This is the many-knitted mitten.

Try #1

I started with the #33 Leaf mitten pattern from the Fall 2011 Vogue Knitting and some hand-me-down yarn. I stopped after the first mitten. I liked the pattern, but the mitten was tight. Plus the yarn wasn’t very soft.

Try #2

I then reknit it in Bingo which was a more appropriate weight. However, either the yarn wasn’t right or my hand was too big for the pattern because mitten #2 wasn’t big enough either. Just looked tight on my hand, like I was wearing a sock. I wanted it warm! And luxurious looking (=not tight).

Planning #3

Then I unravelled try #2. I knew I liked the new yarn but didn’t want to rearchitect the leaf mitten pattern to make it wider (just adding knit stitches on either side would have changed the proportion too much, and minimized the cable pattern beyond my preference).

I switched to a sock pattern that had given me fits when I tried to reverse it to toe-up (the twisted pattern is charted in such a way I found it mind-bending to do it upside down). Plus, the gauge as written in the pattern did not seem like it would work, I’m extra long and have proportional calves so fixed-stitch sock patterns are unlikely to fit without major swatching and yarn weight changes, beyond my patience at the time since I had a yarn I wanted to use. I hadn’t wanted to let the pattern go, though, so I was happy to make the connection that this pattern could rescue my mitten project.

After a swatch of the twisted stitch pattern in the Bingo, I knew I had to eliminate the 4 stitch pattern on either side of the central twisted stitch motif from the sock pattern. Otherwise my mittens were going to be ridiculously wide.

Knitting #3

I knew I wanted the wrist to be ribby, just like in the Leaf Mittens pattern, so I followed the “set up row” pattern without the twists. In a couple of p4 stretches, I substituted p1-k2-p1 to make it more “ribby.”

I started the thumb after the first 13-stitch repeat of the twisted stitch pattern. I think I should have gone down to a size-2 needle for the first repeat, it’s a little baggy on the knit (palm) side for the first repeat). I ended up with 5 total repeats, including the “top” which is the toe from the pattern. Someone with a smaller hand could probably get away (easily) with 4 repeats. Also, if you don’t start the thumb so late, it could be shorter.

I just wanted it loooong, after enduring too short gloves and mittens and coat sleeves before!

No more drafty forearms.

After the end of the pattern, I knit 2 rows in the round (continuing the central twist of 2 stitches) and then Kitchener stitched it together. It ends a little abruptly, but I prefer that to a pointed top….I might experiment with that if I do that again.