I’m pretty stuck on handwarmers lately. I should be focusing on my friend’s stripey handwarmers (her Christmas gift was an I.O.U. which I’d like to come through on before it’s too warm outside to even wear them…). I am making decent progress on them. Decent for me anyway; I don’t get a lot of time to knit and I think I’m also slow.
However, at 1:00 am last weekend I decided to start on a pair of Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang. I was too excited to try some color work for the first time (besides stripes) so I couldn’t wait. The pattern calls for an Italian tubular cast on, which I had never heard of. With the help of this page, and lots of practicing and unraveling and trying again I finally got it. It is sort of a pain in the ass, but trust me it’s worth it. The end result is the perfect edging for a 1×1 rib. I’m inclined to call it the “invisible cast-on”. Try it and see!
I haven’t made it far on my Endpaper Mitts – I’m still working on the first cuff, but I’m getting very excited to start in on the color work. My KnitPicks Harmony DPNs are quite lovely, and I’ll post on those soon. The cuff on these mitts call for the 2.00mm needles and boy are they tiny! I can feel them flexing as I knit and I’m afraid one day it will just snap as I’m knitting. Okay, time to step away from the computer and do some actual knitting. 
One more thing before I go. If you haven’t already, check out Smitten Knittin. The author is new to blogging but not to knitting. She’s wild about mittens and yarn, and you can read along as she reaches the goals she has set for 2011. Show her some love!
Tags: DPN, handwarmers, Italian tubular cast-on, knitting, ribbing, WIP
*waves* Hi from Ravelry!
I know what you mean, although my obsession usually doesn’t make it onto the needles/hook
But I’ve got such a truckload of patterns hiding away on my pc, most of which are gloves or mitts…
I love your photography by the way! Gorgeous pictures!
I love the colors you chose – they look beautiful so far!
Thanks guys!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one still knitting Christmas presents, my friend still has an I.O.U from her Birthday which was before Christmas! Have fun knitting yourself some gloves, I find if I’m knitting for myself I get it done faster (hehe, that may be because I am a rather selfish knitter!)
Your photos as always are lovely, love the blog x
GoodGoneGirl x
these are too cute! i love arm warmers and the stripes! sooooo nice!
Thanks! They’re coming along slowly but surely. I just started a new project today instead of working on them. Oh well
[...] Endpaper Mitts. These poor neglected mitts. I was so excited to start them, and even spent a while researching to learn how to master the Italian tubular cast-on. I [...]