Arts & Crafts Motif Mitts

I have been meaning to post pictures of these fingerless mitts for over a month, and I figure I better do so before I get too involved in December/holiday crafting and baking. I wanted to donate something handmade for my son's preschool auction fundraiser. I have wanted for some time now to make some felted fingerless mitts, so I made up this pattern. The body is just a basic pattern. The cabled cuffs were added on after the rest of the mitts had been felted.
I am so very fond of the Arts & Crafts movement, so when doing the needle felting embellishment, I wanted my motif to be stylistically in keeping with motifs from that era:
I'm kind of wishing I had a pair of these...hmm.

This is not the only felting project I've been doing as of late. I made a wee giftie for my dad's birthday, and I'm in the middle of a project for my son's December/Christmas Tree/advent thingie. Both involve sea creatures. I will share more in my next post.

Little Rabbit's Hat and Mitts

One of my favorite picture books is "Shall I knit you a hat: a Christmas yarn" by Kate Klise.
To summarize:
When Mother Rabbit knits a warm winter hat for Little Rabbit, he likes it so much that he suggests they make hats for all of their friends as Christmas gifts.
At the end of the book, there's a pattern for making Little Rabbit's hat. I couldn't resist the temptation! You can read more about that book HERE.
I thought Little Rabbit's paws might get a wee bit cold too, so I whipped up a pair of the Angelina Cable Mitts in the same yarn (Cascade 220 Quatro), and stuck them in his boot for St. Nick's Day. We have been getting a lot of use out of them this past week and they stay on his hands way better than the mittens I made for him last year.
The result: One cute and toasty warm Little Rabbit :)

Stripy Mittens

He's got a cardigan, a hat, and socks in this ginger and blue yarn, so why not some mittens, too! With all of the snow we've been having, he really did need a pair to keep his hands warm.

Here they are, in action:
Whoever thought of putting mittens on a string to keep them from getting lost was a genius.
This is the Bold Banded Mitten pattern from Zoe Mellor's Adorable Knits for Tots. Just a slight variation: 4 extra rows added before decreasing, to make them a bit longer. I'm hoping he'll still be able to wear them next winter.