Last March, while David and I were on the train on the way to the airport, we had a conversation about mittens. Wouldn't it be nice, he opined, if there were mittens with the index finger separated off, so you get more dexterity but also keep your other fingers warm. A glitten, if you will. I thought that was kind of a silly idea, and told him as much. We arrived at his mother's house in San Francisco that evening to find that she was making a glitten.
Well, after that, there was no stopping him. When I announced to him this fall I would like to make him a pair of gloves or mittens, he carefully looked over my Selbuvotter and Folk Knitting in Estonia books, and selected Annemor #17 because he thought it would be easiest to convert to glittens.
Pattern: Annemor #17 from Selbuvotter by Terri Shea
Yarn: Dale Baby Ull #2908 (orange) and Claudia's Handpainted in Argyle, 1 50g skein each
Needles: US 2.5 Knit Picks DPNs
Along the way, I had to make various other changes. We didn't like how the thumb traditionally came off of the palm in these patterns, and I added palm stitches and make the thumb come out from the side instead. This was also helpful for up-sizing the pattern, as it was sized for a woman's hands in the book. Also, since the chart only came up partway on his hand, I repeated the band on the cuff and started the finger chart without separating the fingers off. It was easy to just knit three of the fingers together instead of making them all individually.
I also reversed the wave chart on the cuff for the second glitten, because I just like to do that. You'll also notice that the cuffs look pretty different. I've learned that when I do combination knitting, the yarn in my left hand is more prominent. One I figured that out, I started always knitting with the background color in my right hand, and things worked out nicely.
I've found colorwork knitting on an airplane really maximizes the wow factor with my non-knitting passengers. On one flight, the stewardess was exclaiming over the glitten I was finishing, and I gave her the first one to examine. She immediately said "Oh, I have to show this to someone." and took off! Too funny.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with this FO. It really satisfied my colorwork urge (which plagues me often), and I got to make a lot of interesting modifications along the way. And David is happy with his warm, interesting glittens!
Hmm, how about muves? Glitten sounds like they should be glittery and shiny! They are gorgeous though.
Posted by: Emma | January 13, 2008 at 03:21 PM
wow those are grreaT! He has great mitten/glitten taste :)
Posted by: Kelly | January 13, 2008 at 03:59 PM
Those are fantastic!!
Posted by: Ruth | January 13, 2008 at 04:29 PM
I'm always amazed with people who can stranded knit this awesome. Those are just completely cool.
Posted by: kim | January 13, 2008 at 05:19 PM
What a fantastic idea and they came out beautiful at that!
Posted by: sharon | January 13, 2008 at 06:03 PM
Wow, I love the glittens! :)
Posted by: David | January 13, 2008 at 06:22 PM
Wow - the stranded work just amazing me - I am so needing to learn more about how to do this! Great Glittens!
Posted by: stacey | January 13, 2008 at 07:11 PM
Love the colorwork.
Posted by: Oiyi | January 13, 2008 at 09:06 PM
Really gorgeous! I agree about the thumb position...I just made a pair of thrummed mittens with the thumb off the palm and they just aren't that comfortable.
Posted by: Tanya | January 14, 2008 at 07:16 AM
Nothing like a happy knitting gift recipient. :) Honestly, they really kind of catch me off guard still because of the separation of the index finger, but it's definitely a cool idea! Great job! :)
Posted by: Jessica | January 14, 2008 at 08:54 AM
Glittens are just genius! I like the thumb coming off the side better than off the palm too. Just gorgeous!
Posted by: Kim | January 14, 2008 at 10:49 AM
those are great! very creative....colorwork is always nice to impress non-knitters!
Posted by: stacey | January 14, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Fantastic job! The color work is lovely and all your modifications worked wonderfully. I especially like the reversed wave on the cuff. Nicely done. :)
Posted by: Jean | January 14, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Fabulous work. I'll bet you really get the best of both worlds with those!
(And I know what you mean about colorwork projects... I'm itching for another one as we speak.)
Posted by: Stella | January 14, 2008 at 01:40 PM
I saw 'Glittens' and I envision mittens made with shiny, metallic yarn. I've never heard of them. They looks fantastic. :D
Posted by: Sacha | January 14, 2008 at 03:32 PM
What a fun, funny idea! Great job.
Posted by: Amy | January 14, 2008 at 03:58 PM
Nicely done!
Posted by: tiennie | January 14, 2008 at 08:43 PM
Excellent glittens! I really like how that worked out. I'm glad you moved the thumb over to a more physiological position. The traditional placement has always seemed uncomfortable to me.
Posted by: Brenda | January 14, 2008 at 10:34 PM