Bring on the cold

In 2006 I made 2 pairs of mittens using the Elegant Eskimo Felted Mittens (pdf) pattern and I donated them to Dulaan but I coveted them something fierce. Yes, they were bright and maybe a tad but tacky but I just loved the furry cuffs and the whole mitten thing. I felt sure that with the right choice of materials, they could be more funky and less tacky.

Now, at long last, I have a pair of my very own and they are fabulous.

Don't you love the fluffiness of the cuffs?

The fur is Liberty by KFI and I have no idea where I got it although I suspect it was a sale at AC Moore or on Elann. That's how I got most of the novelty stuff in my stash. The brown yarn is KP Wool of the Andes in chocolate. I started these mittens in January and ran out of yarn so I had to wait for one more ball to arrive. When it did it was the wrong dye lot but, as it turns out, it matches perfectly. I dare yo to find the spot where one ended and the other began. I have no idea where it is anymore.


They even look great in the bright light.

The pattern may be called elegant Eskimo but, to me, these are Troll Mitts. I wore them the other day for the first time and I kept shaking my wrists to fluff up the cuffs. It's just like those little dolls where you would smooth out the hair and then shake them to make it wild again.

The pattern is a good one and it works very well but I think that it woould make me even happier if the wrists tapered a bit more from the thumb. I also think that the thumb is a little too shallow as written. I added a bit but I could've added even more.

I love these mittens very, very much. I'm not sure that the people behind me at the stop light the other night would appreciate them. I was so busy shaking them to fluff up the cuffs and just reveling in the funkiness that it took me a minute or 2 to notice that the light had turned green. Oooops! I think I can be forgiven though because the weather here hasn't provided too many opportunities for mitten wearing. Today it's not going to get above freezing so I'll wear my mittens with pride.