Oh me of little faith . . .

I really didn't think this would work. I was sure I'd be booking passage to the Pacific Northwest and leaving an offering in the woods for Bigfoot. He must have big hands, too? Failing that I envisioned myself hiding these huge, strange, misshapen, blue things deep-deep, having them surface periodically to prove my incompetence before I stuffed them out of sight again.

The euphoria of last night when I finished knitting the second mitt is nothing to how incredibly self-satisfied I am now. The little voice in my head is muttering "Hubris! Hubris!" Not this time. I assume it's storing itself up for later.

This is the result of the first round of felting - which really is shorthand for zip into a pillow protector and put through a hot water wash/cold water rinse. Based on the control there on the left, they were the right length.













And isn't this sad proof of how over-due I am for new oven mitts? Time and past time, indeed.














But my hands seemed to swim in them and the thumbs were too long and too wide. Besides, I wanted them fuzzier. Feltier. Less stitch definition. So back they went for round two.

They shrunk considerably more length-wise than they did width-wise. Considerably more. But they still come down well past my wrist. More importantly, they fit my hand now. Custom oven mitts. Can you stand it? And they're thick. Really thick. As in I no longer fear for the skin on my hands if I try to use them.













Wouldn't these make great Christmas gifts? In red maybe, with a snowflake sort of thing needle-felted on the back? Assuming I manage to conquer needle-felting. Surely, my mother and sister, at least, won't be able to resist?

Yarn and process specifics: Brown Sheep Company Lamb's Pride Bulky in Blue Flannel. Size 11 bamboo DPNs from Crystal Palace. Pattern was a class handout by Knitablilty. Each mitt zipped into a separate pillow protector (I had visions of them felting to each other - Siamese twin oven mitts). Washed with a pair of jeans, in hot water with half a capful of Tide Free. Rinsed in cold water. Repeated and left to air dry/block. Note that the pillow protector bit really is necessary. There was a lot of blue fuzz left inside.