Instagram has become such a wonderful tool in my life. I can instantly share a picture of something that I am making, and I can get advice from knitters all over the world, helping me to create the best version of my project. Not only can I do that, but I can share pictures of myself and my life, to my friends and family across the world! Even better, though, just by sharing a few pictures, I have been able to make so many new friends around the globe!
One of those friends is Kevin. We became mutual friends on Instagram, and after a little while, he asked me if I wouldn't mind knitting him a pair of mittens in exchange for one of his wonderful paintings. Obviously I said yes!
Now, the funny thing is, I'be never knitted for a bloke before. So, when I logged into Ravelry to find a pattern, I was overwhelmed with the amount of mitten choices I had before me. I already owned a couple of patterns that were unisex, but I wasn't sure what would be deemed too feminine in the eyes of a man (as you can tell, I grew up in a house of all girls, where nothing is too feminine! xD). Fortunately, though, I discovered a pattern called Man Hands by Shireen Nadir. It looked quick, easy, cozy, and more importantly, manly.
Once I had settled on the pattern I had to decide which yarn I wanted to use. I ploughed through my stash, but I couldn't find any Worsted yarn that fitted the bill. So, I had to do a bit of yarn shopping - which is always a chore! ;)
I had recently discovered a new website (to me, anyway...) through Facebook called Love Knitting. Now, I am a Deramores girl, but I do find that they can be quite expensive sometimes (especially their P&P - yikes!), and also their range isn't always as broad as I would like. So, when I found out that Love Knitting was cheaper overall, as well as having an extensive catalogue of yarns, I had to check it out - and boy was that a mistake. Thirty minutes later I had about 5 yarns sitting in my basket waiting to be delivered to my front door. For the actual project, I ended up choosing Wendy Aran with Wool in 475 French Navy, it looked like a nice budget yarn in the manliest colour I could find - dark blue!
The following morning, my squishy parcel arrived. One lovely thing about Love Knitting is that they put your yarn into white draw-string bags, which keeps them clean and looking lovely. I've been keeping the little bags to use as project bags when I'm out and about. But I digress - we were talking about Kevin's mittens, weren't we?
I cast them on the same day, and boy did they work up fast! It used a waffle stitch for the mitten, which I hadn't used for years! It was nice to revisit this stitch, I'd forgotten how easy it was! The pattern itself was incredibly simple, although at first I did think it was going to be too small, but as soon as I tried on, I realised how stretchy it was! My little hands were lost in all that material!
Two days after cast on, I was finished! (I would have been finished sooner but you know me, I get distracted so easily!) I popped them in the post, and Kevin was chuffed with them - yay! I will definitely be keeping this pattern, I can see it becoming very useful in the future (since seeing my Instagram about these mitts, I've had a few requests from my male friends for knitted goodies...). I'll also be keeping an eye on Shireen Nadir's patterns in the future, as Man Hands was such an easy pattern to follow!
One of those friends is Kevin. We became mutual friends on Instagram, and after a little while, he asked me if I wouldn't mind knitting him a pair of mittens in exchange for one of his wonderful paintings. Obviously I said yes!
Now, the funny thing is, I'be never knitted for a bloke before. So, when I logged into Ravelry to find a pattern, I was overwhelmed with the amount of mitten choices I had before me. I already owned a couple of patterns that were unisex, but I wasn't sure what would be deemed too feminine in the eyes of a man (as you can tell, I grew up in a house of all girls, where nothing is too feminine! xD). Fortunately, though, I discovered a pattern called Man Hands by Shireen Nadir. It looked quick, easy, cozy, and more importantly, manly.
Once I had settled on the pattern I had to decide which yarn I wanted to use. I ploughed through my stash, but I couldn't find any Worsted yarn that fitted the bill. So, I had to do a bit of yarn shopping - which is always a chore! ;)
I had recently discovered a new website (to me, anyway...) through Facebook called Love Knitting. Now, I am a Deramores girl, but I do find that they can be quite expensive sometimes (especially their P&P - yikes!), and also their range isn't always as broad as I would like. So, when I found out that Love Knitting was cheaper overall, as well as having an extensive catalogue of yarns, I had to check it out - and boy was that a mistake. Thirty minutes later I had about 5 yarns sitting in my basket waiting to be delivered to my front door. For the actual project, I ended up choosing Wendy Aran with Wool in 475 French Navy, it looked like a nice budget yarn in the manliest colour I could find - dark blue!
The following morning, my squishy parcel arrived. One lovely thing about Love Knitting is that they put your yarn into white draw-string bags, which keeps them clean and looking lovely. I've been keeping the little bags to use as project bags when I'm out and about. But I digress - we were talking about Kevin's mittens, weren't we?
I cast them on the same day, and boy did they work up fast! It used a waffle stitch for the mitten, which I hadn't used for years! It was nice to revisit this stitch, I'd forgotten how easy it was! The pattern itself was incredibly simple, although at first I did think it was going to be too small, but as soon as I tried on, I realised how stretchy it was! My little hands were lost in all that material!
Two days after cast on, I was finished! (I would have been finished sooner but you know me, I get distracted so easily!) I popped them in the post, and Kevin was chuffed with them - yay! I will definitely be keeping this pattern, I can see it becoming very useful in the future (since seeing my Instagram about these mitts, I've had a few requests from my male friends for knitted goodies...). I'll also be keeping an eye on Shireen Nadir's patterns in the future, as Man Hands was such an easy pattern to follow!
While we're on the subject of Instragram, you can find me over there as @roaritscharly, I'd love to get to know you all better - so please leave a little comment on one of my pictures to let me know that you read my blog, and I'll give you a follow! :)
Thanks for indulging me today, I'll be back tomorrow too! Why? I hear you mumble. Well, I am trying to get back into blogging by blogging everyday during March! I'll also be releasing two podcast episodes during the month, as well as churning out a few YouTube videos (if I can find my camera charger, that is!) - so if there's anything you'd like to see in particular (ex. Bringing back the Ravelry tutorial series, or "This Week in Knitting" series), please let me know in the comments below! :D
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