join and Morningthaw’s tip for positioning the picked-up stitches in the middle of the row.

I added in a few extra rounds to the length of the hand. Not sure how many, as I didn’t keep track… Since I worked them TAAT, there was no need to make a note to keep the two mittens the same length.

To make the thumb a bit longer (in proportion to the lengthened hand), I added another 2 rounds of knitting around after rnd 10 of the thumbs and another 2 extra rounds of knitting around after rnd 16. Because I have no double-pointed needles, I used magic loop for the thumbs as well. (Though not TAAT…) It may be a little fiddly, but it works.

On the first thumb, I somehow ended up with one fewer stitch than I should’ve had (17 instead of 18). No way I was going to rip back and redo it. Close enough. I doubt one stitch makes that much difference, anyway. (Must finish Mittens of Doooooooom!!)