Is it really almost Christmas?

I spent the morning knitting, and will be spending the afternoon sewing, in an attempt to get homemade Christmas gifts done by Christmas.  There's a first time for everything, right?

Here is how the conversation in my head has been going (and yes, I do talk in my head while I'm home alone, knitting and sewing.  The cats got tired of me talking to them):
"Wow, there isn't any snow, I have lots of time to get these gifts done!  I am so ahead of schedule!"
Pause to pat self on back and slow down a little on the knitting.
Glance to the right, where there is a chalkboard reading, "11 days until Christmas!"
"GAH!" knitknitknitknitknitknitknitknitknitknit
"Wow, the sun is out!"
Slow down on knitting.
Look at chalkboard again.
"ARGH!" knitknitknitknitknitknitknit
Repeat.

This has been going on for about 5 hours now, no exaggeration.  I told someone last week that I thought I was going to get everything done for Christmas before Christmas actually got here, and now that statement is coming back to haunt me.  But really, it's December, and there is little to no snow, and it's 50 degrees outside, in northern Maine.  Can you blame me for thinking I'm way ahead of Christmas this year?

Fiddlehead Mittens

Hi everyone!  Remember when I told you all about those Fiddlehead mittens I was making for Chelsea?  Well, they are done! 

These mittens turned out SO SO great, in spite of all of my craziness.

First of all, the pattern is way terrific, and definitely worth the $5.95 I paid for it.  If you are interested in the pattern (which you should be after reading my post!), you can find it here.  I have never, that I can remember, knit a pattern without changing it at least a little bit, and this pattern I knit just as the designer said.  I did make one modification, but I regretted that afterward (and you'll read about it below).  First reason why I like them: these mittens have a gusset thumb.  Many of the colorwork mittens I've seen have afterthought or peasant thumbs, which is pretty much leaving a slit in the palm, then when you're done knitting the mitten you go back, pick up the stitches above and below the slit, and then knit your thumb from there.  It ends up being quite a bit more flat, and I'll admit it does look better on colorwork mittens, but it looks uncomfortable to me.  That is possibly because I have big thumb joints, however.  So anyway, I prefer the gusset thumb, which gives lots of room for my joints.  Another nice thing about this pattern is that the designer has so many tips and tricks and really explains everything in the pattern.  There were five pages of instructions, I think.  It's also one of the most popular patterns on Ravelry, so you can find lots of great tips there.

This pattern also included a chart for the mittens, which was really easy to follow, and told you where to put what colors.  I know that one would normally expect a chart of such caliber in a pattern for mittens like these, but I was really excited about having a good looking and easy to read chart.  You can do it with five contrast colors and one background color, or I did mine with one contrast and one background.  This pattern also involves picking up stitches and knitting a liner out of some fuzzy wuzzy yarn that will feel great on your hands after you're done the outer mitten.  More on why I didn't do that later.  So in short, I guess what I'm telling you is that if you haven't already gotten this pattern, do it.  It wouldn't be too hard for a beginner type knitter.  I wouldn't make it your first project, for sure, but that's mostly because of the thumb gusset, rather than the colorwork.  Knitting designs in colors is way easier than it looks, so I would encourage any and all of you to try it!  The thing to keep in mind while knitting with multiple colors is to not make the yarn that you are carrying in back of the yarn you are actually using at the time too tight.  That is a common problem with colorwork.

