Knit Wit

Today is a day dedicated to my 18th century fingerless mitts.

I learned to knit in September. So far I've made 3 bias knit washcloths and 1 flat knit fingerless glove. This is a huge undertaking for someone with as little knitting experience as I have but I have always been a fast learner, more prone to jumping off the deep end than wading in slowly.

I've gotten to the point where I have to knit in a scrap of yarn for the thumb hole and to be honest, I'm a little nervous.

However, I came up with a genius idea. Why am I knitting 1 mitt at a time? That's what I did with the flat knit gloves that I've never finished. By the time I got to the end of the first one, I couldn't remember what I'd done in order to duplicate it. So today I am going to start on the second mitt, knit it to the same point that the first mitt is and finish them together. That way, I won't have to remember how to do the thumb opening, I won't have to wonder what cast off method I used at the palm, and most importantly, I'll have two finished mitts instead of just one (which does make a great oven/fire cooking mitt incidentally).

For those interested in the particulars: Knitted in the round on size 5 needles with worsted weight Patons wool in some shade of green that I liked. Most of the instructions (which I'm only half following) is from Interweave Press' Progressive Gloves pattern. While this isn't exactly an 18th century pattern, it was a good, free compromise for someone with less than 6 months of knitting under their belt.