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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Pattern #51 Cabled-Cuff Mittens

Hey Everybody! It is Em!

Today I will be talking about Pattern #51, the Cabled-Cuff Mittens.

Would you like to know a secret... I have been dreading making these mittens.

I'm not a fan of the provisional cast-on. I just really like to avoid crochet. My better half, Brittany, is a crocheting expert. Me? I am lucky if I am able to chain something. I'm just not made to crochet. Trust me.

So because of my fear of crocheting, I have avoided anything that requires a provisional cast on. I'll sit and make excuses, but I will not touch that evil hook!!! Well, my friend Sarah really wants some cabled-cuffed mittens. Since Sarah is such a great person, I decided to cave in and attempt to make these mittens.

To my surprise, the provisional cast on is actually...SIMPLE!!! Once I was able to figure out HOW to make a chain (which took the longest to master because I suck at crocheting) it took no time. All I had to do was pick up stitches from this little chain. My friend Viki showed me a trick on how to pick up stitches. I found it to be a lot easier to do her way because the material was so tiny.

This is how you pick up, Viki's way:

1) Stick your needle into the crochet material
2) Wrap the yarn around
3) Pull it through with your fingers.

Yes, I know, pulling it through with your fingers may seem somewhat amateur to some, but let me tell you...It made a lot more sense to me.

Then comes the grafting. In all honesty, I hate this stitch. My friend Zoe has taught it to me several times and I still epically fail at it. I would YouTube this. You can find a great Kitchner's stitch tutorial if you click here! Also, I really love Debbie Stoller's instructions that you can find in "Stitch n Bitch Superstar Knitting: Go Beyond the Basics." You can purchase it online here.

If you want to avoid the graft, you can do a 3 needle bind off. However, I do not advise using this for mittens. You see, if one does a 3 needle bind off, there will be a nice seam. For example, below is a yellow hat that I made using the 3 needle bind off.

As you can see there is a seam. This seam is a nice one and, because it is a hat, one will not feel that seam. However, when one grafts there is no seam, as seen below:

My ONE complaint about this pattern is the actual mitten is kinda roomy inside. The cuff is nice and tight, but the space between the thumb and the end of the cabled part is a little baggy.

I ended up decreasing by 5 stitches. Even though it didn't seem like a lot (the original pattern calls for 40 stitches) it sure is!