Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Maybe Mittens

It's Halloween, and you know what that means. I'm not talking about candy or costumes. I'm talking about crazy unrealistic Christmas knitting spreadsheets!!!

I know I can't be the only one who breaks out Excel about this time. Somehow, I keep thinking that the key to successful knitting is organizing the list better. I refuse to believe that the number of hours in the day and my ability to knit during them has anything to do with it. 

This year, mittens factor heavily into my scheming. My wife's family only buys gifts for the kids, so there are 8 potential gift recipients. 8 kids, 16 mittens... and they're not even grown up sized hands! I don't know if I'll make it, but I figure that I can mix up the patterns and colors to keep things interesting. It's a good chance to make a dent in my worsted weight leftover stash, too. Mainly, I feel like a kid can get away with a store-bought acrylic hat on a snowy day, if they have to. But how can they even hope to compete in a snowball fight without woolly mittens? 

Iris in mittens I made, 2009-ish.

If you want to join the insanity mittening, let me know! Here are some of my favorites:

1) Honey Mittens You know that super popular Honey Cowl? It's popular for a good reason. These mittens come by their texture a little differently, by way of tiny cables instead of slipped stitches. But the effect is still squishy and delightful. I'm actually making a hybrid of these and Susan B. Anderson's Baby Mitts, just because I can.

2) Cruiser These have an interesting texture, and the design features an afterthought thumb- neato! 

3) Maize Never say no to a free pattern from Tin Can Knits. I like that these are simple without being too plain. 

4) Mister or Missus Mittens I'm a sucker for cabling that grows naturally out of the ribbing. 

5) Stars or Stripes Mittens The kids are too cool for matchy-matchy mittens these days. Go crazy!

6) Houndstooth Mittens Okay, make that nine pairs. Cuz I need these.

7) Octopus Mittens Because it just wouldn't be the holidays without some quirky Japanese mittens... right?

8) Deep Blue Sea: Shark Mittens Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your coat pocket...

9) Soon to Be Lost Toddler Mittens Because... realism.