Toddler Mittens: Go Tigers!

 October 23, 2016

Good afternoon, everyone! Mark's been asking me, "Where Marky mittens?" So sweet - he just loves yarn and mittens. Can you tell he's my son! Last night I whipped up these mittens, based on Elizabeth Durant's excellent free pattern. I was originally going to make plain orange colored mittens for fall, but I thought he might only be able to wear plain orange mittens through Thanksgiving. So, I gave this some Clemson flair. I figured this way Mark can wear them beyond Thanksgiving. Go Tigers!

 

Want to make some of your own? I wrote up some project notes below!

Project Notes

Overall, this was a great pattern. Easy to knit up - it took me one evening. I think this is the first time I've ever finished a project in one night - so very exciting! By the way - I've been listening to Staci Perry's knitting podcasts. I listened to one podcast where she talked about the difference between process and project knitters. Process knitters focus on the process of knitting, and that's the part they enjoy. Project knitters enjoy the outcomes of knitting - and they focus on the number of projects they finish. I am definitely a project knitter. I love having finished items - hence why I'm so excited these mittens took me one evening! So interesting. Anyhow, here are my notes:

• Materials. I used Wool of the Andes in Worsted by Knitpicks in Orange and White. I think this was a good yarn for the project. I also used size 6 needles.
• Pattern modifications. In the future I might skip the k2tog when you pick up the thumb stitches again - those stitches made some gaps for me in the join. To do that, I would only pick up two stitches when I pick up the stitches for the thumbs.
• Small pattern for the stripes. For the stripe pattern, I did:
• Row 1 - Knit all in white.
• Row 2 - Alternate knit stitches in white and orange.
• Row 3 - Knit all in orange.
• Row 4 - Alternate knit stitches in white and orange.
• Row 5 - Knit all in white.
• Fit. They came out a little big for Mark (he wears a 3T now, and I knit the 2 - 4 year old size). I'm going to try to felt them to make them a little warmer and get the fit a little closer to his size.
• Newbie mistakes. Gah! I still struggle with jogs. Here is a close-up of the first mitten, where I completely forget to think about jogs. By the time I realized, I didn't feel like ripping up and starting over. Can you tell why I think I'm a project knitter? At the time, I figured I'd fix the jog issues on the next mitten.

 

Except here is the second mitten - I thought I could fix the job by slipping the first stitch in Row 1 of the white stitches. This was only mildly successful. I need to read up on this problem to fix it in the future!

 

Happy crafting, everyone! If you're looking for more baby/toddler items, I have some recent posts on toddler kitten mittens, a baby snowflake hat, and a toddler Christmas sweater.  If you want to see more of my current projects, you can find me on instagram (SaltyCrafter) and on ravelry (bsl19).

~SaltyCrafts