Warm Hands Knit Along

When I saw the Mitten Knit Along, I was overjoyed because knitting mittens for charity has been one of my favorite projects, but I had been neglecting them lately. My charity knitting has a fun history. When I was still in the working world, I never could get home in time to watch Oprah. People would talk about the programs and I was SO jealous! So, the first day I was retired, I happily gathered my knitting project and sat down to watch Oprah. That day her program was all about her Angel Network and the good things that people were doing, which really gave me something to think about. What good was I going to do with my life-especially now that I was going to have so much time? (That turned out to be a joke; I have less time now than when I had a regular job.) What I came up with was that I could knit for charity whenever I watched the Oprah Show. Mittens were a good project because they were so portable and I could knit them while I walked, which I hated to do. (No, I don't knit and walk since I hit a hole and fell flat on my face in the street.) I like to knit my charity mittens from acrylic and Encore is my favorite. This yarn is the same fiber content, weight, price, knits to the same gauge, called Marble apparently by James C. Brett. This skein is left over from a child's sweater I made and I wouldn't recommend using yarn with color changes for mitten-you can see, my mittens don't match and I don't have enough yarn to make another pair or does the shop carry this brand anymore. My favorite mitten pattern is from a Cottage Creation pattern, "Projects for Community Knitting" with sizing from small children's to large adult. The thumb gusset area is done with ribbing and the thumb has more stitches than usual and is done in ribbing to keep the thumb warmer. My grand daughter told me she liked the mittens I made because they went on either hand. I guess I cheated a little with this knit along as I got out the bag with my pattern and needles, here was one mitten already done and the other one cast on.