Finishing Up with the Knifty Knitter

Well, everyone is back to school and work, except me. I don't start back to school until next Monday. So, my plan for today is to finish up some projects I had started or planned to start before Christmas.

These mittens are first on my list. They are for my 8-year-old daughter. I bought the wool before Christmas and thought I would have time to whip them up before the big day. I did manage to get done a pair for my granddaughter (who is 3) in a lovely Shrek-green wool (I was told that was the colour by one of my other kids) with a similar flower.

The mittens were made by modifying the ONE LOOM MITTEN pattern.  Note that the blue loom in the picture is the same size as the Knifty Knitter blue, just a different colour. I was able to start them during the Corner Gas marathon on the Comedy Network this weekend. :)

 Personally, I don't care at all for E-wrapped mittens (knit using the E-wrap stitch) and nearly all the Knifty Knitter mitten patterns use this stitch. The problem with E-wrap is it results in a pretty "holey" mitten in a very loose stitch - too large for most hands. It is rather sloppy. I have made three pair like this and was pretty disappointed. The first pair were for me and they came out so large I had to give them to my husband. They really aren't warm either with the large holes between stitches.

One pattern, Fitted Mittens, makes for a really lovely mitten, however, I found the shaping for the fingers very difficult. The result is very comfortable if you have no problem with the complicated shaping, but on my second mitt I was ready to give up. For my last few pair of mittens, I ended up combining the usual patterns for the Knifty Knitter mitts by knitting in the round, but using the U-stitch, and Flat stitch and Purl for the rib (Frankly, I am too lazy to do the proper Knit stitch - an  upside down Purl). Then using the usual bind off by gathering. It isn't ideal for a mitten - a bit bulky at the top, but it is very easy. Most pattens have the mittens end this way. My modifications result in a tight, even stitch which looks like regular knitting. In the near future I plan to experiment with easier finger shaping and bind off. Perhaps an amalgam of various patterns.

All in all, these mittens take me a couple of evenings. The U-stitch is sufficiently tight as to cause me to slow down a bit or risk a blister.

The ones to the right are the first pair I made in the U-stitch - a pair for me with idiot strings. I would hate to lose them and frankly, I lose things, a lot. My favourite leather gloves were lost somewhere between the Leeky Canoe restaurant and our van out front last year. I knew they were gone but even that short distance I couldn't find them. No amount of crawling under tables would help me.

**Lots of help with loom knitting may be found at http://isela.typepad.com/loomknitting/.