So now I'll tell you what I did with these mittens!  I used Plymouth Galway Worsted yarn, which is one of my favorites for 100% wool.  I was going for the small size, but when I did my gauge swatch I used a size 7 needle rather than the required size 3 needle, and I got the correct gauge (so I thought!), so I went up four sizes.  That's pretty normal for me, so I wasn't worried about that.  I did the cast on specified in the pattern, which took a long time but was worth it because it came out great.  I then followed the chart exactly for both mittens.  These went quickly, because I was so excited to see the next row of the pattern that I didn't want to stop.  I actually swapped the colors for the second mitten, which you can tell if you look closely: I used the pink for contrast color in one mitten, and blue for the main color, and vice versa for the other mitten.  So I got to the top of the first mitten, knit the second mitten, and then knit the thumbs.  Here's where my modification came in; I left out three rows of the thumb, because Chelsea has short thumbs and I was worried about it being too long.  So once I finished the thumbs of both mittens, I was WAY excited because they were so beautiful!  They did look slightly huge, but I wasn't worried because I was knitting the liner that would fit her hand perfectly.  I was a little depressed about having to go and knit two more mittens for liners, but that would just make them all the better, so I set them aside and did some other knitting first, since these were for Christmas and I was way ahead of schedule.  We had picked out Plymouth Mulberry Merino for the liner, which is a blend of silk and merino wool.  Merino is supposed to be the softest sheep wool around, and so far I believe it.  This yarn is silky soft and smooth, although it did tend to stick to itself while I was winding it.  Maybe that's normal for silk?  Anyway, so I decided for fun I would measure my gauge again on the finished product.  Turns out I got the gauge for the largest size, rather than the smaller.  So I thought, no big deal, they're 100% wool, I'll just felt them down a little bit to make them the right size, and then I'll knit the liner.  I had never actually felted anything before, but I thought how hard can it be?  I just toss them in the wash with hot water and bam!  Smaller mittens!  First I thought I should try handfelting, since I didn't want them to turn into baby mittens, so I filled up my dishbasin with hot water and a smidge of detergent.  I dunked the mittens in, and they got LARGER.  I rubbed them and agitated them, and they got larger still.  At this point I was panicking a little bit, and I had to make supper, so I threw them in the washing machine with two pairs of jeans with the idea to check them every 5 or 10 minutes.  I did that, and every 5 minutes that I checked them, they kept getting larger.  I put them through two full cycles, and they were not getting any smaller.  Then I pulled up a felting tutorial online, which said first of all that it's normal for the knits to get larger first (PHEW!) and to put the knitted items in a pillowcase.  I had read this elsewhere but thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference.  However, I tried it.  I threw the mittens in a pillowcase, and put a rubber band around the top so they wouldn't come out.  I left the two pairs of jeans in the washer, and started the cycle.  I then got involved with making supper and possibly watching tv, and forgot about the mittens, so neglected to check them at all during the cycle.  Once the washer was done, I pulled the mittens out of the pillowcase, and they had shrunk about 4 inches in length.  AH!  I took a deep breath, and pulled them on my hands.  Wet felted stuff doesn't really feel good on, and it smells really bad.  But I held my breath and tried them on, and they fit PERFECTLY.  I was so elated!  Although, since I had made the thumb a little shorter before I knew I was going to felt them, the thumb could have been longer.  So that's the one modification I made to this pattern, and I should have just let it alone.  So as I was dancing around my kitchen in wet, smelly mittens that were gorgeous and the perfect fit, I thought, "Gasp! There is now no room for that fuzzy liner!"  They fit so perfectly that introducing a liner would have made them way too tight.  I felt a little bad for Chelsea about that, but then I felt better because it meant instead of being 50% done the mittens, I was 100% done the mittens!  I then wrapped them up and gave them to Chelsea (as a general rule, I give Christmas presents when they're done, rather than at Christmas.  This is because they're usually finished after Christmas).  She had picked them out herself anyway, so there wasn't any surprise.  They fit her perfectly too!  She was very excited, and I hear has been wearing them around everywhere, trying to make other people excited about them too.  She's a good friend, and a great knitting model.  So Chelsea's mittens are done, and the liner yarn has been repurposed for a scarf for my sister, which might be done for Christmas but I haven't even started it yet so maybe not.  I remember one Christmas, I was knitting a scarf for my now husband, but then boyfriend, and I needed another skein.  I was going to his family's house Christmas night, and I recall wondering if Wal-Mart was open on Christmas so I could get another skein and knit all day to finish the scarf for Christmas night.  I was pretty young, and also obviously delusional.  But, nothing has changed except my age. :) 

So that was a super long post about one pair of mittens, sorry about that!  I've been knitting lots of other things too, and I'll share them soon, once I have pictures.  I'm feeling pretty good about my Christmas knitting and sewing deadlines, which means that karma is probably going to kick me in the teeth pretty soon.  Good thing I don't believe in karma.  Good luck with your crafting!