Finally

I have tried for over a year to knit a pair of warm mittens for my daughter in her school colours. Last year I knit two pairs. The first were stranded and the second one used an inner and outer lining. Both times I just did a simple home made design. While she appreciated my effort on both I could tell by the look on her face that neither was something she was going to wear. Yes, sadly they would end up in the same box as the hat I made for her.

Crushed.....well not that bad. So this year I decided that I would follow a pattern. I chose the "Salt and Pepper" mittens from Robin Hanson's book, FAVORITE MITTENS. This has been my favorite mitten book. I have knit the checkerboard and the striped mittens, so this would be my third

It is a simple stranded project that alternates colors. This means you don't have to worry about long floats. I added a third color to match my daughter's school colors. I really liked the way they turned out and guess what. SHE DID TOO>..YAHOOOOOOOOO

I have told many people that this is a great book for mittens. The only thing is that some of the instructions are hard to get when you read them. What you have to do really is just follow what she says, word for word, stitch for stitch. When you do this it works out and then it all makes sense.

Of course, given my success I went out and got some more school colors, eager to start knitting the "Newsprint Cowl" using the new Two color Brioche technique I just wrote about.

And yes, you can guess, when I told her about she again rolled her eyes and said, "Dad, don't you think I have enough school color stuff". Yes, after spending another $60 I was again back at square one. She instead just wanted something in Off White.

Oh, well, I guess someone else will just be the recipient of the new cowl.

Kids, SHeeesh