Before I start that big afghan knitting project, I wanted to knock out some little projects. Last weekend I gave away a pair of fingerless mitts, so I wanted to knit another pair to keep in my little hoard of knitwear.
Fingerless mitts are a great hostess gift, an “Oh, it’s your birthday?” gift, a gift for all occasions. They are useful, without being obtrusive. And nice, but not so nice that the recipient feels burdened or over-balanced in the karmic gift exchange department.
These are Maine Morning Mitts, in a particularly drab (and thus beloved by me) colorway of Noro Kureyon. Except that I made two amendments to the pattern:
1. I used a tubular cast-on. (I have mastered the one from the Grace Lace Beret.)
2. I used a matching tubular cast-off. I literally gasped in surprise when my friend Dorothy used those words: “tubular cast-off.”
Here is the TECHKnitting article on the technique. But I will sum it up the way Dorothy did, which is all I needed to hear: just separate alternate stitches on a pair of needles, then graft them together with Kitchener stitch, same as you would the toe of a sock.
Genius, right? And I love the results!
Um, my birthday is coming up soon. Only [counts on fingers] six months away!
Tubular cast-ons and offs are wonderful. You get a lovely edge that confounds the uninitiated…
And, btw, my birthday is only five months away…
Do the mitts match Cinnamon? You might have to keep them.