Monday, November 19, 2007

Warm Hands Holiday


I've been knitting fingerless mittens all year for all of the *girls* on my Christmas list, making them from whatever leftover yarn I have around, and tossing them in a sack. I also bought a bunch of those commercial stretchy gloves back in January (when they were 25 cents a pair). This weekend I dug the gloves and mitts out and matched them together, and counted how many I had. Lo and behold- I had enough for everyone on my list (who isn't getting socks). I wear fingerless mittens alone at my computer in the early morning or late night when it's cool in the house, but I wear them with gloves for driving and outside stuff.


Some of these have to be mailed, so I should dig out the wrapping paper and get busy.
Most of the above were knit with leftover sock yarns (fingering weight, superwash for the most part), but some were knit from worsted weight wool. The Pumpkin Mitts and the Yellow Lace ones were Freebie Friday patterns- still posted. The Watermelon mitts were knit from handspun yarn, and the blue/orange Fair Isle mitts are also handspun (from Carole Rasmussen Noble's Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves book).

8 comments:

DragonsChest said...

What a great idea, to team your wonderful handknits with the commercial gloves. I may have to "borrow" that idea. LOL

Lovely display, such pretty work!

Kathleen Taylor said...

Be my guest! Fingerless mittens are such fun to knit- so quick, and such a great way to use up odds and ends. But not everyone wears them, so it helps to tempt them with *regular* gloves underneath. By the time they wear the mittens that way a few times, they're hooked on the warmth and comfort. Sneaky, eh?

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a great idea, indeed, those gloves with the mitts. I'm not borrowing it, I'm gonna use it. Thank you!

Knit'inCrazee.... said...

How do we finds these Friday freebie patterns? I am not very computer savvy...

Thanks and I LOVE your work!

Yankee Girl ~ Missy said...

Wow,I love your work! Beautiful!!! I found your blog threw Ravelry! I am Missyknits!!! Nice to meet you!

Kathleen Taylor said...

knit'incrazee- the Freebie Friday patterns are posted right here on my blog. I try to upload a new original pattern every Friday (I can keep that up until I get a new book contract). You can scroll through the archives for the patterns, or do a blog search with the word *freebie*- that'll bring them all up. I hope you enjoy them.

yvonnep and missy: thanks!

Diana Troldahl said...

Very cool (warm?) idea. I've always feared something like that wouldn't fit the recipient. Does the stockinette stretch enough? Do you tend to make them a certain size that fits most everyone?

Kathleen Taylor said...

diana, the stockinette stretches pretty well, though I know that these will fit the recipients because most of them are adults with hand about the same size as mine. If they fit me, they'll fit them. For the younger girls, I made slightly smaller versions. If anything, these might be a little loose for them, but the gloves underneath take up a lot of slack (and the girls will grow).

But there is quite a bit of ease/stretch in both the gloves and the fingerless mittens, so one size does fit most.