Smaug Hide Mitts

A finished project! This is the first of my winter/cold weather projects. Yes I know its the summer and blimey we've had some sun and heat here in the UK! But now is the time to do it or I wont have anything to keep me warm when it gets cold. My hands particularly need to be kept warm when outside or in the car on a cold day as I have circulation issues, and cold hands equals inflamed, swollen, painful misery. So a good warm pair of mitts or convertibles are a must. Actually I tend to keep a set solely in the car because I can be a twit and forget to put a set on before I leave the house. So I have a pair to hand. 

This particular choice of mitts came from the yarn itself. It was received in a handspun yarn swap as part of a parcel themed around my favourite authors Tolkein and Pratchett:

Lots of lovely things and great quotes. The yarn was handspun from hand blended roving from Hilltop Cloud. It was a truly decadent blend of 40% Shetland, 40% Merino, 10% Firestar, 10% Llama. So should be hard wearing while cosy and warm. My swap partner had spun it into a fulled single, something I have yet to be brave enough to do:

 

Given the colour of the yarn, the gold shot through it, and the them of the swap, there was only one thing I could think of, dragon scales! So I went pattern hunting and came up with Dragon Master by Melodye Swysen, it was perfect for the yarn weight and amount, I needed some warm outside mitts, and the crocodile stitch used to make the scales results in a thick, warm fabric. Job done. 

Making the mitts was an interesting experience. How well they fit you is dependent on getting the gauge right with the right hook and takes a little experimentation, because there is no way to adjust and resize the pattern, its nature of it. And I made one mitt in the height of the heatwave, and the other when it had cooled off again. And that caused issues. Obviously in the heat I must have been crocheting much tighter, because I made the first mitt with a 3mm hook and it fit nicely. When I came to do the second it was coming out baggy and huge. The change in weather meant I had to go down a hook size to a 2.5 mm hook to match the gauge on the other one! Just goes to show!

So after ripping out the second mitt once after I did the thumb, I started again and finally finished on Wednesday so I have a perfect pair of mitts!

They really aren't two different sizes/lengths, they are identical in that regard. But its a real pain trying to take pictures of your own hands by yourself with only a timer on your camera! I think its a good shot considering!

I am very happy actually, and my hands are going to be snuggly and warm in some faux dragon hide ;)

I have also discovered that the designer wants to use my picture on her pattern page on Ravelry! Awesome!

Till next time!

Kat xxx

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