Pattern #59 Hugs and Kisses Mittens - Completed

Hey everybody it is Em (yet again!)

The Xo Xo Mittens...are...DONE!!

Now that they are completed, I am able to give a full review on how I feel about these mittens.  I really enjoyed making them.  This pattern teaches a person about mock cables and doing real cables.   The last time I made these mittens, I ended up making 2 left handed mittens.  However, this time I read the entire directions and made the correct mittens.

The hardest thing I discovered was making the thumbs.  Now I am no stranger to thumb making...but I must tell you, purling a bunch of stitches causes "ladders" in your knitting.  This means that the stitches at the end of your DPNS are not as tight as the other stitches.  This usually happens when one is just starting to use DPNS.  I did it a lot when I started.  The more you get used to the tension, the better your knitting gets.  And the less you see those ladders.  I had a hard time getting rid of my ladder stitches.  I had to pull and pull and pull.  My hands hurt so badly I had to take a break from knitting.

With my other thumb, I decided to turn my work inside out.  That way, I could just knit in the round, verses purling.  As I did this, I discovered I had no ladders running along my thumbs. 

I gave Alyssa her mittens this morning.  She fell in love with them.  That made me happy!  I hope to bump into her wearing them:)

That's all for now!
Em

Pattern #59 Hugs and Kisses Mittens

Hey It's Em!

Brittany and I are ready for summer!

In this photo we are giving each other "the look."  (Em is on the left, Brittany is on the right.) Why? Because neither of us wrote for our blog due to our busy schedules! Actually, today we hung out and enjoyed the sun until a tornado watch came into effect! Then Brittany dropped me off and I started a knitting project.

One of my co-workers, Alyssa really wants XoXo Mittens!  There is something magical about all my co-workers.  They just love knitting! I can't believe it! Last year they discovered if they asked me nicely I would make them something! I ended up making a lot of mittens and other cool stuff for them! (Including a pair of Waffle Mittens for Alyssa!)  Last year I made an XoXo mitten, but because I discovered the game of Cribbage, I did not finish the other one!

 Well, this year is a whole new group of people (except for Alyssa, me and another guy, Jose, all cool pepole!).  My first day, I walk in and I see my new co-workers all ready and excited to get guess what...mittens made by me!  So, I let them pick out what they wanted and they all selected projects from 60 Quick Knits that I need to make yet! How sweet of them!

I casted on Alyssa's mittens tonight and after watching several episodes of SVU, I have half of them done!  Alyssa wanted purple but "not too dark and not too light."  I searched in 4 different yarn shops and found the perfect Galway (sorry Cascade) yarn.  I used color 166.  This photo does not do the color justice... believe me.  It's more purple than this.  The photo makes it look blue.

They are a great simple project to make.  It is easy to see where you need to put the cabled stitches (in terms of putting them in the front or the back) because we all know what an O and an X look like! These mittens have one straight cabled pattern as well as some mock cables.  It is just so cool to see these things work up!

The one downside is, if you are not used to following things written out, you might have some issues.  They write instructions for Rnds 4, 5 and 6 out for the entire round.  Then, for the subsequent rounds they just write: repeat Rnd 4.  Then you have to go back and look up what that round looks like.


That is all for now!

We will be writing more frequently now that school is out for me (and almost out for Brittany!) We are hoping to write once a week...if not more!

Many blessings,
Em & Brittany