Pattern: NHM #7 from Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition by Terri Shea
Yarn: Rowan Classic Cashsoft 4ply, about three-quarters of 1 x 50g in Cream and about half of 1 x 50g in Black.
Needles: 2.5mm Addi metal dpns

Note for those of you in the UK: I bought my copy of Selbuvotter from KCG Trading. Buying from them means you’re helping support the Knitting and Crochet Guild and their work in promoting and raising awareness of knitting and crochet in the UK and are generally being a nice person, plus with the exchange rate being screwy at the moment, it works out cheaper than ordering from the US so you can be smug about it as well.

Hurrah for my first mittens! There are so many things I have never knitted, so I’m pleased that I can finally cross mittens off the list.

The whole Selbuvotter book is brilliant that it was hard to pick just one pattern, but these were the ones I loved best when I first got the book. They won’t be my last, either. I need a lot more picking-up-of-thumb-stitches practice, after all.

I love the way the thumb gusset grows from a series of backward loop stitches cast on as you work the bottom half of the mitt. It gave me a strange amount of pleasure to make the little loops and see the palm get wider.

Picking up stitches for the second mitt ended up slightly better, but I still couldn’t get the pattern aligned. I also buggered up the stitch pattern a bit, but can live with it. The second mitt also ended up being smaller than the first. I’d always read that once you relax with your knitting, it gets looser, so why that should be, I don’t know. But the size difference is not enough to be noticeable til you put them on and who else will be wearing them except me? *guards mittens from lurking mitten thieves*

I’ll be magic looping my next pair for certain. I wanted to follow the pattern as given to start with because I am a coward, but I magic looped the thumb on the second mitt and it was so much easier than wrestling with three needles each with a tiny number of stitches.

I suspect my yarn choice probably won’t be as hard-wearing as, say, a Shetland yarn, but the mitts are so soft that I don’t mind in the slightest. It feels virtuous to have used stash for once instead of deciding that nothing I have will do. I have issues about using stash for gifts, but that’s another long and rambling post, I think.

And a final self-indulgent photo of the inside of the mittens, because I love how the pattern looks in reverse:

For the record, I think the next pair I make will be either NHM #9 (Ravelry link) or NHM #3. Ruth started these recently and hers made me want some as well! They can be my reward for finishing at least one pair of Christmas socks for MrB!