My grandpa, who lives in Hong Kong, turned 90 a couple of weeks ago. To celebrate with him, I took a short trip during my holiday break to visit. Since Hong Kong can get fairly chilly in the winter (it can get down to 10C, which doesn't seem that low, until you realize that few apartments have central heating systems), my mom suggested I make him a pair of fingerless mitts. I cast on during the flight over, and knit a bit every night, finishing the night before I left (9 days later).
The pattern is Amy Ripton's
Hedgerow Mitts, modified to have finger holes. I used close to one ball of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply - it's wonderfully springy and easy to knit. Even though the colour (a beautiful burgundy) is fairly stain-masking, I'm glad that yarn is washable. I used a pair of 2.25mm circular needles, and switched to toothpicks for the fingers (which averaged 16-18 sts around, and 8-10 rows long). As ridiculous as it sounds, the toothpicks weren't too bad to knit with, and probably less fussy than if I had tried to wrestle with the long circular needles.
I like that there is so much elasticity in the ribbed pattern - it makes sizing pretty forgiving. My grandpa likes to sit in his chair and read the newspaper to pass the time during the day, so he really appreciated having the warmth of mittens with the functionality of being able to use his fingers. Happy birthday, grandpa!
My grandpa, who lives in Hong Kong, turned 90 a couple of weeks ago. To celebrate with him, I took a short trip during my holiday break to visit. Since Hong Kong can get fairly chilly in the winter (it can get down to 10C, which doesn't seem that low, until you realize that few apartments have central heating systems), my mom suggested I make him a pair of fingerless mitts. I cast on during the flight over, and knit a bit every night, finishing the night before I left (9 days later). 
The pattern is Amy Ripton's Hedgerow Mitts, modified to have finger holes. I used close to one ball of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply - it's wonderfully springy and easy to knit. Even though the colour (a beautiful burgundy) is fairly stain-masking, I'm glad that yarn is washable. I used a pair of 2.25mm circular needles, and switched to toothpicks for the fingers (which averaged 16-18 sts around, and 8-10 rows long). As ridiculous as it sounds, the toothpicks weren't too bad to knit with, and probably less fussy than if I had tried to wrestle with the long circular needles.
I like that there is so much elasticity in the ribbed pattern - it makes sizing pretty forgiving. My grandpa likes to sit in his chair and read the newspaper to pass the time during the day, so he really appreciated having the warmth of mittens with the functionality of being able to use his fingers. Happy birthday, grandpa!
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