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.
