1/2 FO: Bird In Hand mitt

As soon as I saw the Bird In Hand pattern, I knew I had to knit it. I had some red Briggs and Little yarn on hand that Sherrie picked up for $3.99/skein, which fits perfectly into Project Spectrum's fire theme. I've never tried colourwork before, but it was one of my goals for 2008. I'm happy to say I can cross that goal off my list!


I had visions of taking a photo like this, but torrential rains melted away all the snow yesterday, leaving only this tiny patch of dirty snow on our lawn. Sigh.


And, of course, here's the birdie!


You'll note there's only one mitten. Yeah. I will knit the second one soon, but I need a little break first. I'm sorry to say, this was not a fun knit. I used worsted weight yarn (as per the pattern) with 3.25 mm dpns and got gauge, but the fabric is so tight and was really hard on my fingers. The braid was a huge challenge for me. It took me an hour to work each braid. Maybe I'm slow, I dunno, but I found those three braids really friggin' tedious (they look great, though!). Also (this is my last complaint, I promise), the mitten was so lumpy, bumpy and ugly after I finished it, I almost frogged the whole thing but I decided to try blocking it before giving up entirely -- I'm glad I did! A very rigorous block was just the trick and I'm happy with the way it looks now.

But I'm still not ready to knit the second mitten yet.

Oh! and Happy Valentine's Day!