Christy originally asked for a soft yellow scarf and I had some lovely wool that was exactly the right colour. I think it originally came from Pat’s Mum.

The scarf pattern used a condo stitch so it knit up very quickly. The condo stitch is basically a garter stitch (knit every row), but every second row is knit on a much larger needle. That’s what gives it the lacy look.

When she added mittens to the order I had to change the wool. Thankfully in my bins I had some perfect mitt wool in a shade of yellow. The mitts were knit on two needles as I was having problems with my usual four-needle pattern.

It took  several tries to get the sizing right on these mitts. I’ve made a lot of mitts in my time, and when I started getting materials out for the project I remembered that I used my set of four yellow needles. Kathryn had asked for gray mittens so I pulled out the only gray wool I had. After following the pattern for several inches I knew that the size was too small.

I went back to my bins to find some heavier wool (even though it wasn’t exactly gray) and started over with the same pattern. Again, after several inches, I knew I didn’t have it right  and I gave up on the project. In the meantime I made a pair of mitts for Christy using a two-needle approach.

Not wanting to give up I went back to my bins and found a different set of four yellow needles in a larger size. I don’t have many sets of four needles and I was surprised to see I had two sets in the same colour. This time I adjusted the pattern I  used for Christy’s mitts so I could make them on four needles.

The wool I used was from a sweater Mum was making for Dad.