During a village Christmas walk, we dropped into one of my favorite yarn shops and heard about a pattern for Bella's mittens, as seen in the Twilight movie. The first pair I made came out fine -- with a few mistakes. I had to learn a few tricks to get them right. The second pair was a disaster. I finished one mitten and realized I had missed several rows of a cable pattern and they were miniature and wrong wrong wrong. George convinced me that a big rip was necessary. I took a scissors to them and ripped back the whole mitten and ended a whole Saturday of knitting with a ball of yarn.
The third pair of mittens was finished tonight. They are made with two strands of yarn worked together. I started them on Sunday and knitted every evening and finished them on Friday night at eleven. The pattern is wonderful, but not easy. You have to follow it exactly and not make one stitch different than called for. The pattern has 87 rows and most do not repeat. It isn't a pattern that you can sit and talk while you knit. Concentration is key. I keep a stitch counter, markers and a cable needle handy. I learned the magic loop method for these mittens, which is a way of knitting a small circumference on circular needles instead of double points. There was a learning curve that I had to master, and I must admit, there was a little gnashing of teeth as stitches dropped, stitches were missed, and I had to rip back a thumb that I made too short. All worth the effort, however. It is fun to concentrate and learn to do something that is a challenge.
I have two pair of finished Bella's mittens now, and two orders from people who want me to make them a pair. Knitting for hire isn't something that I have ever done, and I'm not at all sure that will work out. Knitting for love is better than knitting for money. But, what am I going to do with all these mittens? I might as well share. Maybe they call these Bella's mittens because they'll bring out the werewolf in any knitter!
Have a great evening.
