Waffle House Mittens

I was going to write up a free pattern for these mittens, but I have been busy with work and life, (and being obsessed with the election, like the rest of the country), so I’m just going to show them off. The cables are from The Harmony Guides: Cables and Arans, which Adam gave me for Christmas last year (along with the knit and purl volume of the guides). Let me say that I like this book and its clear photos, instructions, and charts. However, it is organized in an extremely illogical way. These two cables, WHICH ARE CLEARLY THE SAME CABLE, mirrored, are separated by a number of pages. I’m not sure whether the editor of the book decided to trick the reader by not grouping together related cables (and techniques) so that the reader would think they were getting more for their money than they really were, or he/she/they had some sort of life/work melt down, and just decided to throw all the pages together haphazardly, and be like, eff-it, here you go. So, though I like the book, I am warning you that it could be improved, organization-wise.

Pattern: My own. I’m calling them Waffle House Mittens, because the cables look like half a waffle. And I like Waffle House, though sadly, I do not live in the South, and thus, never get to go there. Why New York City does not have a cheap grits-to-go place is a tragedy I cannot understand.

Yarn: Less than 1 skein of Cascade 220 Heathers, color: 9452/summer sky. $7.25 from Purl. This is a common yarn, so you can probably get it cheaper somewhere else, I just happen to like Purl.

Needles: Size 3, Susan Bates. I knit super loose though, so the gauge on these is 21 stitches=4″ in stockinette.

Project started/ended: October 18 to 26. This was a quick project, it took me three days to knit each mitten.

Modifications: Well, this was my own pattern, so I don’t really think they were “modifications,” per se, but on the first mitten, my thumb gore came out weird because I increased every other round, which made my thumb look like it had a goiter. Also, the cuff was a little loose. I fixed this on the second mitten, by, respectively, increasing every third round, and knitting less stitches on the cuff, and then increasing before starting the hand, but then I decreased the top a little too pointy, even though I took notes on the first to try to make it the same. If you can knit a basic mitten, all you have to do is stick in the cables (on pages 100 and 104 of the new version of the Harmony Guides: Cables and Aran), but remember that if you’re knitting in the round, you’ll have to adapt the pattern a bit. (On even rounds, read the instructions from right to left, reversing knits with purls, and purls with knits, and crossing the cables in the front, instead of the back.)

Photo shoot notes: These photos were taken at Old Stone House, Brooklyn, which is a recreated version of a Dutch stone house located on the site of a Revolutionary War battle. Once, revolutionaries roamed Park Slope. Now, just yuppies.

Posted in Finished Objects 2008, Mittens, Uncategorized at November 2nd, 2008. Trackback URI: trackback

2 Responses to “Waffle House Mittens”

  1. November 3rd, 2008 at 11:11 am #Jesse Helms

    Here are some places in NYC that serve grits (this is almost 3 years old, so some of these may have closed—check out the comments too):

    http://gothamist.com/2006/01/11/kiss_my_grits.php

    This is more recent, though it concentrates on Manhattan:

    http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/534239

    Various posters at Serious Eats have recommended Redhead, Pink Teacup, and the ‘wichcraft chain. You can also make grits at home, of course–it’s not hard.

  2. November 3rd, 2008 at 9:17 pm #Claire

    Jesse Helms, I can’t believe you’re wasting your time on earth, back from the dead, by weighing in on my knitting blog. Shouldn’t you be over at The National Review Corner, rallying the conservatives for one last push before Election Day? Anyway, none of those grits live up to the glory that is Waffle House, as you, a Southerner should know.

    By the way, Jesse Helms, I do not think you and I agree in much else, besides our presumed mutual love of grits, since in life, you believed in segregation, among many other policies that I strongly disagree with. This knitting blog does not support you or your policies, dead or alive. But it does allow you to comment, even though you’re dead.