Great pattern, but as usual, I made a few changes.

What I did differently:

• I did a provisional cast-on, knitting 5 extra rounds before starting the palm section of the pattern. I knitted the cuff last, starting from the provisional cast-on, and joining the lining with the outer mitten at the wristline. To join the two mitten layers, I put wrong sides together, and knit one final round of stockinette at the base (sort of like a 3-needle bind-off, but without binding off). Cuff has 15 rounds of 1x1 ribbing before casting off with Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off. Ribbed wrist bands were knitted using only the Fiesta yarn with size 6 (US) needles.

• Although the instructions are very good, I found the thumb gusset instructions to be a bit ambiguous. I’m sure I picked up my stitches somewhat differently. The important thing is to end each round with the stated number of stitches, and to make sure that there are no holes where you start knitting the thumb. I picked up 6 extra stitches instead of 2, knitting the gusset stitches together as the designer implies.

• I started the decreases at top of mittens about an inch below the tip of the middle finger. Also, I only did ONE round of knit stitches between each decrease round rather than the TWO stated in the pattern. This results in a rounded top to the mittens rather than a more pointy top. Following the instructions in the pattern will result in an additional 1.75 inches to the top of the mitten from the point where you start decreasing (aran yarn, size 8 needles), so plan accordingly. The designer is allowing extra length to allow for shrinkage in the washer and dryer.

• On the top of each hand, I made a design with 3 stacked hearts using purl stitches. My chart at left is tweaked a bit, since I’ll make some minor improvements on my next pair. My aunt is blind, so I knitted little “braille hearts”. She can feel the little purl bumps.

• I used size 8 needles for the outer mittens, size 7 needles for the Bunny Soft lining, and size 6 needles for the cuff ribbing. Lining is lightly tacked at tip of thumb and top of mittens with sewing thread. The mittens are reversible, but the only practical way to wear these is with the Bunny Soft yarn next to your skin. Heaven!

Note:

When knitting the LINING for the RIGHT mitten, use the LEFT mitten instructions. When knitting the LINING for the LEFT mitten, use the RIGHT mitten instructions. Even though it won’t feel any different on the inside, a stockinette lining looks better, in my opinion.

Although the Bunny Soft yarn band says “Hand Wash, Lay Flat to Dry”, I believe that these mittens would do just fine in the washer and dryer. Bunny Soft is 100% nylon, and would be protected inside the mittens during machine washing and drying. The Fiesta yarn is machine washable and dryable. I made the mittens slightly large to allow for a bit of shrinkage.

Toasty warm, and oh so soft! LOVE them.

BTW, these would make excellent oven mitts if you use all cotton yarn. Very thick with the lining inside.