Fiddlehead Mittens

I am still trying to expand my repertoire of knitting skills, so I thought the Fiddlehead Mittens from Hello Yarn would be a fun project to learn color work. I figured it was a small enough project that it would be hard to get too lost on the chart, and I probably wouldn't give up before I was done. Plus its just a beautiful pattern! I was so pleased with them even after the first few inches! I love the i-cord cast on, a definite new favorite skill.  

I have seen many examples of these mittens and each one is beautiful and unique.  I love that no matter what yarn you use, the color combos just can't go bad (I mean I'm sure you could make it bad if you tried hard enough!).  I ended up going with Cascade 200 Superwash, by suggestion from my LYS owner.  She was SO helpful since I'm still new at picking yarn that will work with a pattern, not against it.  I really enjoyed the bright color of the Superwash Paints that I used for the contrast and the deep gray of the main color.  They are a great combo that just doesn't phtograph well.  I didn't want to use the bright pink as the lining because I thought it would just be too glaring, but the orange color seemed subtle enough to stand out without making you want to avert your eyes.

What can I say? I loved this project.... and I hated it! I loved the yarn, I loved the pattern, I loved the color work, I hated the lining... I hated how long it took. I am so impatient! And apparently when I do color work I knit tight, and when I don't I knit loose - thus the lining was very frustrating to me since it got all bunchy inside the mitten.  I ended up altering the decreases for the top of the lining to match the decreases on the outer mitten instead of a regularly spaced decrease as suggested in the pattern.  I could not stand the lining having any bumps.  They ended up between my fingers and just felt odd!  So I am so happy that I can finally say "I'm done!"  This pair is going to a relative for Chrismas.  I have plans to make another pair, altering the colorwork pattern with a modified free motif I found (link here if you're interested).  I may have just finished one pair today, but I can't wait to cast on the next!  If that's not a sign of a good pattern, I don't know what is!