Doing two at a time with magic loop. Great instructions on how to start (which always baffles me) here: two at a time cast on instructions. I like that I don’t have to watch a movie with that set of instructions. There are pictures that make it so you don’t even have to read the instructions.

I put markers every 5 stitches and accentuated every fifth vertical line on the chart to make it easier to follow the chart.

I am only doing the flower, not the pattern on the palm or thumb. I think simpler will be better. My friend Cynthiaknitone pointed out to me, just as I was finishing the mittens (without the lining) that if I had done a pattern on the palm side, I would have been able to keep the floats small. Without a pattern on the palm, I have long floats because I couldn’t even catch the floats because of knitting in the round.

I did a provisional cast on and then did a picot edge. I’m not sure which is worse, picking up regularly cast-on stitches or trying to pick up the provisionally cast-on stitches. I meant to have a dp needle to pick the stitches up with but I was at knit night with no dp needle and very little light. Made for a challenge!

I made flat thumbs, 14 stitches wide, starting by knitting the waste yarn to make the base opening at row 44, one stitch in from the edge. I am following the instructions for doing this from the “Snowflakes in Starry Skies Mittens” pattern, picking up stitches on the side to make each thumb 17 sts wide.

I had knitted up to row 96, with the mittens being at 100 stitches. I put the thumb stitches on needles so I could try on the mittens to see whether the mittens were long enough. An additional inch and a half was needed, requiring about 20 more rows, where only 6 were indicated by the pattern. The pattern has 4 stitches decreased, 2 on each side of the mitten, every row for 6 more rows.

To get the extra length, I decreased every other row over 10 rows, decreasing 10 stitches from 25 to 15 stitches. Then decreased every row over 2 rows, decreasing 4 stitches from 15 to stitches to 11. These counts are for each side of the mitten.

I decreased with ssk on the right of each mitten side, k2tog on the right sides.

I used 52 grams of red for the outside layer of the mittens (not the lining).

You can see my Christmas 2020 present of a chain row counter from Twice Sheared Sheep. It’s a fantastic tool.

I will line the mittens with the red to make them warmer. I ribbed the bottom of the lining to make the mittens cling to the wrist better, but because I stretched it to sew it to the outer mitten, it doesn’t really hug much.

Finished just in time for Pam’s birthday!!!