Winter warmers

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Being as it's Shrove Tuesday here in the UK, I think I've found the perfect excuse to indulge in some big fat sweet pancakes don't you? How many of you shall be partaking in this tradition today?  Plain with just a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon perhaps? or how about a few scoops of vanilla ice-cream & a drizzle of maple syrup? Whichever way you have them they're sure to be yummy!!

Another thing to fill me with delight today is the completion of a pair of snuggly mittens (or as I like to call them, wrist warmers). I managed to snatch a few minutes here and there this past week, to work on them. It's my very first attempt at making something like this, and I've actually really enjoyed crocheting up something completely new & different, using only one ball of yarn at a time. No colour changes necessary, just easy! 

I plumped for using some Debbie Bliss Eco Baby Organic Cotton, #14019 French Navy. Quite a departure for me as I don't generally work in dark block colours. The pattern suggested using Rowan Baby Alpaca DK, but I couldn't wait to use the new cotton I'd acquired. 

My inspiration came from a book I purchased recently entitled Crochet Workshop by Erika Knight. Visually it's a lovely book, lots of fantastic photographs and easy to follow tutorials. Perfect for a beginner as it covers everything from choosing yarns & hooks, through learning all the different basic stitches. I think it's been put together extremely well. In fact, when I was just starting out on my crocheting journey a couple of years ago, I'd have relished having such a fabulous resource. It's RRP is £16.99, but you can purchase your very own copy for a steal through the Book People here. 

There is a pattern for fingerless mittens on page 80 that I was immediately taken with, and as it looked like something I could realistically achieve I decided to have a go. I'm still not 100% confident reading stitch diagrams, so I was glad that there was a very detailed set of written instructions to follow as well. I didn't follow the pattern to the letter as I only wanted some short mittens, so I modified it to suit. As you can see from the pics above they're quite long and loose. 

As I worked my way through the pattern I began to realise that there wasn't going to be a lot of stretch in the cotton I was working with, so I improvised a bit by adding a few rows of dc stitches to each side of the mitten to give an extra bit of width, before stitching the side seams. Had I used a lighter yarn, such as the Rowan Alpaca, I'm sure that wouldn't have been necessary.  To finish them off I added 4 little white buttons as an embellishment.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with my little mitts, 

and shall enjoy wearing them with pride......