Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Bird in Hand Mittens

The Bird in Hand Mittens are done!

Bird in Hand_04

Pattern: Bird in Hand mittens, by Kate Gilbert
Size: I knit the smallest size (8 inches), on US1 needles
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, colours 6294 (teal) and 6205 (brown)
Modifications: Cuff modifications by Alice at Kathryn Ivy

As you can see, I tried my very best to block out the left mitten (on the right in the photo) to the size of the right mitten (on the left). It's still a wee bit smaller, but much better than before.

Here is the birdie on the right thumb:

Bird in Hand_02

And the left thumb:

Bird in Hand_03

Do you think they actually look like birds? I redid the embroidery over and over again, but it never looked quite right, especially the little birdie legs. I really need to get better with the sewing somehow.

I wore the mittens today, and they feel sort of big (I think the hands are ok, but my wrists are much smaller than the mittens are). As though they'd fall off if it weren't for the thumbs holding them on my hands. Maybe I just need to get used to them? I'll wear them for the rest of the week and see how I feel about them. The alpaca seems pretty warm, though. And fuzzy. =)

4 comments:

Karen said...

I think you can tell that they're birds. The photo you took of the left thumb is a little closer, so it's not as easy to tell, but they're definitely birds. Wow, you need to do the bird by embroidery?! I don't think I could do that.

The mittens look amazing!!! I hope you're able to get used to them, cuz they really are too beautiful not to show off on a regular basis.

Anonymous said...

I think your embroidery looks great. I also found that to be really difficult but I can definitely tell yours are birds!

I'm sure you'll get tons of compliments when you're wearing them out and about this week :)

Knitted Gems said...

You can't even tell they are different sizes. They look identical. Wise of you to make them alpaca - so warm. I love the colors. These are great mittens!

But, alas, no, I can't tell they are birds. I don't think the fault lies with you though. I've done embroidery work on knitted items too and it's not as easy to manipulate as it is on fabric.

Adrienne said...

Thank you for all the nice comments!

Karen, the pattern calls for you to embroider the eye, the wing, the beak and the legs. I think it was difficult for me because the body of the bird is so small and also the alpaca is fuzzy and has a bit of a halo.

After a few days, I'm starting to get used to wearing them. They are definitely warm!