Week Six: Basic Baby Mitts

Scroll to the bottom if you're just here for the pattern.

This week I am re-setting the bar about as low as it can go.

I didn't realize, when I started this thing, that I'd feel so much pressure to always come up with something original and innovative, and to top whatever else I'd done to that point. (Obviously I haven't always topped myself, but I still feel the need to try.) And any rational knitter would follow this line of thought to its natural conclusion, which is that if I really did top myself every week, by Christmas I'd have to be delivering a full set of charted and written instructions for a five-dimensional levitating space blanket in seven sizes. And that way lies madness.

So this week, partly because I was desperate and partly because I wanted to take off some of the pressure, I looked at my list of ideas and picked the easiest, most basic item on it. No matter what, you guys, next week is going to be better than this. (I don't know how effective this will really be for soothing my psyche. I can already hear phantom voices in the aether calling, "Where's my space blanket?".)

But really, there are a lot of reasons to like this project.

1. It uses a little of my neverending stash of rose-colored Dazzleaire.

Oh man. Don't get me wrong, I love this yarn. It's 60% acrylic, 40% nylon, and the nylon gives it this little halo which you don't see a lot in acrylic yarns. And it's soft and squooshy and nice to work with. It's discontinued now. I only have some because when I first started knitting, a lady at our church gave me two garbage bags full of her old yarn, and in them was enough rose-pink Dazzleaire to knit a sweater. I couldn't knit a sweater out of what's left now. I kind of ration it out. But anyway, yay Dazzleaire.

2. It's based on one of the first patterns I ever improvised on my own.

When I wanted to make a pair of armwarmers, I was convinced there had to be some trick to it. I had only just learned how to knit in the round at the time (thank you, knittinghelp.com), and I couldn't find a pattern for the Platonic ideal of a mitt that I was picturing. I understand now why I couldn't find one--it's just too simple--but newbie-knitter me didn't know that, and was pretty thrilled to figure out that knitting a tube with a slit in it would make an armwarmer. Still and all, I figure there are other newbie knitters out there facing the same problem. This pattern is for them.

3. It gives me warm fuzzies.

When I worked in child care, anytime I wore fingerless gloves to work, the toddlers would come up to me and tug them off my arms so they could wear them. I wound up knitting about half a dozen pairs of baby mitts so I could keep my own. The little ones were thrilled.

I decided to knit a pair for my Z, who is not quite toddling yet. I found when I tried to replicate what I'd done all those years ago that the mitts turned out too big for her, so I scaled them down. I may come back and add stitch counts for more sizes another time.

I am not going to be switching this pattern to for-sale like the previous ones from Pattern a Week. Free now, free always.

I'll also be leaving last week's free pattern up for free for now. I'd like to sell it eventually, but not before I take some more pictures and polish it a little.

Fair warning: This pattern has not been test-knitted by anyone other than me.

Basic Baby Mitts



Yarn: You will need approximately 25 yards of an aran-weight yarn for best results. (Pictured: Caron Dazzleaire in 2846 Victorian Rose – aran, 1 skein / 85g / 190 yards, 60% acrylic/40% nylon)

Supplies:

4 US size 5 double-pointed needles
tapestry needle

Gauge: 4 inches = 18 sts / 30 rows in stockinette

Finished Measurements: Length: 3.5". Circumference: 5.25". This is very small. If your baby is 6 months or older, I recommend making the mitts larger. Length may be adjusted by adding as many rows of stockinette as desired. Circumference may be adjusted by adding to the # of cast-on sts in multiples of 4.

CO 24 sts. Join to work in the round, being careful not to twist.

Rounds 1-3: (k2, p2). Repeat to end of round.
Rounds 4-13: Knit.

Turn work. Rows 14-19 will be worked back and forth to form the thumb hole.

Row 14: Slip 1st st with yarn in front (that is, the inside of the mitt). Purl to end.
Row 15: Slip 1st st with yarn in back (still the inside of the mitt). Knit to end.

Rows 16-19: Repeat Rows 14-15 twice.

Now join to continue working in the round.

Rounds 20-21: Knit.
Rounds 22-24: (k2, p2). Repeat to end of round.

BO all sts loosely. Using tapestry needle, weave in all loose ends.

Woe Angst Woe

I have no in-progress knitting pictures to show you today because I SUCK. Instead, enjoy this picture of me and my adorable daughter.



Here my darling Z is modeling a little outfit that was originally sewn by her great-grandma for her grandma (my mother). It's in pristine condition. How's that for workmanship?

My problem is that I totally dropped the ball and did not get the pattern for the baby dress written up and out to testers. If I had, we wouldn't be having this blog post. But as it is, ANYTHING I write from this point will be finished too late to use the Free Pattern Testers group (which requires a deadline a minimum of one week from the day you submit the pattern). So I either have to find some magical elves who will test my (still nonexistent) pattern in, like, TWO DAYS, or release a pattern on Saturday that is potentially full of mistakes, or not release a pattern on Saturday at all.

But lest you think my life is all misery, let me relate this anecdote:

My Fabulous Husband, my darling Z, and I were at the grocery store. Fab Hub dropped a box of graham crackers into the cart, and little me said, "Now we must get frosting!" because when I was a child, frosting and graham crackers went together like PB&J. So we wheeled ourselves over to the frosting aisle, and I picked a jar of rainbow chip.

It turns out that Fab Hub a) does not have the same urgent need to put frosting on his graham crackers as I do, and b) does not even really care for rainbow chip frosting. Which means I get to eat it all myself. A WHOLE JAR. OF RAINBOW CHIP FROSTING. JUST FOR ME.

Sometimes being a grownup is exactly the way you imagined it would be when you were young.

Week Five: Wrist Rattle

This will not go down in my personal history as my most exciting or innovative design. But it might be my daughter's new favorite toy. Good enough for me.



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This pattern is TEMPORARILY available for free as part of the Pattern a Week project.

The Wrist Rattle is a simple toy for a baby. The bells are stitched between two layers of knitted fabric, so there is no choking hazard. The pattern uses a provisional cast on and kitchener stitch (instructions for both are included in the pattern), and is a great way for beginners to master these two techniques.

Yarn: You will need approximately 40 yards of a sock yarn for best results. (Pictured: Jo-Ann Sensations Bamboo & Ewe in Purple – light fingering, 1 skein / 60g / 262 yards, 55% wool/30% nylon/15% rayon from bamboo)

Supplies:

• 6 US size 2 double-pointed needles
  
• 4 ¼-inch jingle bells
  
• tapestry needle
  
• Scrap yarn for provisional cast on
  
• Scrap yarn in a contrasting color (optional; for embroidery)

Gauge: 1 inches = 7 sts / 11 rows in stockinette

Sizing: Maximum wrist circumference: Approximately 5 inches. Circumference may be adjusted by adding or subtracting from the # of sts cast on in multiples of 4.

I've Been Wishing Someone Would Do This For At Least Four Seasons

Project Yarnway.*

To repeat what I already said over there:

OH I AM SO IN.

(If, at any point during this competition, you hear me say that I am not here to make friends, and/or that I really need to step up my game and prove to the judges that I deserve to be here** please a) smack me, and b) take a drink, because that’s how we play it at my house.)

*(Ravelry link; if you're not on Rav, you should be.)

**even though it's non-elimination.

Teaser

I think I've solved the Week Five problem.



See you Saturday.