Pattern: Toasty by Leslie Friend

Yarn: My own handspun, 3-ply merino  (used to be this 4 oz. bunch of Laura Ingalls Wilder from Sheepish Creations )

Needles: US 4 DPNs

Began: October 15th, 2009; Completed: The same day! (Raveled here.)

Notes: My garter stitch mitts get a lot of use.  I love to wear them in the fall when driving to protect me from the cold, morning steering wheel, and then they keep my fingers toasty in chilly classrooms all fall and winter long (aka most of the school year here in SWMI).  The Kureyon I used is starting to felt from so much wear, however, and I’ve been craving another pair.

Then I saw Lisa’s and Amy’s gorgeous, handspun toasties and I was sold.  So I took my bright, soft fiber, spun it into my first ever 3-ply, washed it and cast on as soon as it was dry.  This was quite a process; the colors were very bright, and so I thought the 3-ply would help break that up as well as make the merino a bit sturdier.  I then used my trusty kitchen scale to divvy the hank equally into two 60 gram balls, wound them up, and cast on.  I was home sick on Thursday and, after two movies (My Cousin Vinny and Aliens, if you’re curious), I was done.

My only mods were to add length to the mitt cuffs.  I wanted them longer because I wear a lot of 3/4 sleeve shirts and could use the warmth and, more importantly, wanted to use every bit of my soft yarn.  I did some math and it worked!  I added 1.5 inches in length to the cuff, resulting in a 12.5 overall mitt length, and ended up with only a few yards of yarn leftover.

The pattern is simple and is a great way to show off some lovely yarn in a small quantity, and is also a great project to break the knitting doldrums.  There has been a LOT of garter stitch and stockinette going on here lately, and these mitts were great instant knitting gratification.  I think they will get lots of use, and will definitely brighten up my somewhat dreary winter wardrobe (I call them “my little toasty” because the colors remind me of My Little Pony.  I’m okay with that.).  The yarn is uneven in many places, but for my first time spinning merino (which was TOUGH at first) and my first 3-ply, I think it turned out quite well.