Friday, December 18, 2015

In Which I Steek

I knitted a pair a mittens for Phoebe and there were several problems with them (my fault, not the pattern).  First of all, the weather has been so warm that no one has been wearing winter coats, let alone mittens.

But the mittens were just too narrow for Phoebe's hands.  I was keeping the yarn tight as I knit to make the mittens more windproof, but alas, the mittens had little stretch for her hands and she fussed a lot when I tried to jam her fingers beyond the cuffs. If this was a sewing project, I could fix it any number of ways, but I was truly stumped and sad because I thought all my time had been in vain and the mittens would have to go (where?  who could appreciate my hours of labor and also knew a narrow-handed baby? ) and my baby would still have bare hands.

Fortunately, global warming kept the weather on my side as I walked the kids back and forth to school little or no wraps and suddenly, in walking, I hit upon a solution!



I steeked the mittens.

It was staggering to just cut them apart, but I did it because what did I have to lose? I cut off the narrow stockinette tops and then I used my sewing machine to zig-zag the scarily loose edges of the ribbed cuffs.  I attached new mittens made from a fuschia felted wool sweater.  It worked!  I was elated.

Phoebe wore her mittens on the chilly walk to school this morning,  Success!  Also, I really enjoyed knitting the i-cord that keeps the pair together.

7 comments:

Tammy said...

I made a pair of mitts like those for my daughter. I think she wore them once or twice but she never left them on!!! http://lovetocrochetandknit.blogspot.com/2009/11/fo-friday.html

(That little hat in the picture is one of my favorite knits I made for her! That she did wear and it stayed on wonderfully!)

Glad you came up with a solution for a project that wasn't working. I wouldn't have thought of that.

Lisa said...

Glad that the experience hasn't put you off knitting!

A said...

You are so cleaver and I love you.

jenny_o said...

Good save - like you said, what could you lose? And now Phoebe can wiggle her fingers to her heart's content :)

Hazel said...

Clever solution, they look great.

Becky said...

Sometimes bravery is required in crafting.

BLD in MT said...

You fixed! Hooray! I love when I can pull that off. And you taught me a new word--steek. Excellent all around.