Mittens

This mild winter gave us a 50 degree day!! so I was able to pry these mittens off of the kids' hands to take a photo of them. They were so excited when I finished knitting these and love that they have the freedom of their fingers in the cold weather. This project has been on my knitting queue for some time and I'm glad that they were worth the wait! In fact, after making these, I had a request for a pair from the hubs and can't wait to make a pair for myself too. There are great patterns for convertible mittens here, here and here, which helped me figure out how to make them. However, I did use a basic "family mittens" pattern that I usually use to make mittens and figured out that I could sew the "hoods" or tops on to the side of the mitten. Other basic mitten patterns would work just as well. Other free mitten patterns I have used are here and here. I was able to customize the size, which is easy to do with mittens once you've made one or two pairs. I found this easier to do than what some of the other patterns call for, knitting them on the mitten as you make the hood. I found that a bit confusing and found it to be quicker to knit the top separately.  

I used Cascade 220 Quatro, way less than one skein for each pair of mittens, and size 3 US needles. They are a bit big for my three year old, but fit my five year old perfectly.

knitting needle case

I was inspired by this post and beautiful blog which then encouraged my purchase of this set of circular knitting needles from Brilliant Knitting on etsy. I have used them for a couple of projects now, with great results. They are smooth, the grip on the wire is strong and flexible, and they are available at a very reasonable price.  You get 15 needles, size 0 to 15 at a certain length, I got a set of 24 inch needles for just under $25, and am thinking about purchasing the 36 inch set! Really great value!!! I had thought about getting an interchangeable set, but found the reviews for many of them to be less convincing. With so many needles in the set, I wanted to find a way to organize them. There are some beautiful needle cases on etsy and elsewhere online.

With plenty of great ideas and inspiration, here is what I came up with:

There are two rows of seven pockets each.

No longer am I digging through a drawer or bag to find the right needle size!