mittens and toys, mittens and toys

Saturday was filled with shopping. A stop at a chain craft store with a sale on yarn and knitting accessories left me wanting for a small, uncrowded lys. Unfortunately the lys closes early on Saturdays and after somewhat involved stops at 2 more stores we were all tuckered out. That and we needed to get back to get to a Chinese New Year Celebration. But I got some new needles and yarn for more toys and mittens... it appears I have got some themes going, two to be exact.

The yarn purchase included some brown chunky that I used to make my brother a pair of mittens with. He will wish that I would have lined them with something extra warm for those Wisconsin winters, but I really hate figuring out how to line knitted items I create. He will just have to use them when he is not going to be directly exposed to cold winds.

I used the same pattern for the bro's mitts as I did for my green ones, with some amendments. I ribbed the cuff - for a more secure fit and I also made some adjustments to the suggested thumb gusset and length, as well as the hand length. It seems like that pattern was made for really big cozy mittens, but the proportions seemed to be off just a bit - so I tweaked it.

Why is it that I can't seem to do a pattern without tweaking it, I am trying to think if there is a project I have completed where I didn't make/wish I had made some amendments. Ah, the search for the perfect pattern continues.

(skater girl is pictured above sporting my "bow" hat by pick up sticks and the knitted toys)