Knitting and Crocheting Journal #3: Elegant Forest Mittens

While decluttering my closet, I came across a box of knits I thought I had lost over seven years ago. One of them was an unfinished pair of mittens.

I vaguely remember making these, and I was both excited and flabbergasted when I found that I was nearly done with the second pair. Why did I wait so long to finish these when I just had a flap left? So, I warmed up my double pointed needles and decided to finish the project.

I haven’t seen these mittens in seven or more years…

Since I hadn’t seen these mittens in…. years, the finished mittens aren’t exactly symmetrical. I made this pair out of my head and misplaced my original notes, so I had to improvise how to finish the piece. One of the mitten flaps isn’t as rounded as I would have liked because I decreased differently on one mitten, but fortunately this detail is barely noticeable.

And… I’m WAY too lazy to fix them even though I can.

Who needs perfection anyway?

How the mittens are constructed

The mittens are knit with a combination of ribbed stitching for the cuffs, stockinette stitch for the palms, seed stitch for the top, and garter stitch and stockinette stitch for the flaps.

To secure the flap, I sewed these beautiful copper and black variegated metal buttons onto the cuffs. They are from the Etsy shop Lyanwood. I don’t think I could have chosen a better button. The forest green wool goes beautifully with the metal flower motif.

What I learned…

This revived project taught me a few things:

Finnish what you start – really me? SEVEN YEARS? I am working on it, but unless the mistake is so unredeemable that it’s necessary to start over, I will work harder to actually finish what I start. I have this issue of working on too many projects at the same time (like, right now I have seven projects in the making; before, it was twelve). When I leave a project for too long, it ends up on the backburner for YEARS until my brain literally forgets it existed.
It’s okay to live with imperfection – For a few days, it bothered me that the decreases are asymmetrical on the mitten flaps. However, I am slowly accepting the reality of handmade items: they aren’t entirely perfect. However, most would never know on the outside!
Take mistakes as learning opportunities and document them – Because I lost my original design, I had trouble matching my mittens. Next time, I will document not just what I do right, but what I do incorrectly so that I don’t repeat the same mistakes.

The final verdict

I give these Elegant Forest Mittens a 9/10.

They lost a point for being asymmetrical. But, this is easily overlooked. I am a huge fan of texture in knitting, so these mittens are super attractive to me due to the combination of stitches used.

The buttons also couldn’t be more perfect for the project. Originally, I planned to use them for a shirt, but they are way better suited for these mittens.

Also, I can’t express how delighted I am at the color. The more items I make in green, the more I realize how much of it should really be in my wardrobe.