Mitten Distractions

I've been a bit distracted by some necessary destruction to keep our house steadily heated through the winter...

...so the blog posts have fallen a bit behind.  But of course I've still been knitting and I started yet another project.

Fiddlehead Mitten #1

Fun and colorful mittens from the kit I purchased at Stitches Midwest 2010.

I got to work my first i-cord cast on and I'm pretty sure I'm going to find a way to use it again in future projects.  It's slow, but it makes a very neat edge.

i-cord cast on edge

And they're stranded, so I've been practicing my 2-handed knitting again with the background color in my right hand and the pattern colors in my left.  I still haven't mastered the tension in my left hand, so I've been using an inexpensive Knitting Thimble to help me along.  Instead of using it to separate multiple colors, I run the single yarn through both guides to help keep it from slipping too loosely on the left side.  It might be an odd way to do it, but it's really helped me keep the yarn in my left hand without constantly fiddling and trying to find a good way to hold it.

Inside out

I haven't quite finished the outside of mitten #2 yet (they're lined with another smaller mitten inside) so they haven't been blocked.  My stitches aren't as even as they should be, but I'm working on it and hopefully a nice soak and block will loosen them up and even them out enough.

I'm hoping to finish up the outside of mitten #2 in the next night or so.  With the Holidays and the end of the year looming these will probably have to be set aside for a bit to make time for deadline knitting soon.