Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Retrofit knit

Do you remember these mittens from last January?

Well I liked the idea of them well enough but I didn't really wear them too often. So I retro-knit them and now they are great!

Problem #1: Mittens are not supposed to be drafty!
I picked up stitches along the bottom opening and knit about another inch. I sewed the sides of the new flap to the inside. No more drafts, and the opening is still very accessible.

Problem #2: Sock top.
The original mittens had sock type decreases. I'm sure there's some technical knitting name for it, but I don't know what that is. Anyway, I much prefer the new rounded top.

Problem #3: Try to do anything with only your fingers.
I took out the bind off of the thumbs and added about an inch, then ribbing for an inch. Because they are longer than my thumbs they are perfectly warm. But when I need my thumbs, they are super easy to scrunch down or they can be turned down like a cuff for extended periods. Now I can tie skate laces and snap coats without taking off my mittens.
Ok, I'll be honest, I really needed my thumbs for texting and playing on our new iPod!

6 comments:

Nina said...

Yay for retrofit knitting! (and new iPods. ;) )

Julia said...

I love when you can take good knit and make it even better. That's what I did recently with a shrug and now I definitely wear it more. I really like how you extended the knitting over the thumb too. I find it's always short there and it's the first appendage to go numb!

Alexandra said...

Yay! They look great! So cute! Enjoy the iPod but be careful, when I first got mine, I lost lots of knitting time :) Although, I did find a very useful row counter app!

Heather at Mad Rose Creations said...

what a fantastic job on the remodel of the mittens. i love the thumb concept and LOVE the idea of not having to take off the mitts to do those important things like....texting(grin)cheers~

Two Cables and a Frapp said...

Oh nice ! Nothing wrong with improving an already good thing ! I love that color too. -- I'm on the market for an ipod myself.

Nancy said...

I LOVE what you did with the thumbs! Definitely going to make a note of it on my pattern.