Bella's Mittens

See a pattern in my knitting of late? Super quick knits with a Twilight theme.. While the Twilight theme was unintentional, the super quick knits were.  I've been chugging away on projects that take concentration and lots of time to complete (lace projects).  I've also had a bazillion product reviews (mostly on my Momma'Tudes Blog) to get done.  And with everything else that has been crazy in my life, I felt like I lost my knitting-fu.  I mean, what fun is it to blog about knitting if you don't get to knit AND FINISH some projects, right?

So here is my latest knit obsession: Bella's Mittens.  {FREE PATTERN} These were knit in Patons Shetland Chunky (Taupe to match my winter coat).  The pattern was fast, fun, and really pretty east.  INFACT, all of you newbies to cables and increases should cast on this project immediately.  It is actually a terrific teaching pattern.  You knit simple 6 stitch cables, perform M1, M1L,& M1R increases, K2tog, K3tog, ssk, sssk, & p2tog decreases, pick up stitches, and even cast on in the middle of a project.  I realize the pattern author wrote the pattern to resemble the mittens in the Twilight movie, but this is a fabulous teaching project.

I knit mine entirely in magic loop - even the thumb (Which she calls for DPNs.  But given my utter hatred for DPNs, I picked up the thumb stitches and knit them in magic loop as well.).

This is one of the mittens, I still have to knit it's mate.  I would say 5 hours of knitting (conservatively) for this mitten.  I literally knit it most of the day, BUT I had a 4 yo that I was playing with in between and then when my teenager came home, I was the referee.  (Which may explain why my stitches didn't match at the very end of the pattern.  Extreme kid fighting does not mix well with concentrating. But I improvised and it turned out just fine.)

I love that these knit up so quickly. I adore the cable pattern.  Not loving the rib on the underside.  Perhaps it's because I have chunkier arms than the average woman AND I knit it using a cheaper yarn.  I think if I'd used a yarn with a tighter ply, it might look heaps better.  Also, the bottom of the mitten curls a tad.  A quick border or rib before starting the cable pattern would prevent that.

Bella's Mittens