Mittens

I returned from Philadelphia last night - I find it amazing that a trip which would take perhaps 7 and a half hours by car takes nearly 3 hours more by plane. It was supposed to take  4 hours less but my flights always seem to be delayed or cancelled if I don't leave at the break of dawn.Fortunately, all that waiting around means I was able to complete my blank mitten charts. I'm not sure where the design will take me yet so I began by drafting blank templates in Illustrator and, while I was at it, I drafted two additional sizes so others could design their own mittens and perhaps take on a stranded colour challenge for the Olympics. I've deliberately chosen a firm tension for these and added a little extra ease so that may be lined or worn over thinner layers (such as the inner mittens from  the most recent Twist Collective).My gauge using 2.5 mm needles - which are really between size 1 and 2 US - is 8 sts and 9 rnds to an inch. As it stands, the charts here will result in mittens measuring approximately 7 1/4 (8, 8 3/4)” around by 8 1/2 (8 3/4, 9 1/4)” long when taking into account 62 (66, 70) stitches cast on and 76 (79, 82) rounds worked. If you decide to make these your olympic challenge, consider knitting a swatch first to find your tension in order to determine which chart you ought to use for your design - you may find a size smaller or larger is needed even if you've always considered your hands to be another size entirely.Now that I have a canvas, I'm ready to begin filling in my design. Before I do, I'll sketch out a few ideas. I'll be back in a couple of days with some options - until then, I hope a few of you will find these charts useful.SmallMediumLarge