Gold!

For those of you who have not yet seen them on Ravelry, here are my finished Ruba'iyat Mittens. Words cannot adequately express how pleased I am with them - mostly because I expected that they'd be an epic fail.

This was not my first experience with stranded knitting but it is the first success. The other 2 items are long standing UFO's and unlikely to ever see the light of day. They are puckered and pathetic. This history of failure is why I chose stranded knitting for my Ravelympic project. It's not a challenge if it's a sure thing.



I used a combination of Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle and KP Essential Kettle Dyed in Soot for these mittens. Not only are these yarns incredibly soft and warm but I think that the subtle variegation in the colors adds a pleasing depth to the pattern.



Of course the yarn is only part of the story and the project would look like total crap if the stitches were puckery. It's a little indulgent but I just have to share these 2 pictures to demonstrate how smooth these stitches are. These have been finished since last Thursday and I still can't believe how even the stitches came out. Inside out or rightside out - they make me smile.



The pattern was really easy to follow and I found it to be a good one for learning stranded knitting. I especially like the way the cuff pattern isn't pefectly centered so it doesn't look all matchy.

There was only one place where I had trouble and that's the thumb. Three times I tried to pick up the stitches so that the palm pattern would continue perfectly and three times I failed. You can't see it most of the time and it's really pretty close but I know the imperfection is there and it's making me a little obsessive about getting it right. I'm wondering if there is a pattern out there where the thumb instructions are written in a foolproof way or at least explained better.



So, what's the takeaway from this experience? I really like stranded knitting. I know myself well enough to know that I'm way too ADD to tackle a sweater and get it finished in a reasonable time frame but there are certainly more mittens, and maybe hats, in my future. A whole mess of KP Palette and the Latvian Mittens book may have arrived on my doorstep I the last week or so. And did I mention that I saw (and fondled) a Starmore hat kit last weekend. To. Die. For!