Knit Along: Winter Wonder Mittens - Day 2

The World Beyond Stripes

I feel so impressed with myself.  These are looking so nice, I want to stop people on the street and shout, “Look at what I made!  Look at me, knitting with a strand in each hand--each hand I tell you!”  Yes, I was a theater major in college, which means by definition I am a shameless attention hog.  Just in case you haven’t yet figured this out.

Mostly, I love the whole new world--intarsia, fair isle, color work, etc--that this new skill opens up.  A world beyond stripes is now my new horizon.  Normally, I would run from curly-cues, but I LOVE these.  The selection of patterned hats and mittens out there is endless--and now I can have at any one I want.  I feel like a kid in a candy store with Daddy’s platinum Visa.

It’s not only the fat selection, it’s my fattened toolbox.  The satisfaction of an important new skill.  And really, while your fingers tangle up at first even if you are a continental knitting veteran, it’s not that hard.  The vital dynamic here is not what you see, but what you don’t.  Success here is all in how you carry the yarn behind the work.  It’s got to be loose enough so that it doesn’t distort the pattern, but not so loose that you’ll snag on loops every time you put your hand into the mitten.  And the little twisty trick to carry yarn behind when you don’t use it for more than five stitches?  The one I learned taking a class at my local yarn shop?  I smirk every time I do it.

If you think this looks beyond your skills, dare yourself to give it a try.  The world needs more satisfied smirks.

Next, we make room for the thumb.