Joe's Fingerless Mitts

There were no posts last week as Alexis came and stayed the week with Joe and I. We did fun stuff all week - she made a scrapbook of her new baby brother, Jayden, for her Mom. We had t-shirts to embellish but didn't get around to those. She started a sock in Trekking that stripes like Lifesavers. Taking a few notes, she hopes to be able to work on it at home.

For those of you who have asked, the house in Houston is coming along great. We have listed our house here with a realtor and now have people coming and going regularly. We should be moving about the end of August; so I have started boxing things up. I have not boxed anything knitting/yarn, patterns, nor needles. I picture myself opening and retaping boxes over and over and over having tiny transient panic attacks. I have left my yarn room alone for now thinking I need to decide what I am going to want at hand before boxing anything at all.

Susan from Crystal Palace Yarns has asked me to do another design for them in undyed Panda Silk. I picture a neutral color, great for Summer, and have a design in mind. Until the Panda Silk arrives, I am knitting Joe a pair of fingertipless fliptop mitts from Never Knit Your Man a Sweater in Buffalo Yarn from American Buffalo in bison color 2 ply (sock weight). It knits up, for me, perfect gauge for this pattern. It is a wonderful exotic yarn to knit with. Living in the Deep South, he may not have many chances to wear these but when cold weather does come; he will be prepared! I am sure a hat to match will follow.

Below, is the first mitt with completed flip top. After Joe tried on the first mitt, I had to tink it back a bit. The glove was too short. I should have known better; he has a long hands to match his long feet! I increased the length of the cuff by one inch and then had to increase the palm length by one inch also. I will be sure and measure the length of the fingers. I started the second mitt to take to Knit Night Out as this one was not in a spot that I could easily talk and knit at the same time. So, I have two mitts in progress.

This pic shows the completed flip top that decreases like a sock's toe, the thumb gusset and the area where I have picked up stitches on the purl side to knit the fingertipless fingers.

Hmmm........... I am not satisfied with the way the picked up stitches look on the public side. Picking up stitches on the purl side isn't as easy as I thought. I am going to tink back and do this again. Maybe working a bit more loose will make it look better.