official finished mitten photos below!

The mittens are finished! Here are a couple of pictures:





The blocking worked well, although I think there are a few spots that would have come out a tiny bit better if I blocked them right side up. Will I re-block? Eh, probably not.

The blocking also made them flat, and a bit squished. Also, the blocking made them really big. I think they're the intended size, as the gauge post-blocking is exactly spot on. The thumbs are still a bit small, though I think that they feel that way at least partially because the rest of the mittens are so big.

So what do I do with HUGE mittens with smallish thumbs? Well, I could line them. Or I could find someone with big hands and small thumbs to give them to. I could try re-blocking the thumbs, too.

Things I learned from these mittens:

• spit splicing is still my friend
• fair isle likes to be inside out on DPNs.
  
• Sometimes it is worth the effort.
• Space heaters make things dry so much faster!
• If you take things off the blocking towel too early, they will be slightly less perfect. Sometimes this is worth the instant gratification, because they wouldn't have been perfect, anyway.

Does anybody else get strong but weird associations with bits of their knitting? I don't have stuff like that for most of the mittens, but I have distinct memories associated with knitting both thumbs. The first thumb was knit largely during lunch, when temptation got the best of me, and I watched the Biography on The Facts of Life that my TiVo decided to record for me. (It's it amazing how any show like that makes even the silliest of sitcoms sound groundbreaking and profound? And the sad thing is, I buy it every time. Even for frikin' Facts of Life!) The second thumb was largely knit while watching a Nova about volcanos. That was okay, but it's really my right mitten thumb that will always remind me of Mindy Cohen talking about how she wanted her character to be the first to lose her virginity on the show. Good ol' Mindy!

And while I'm on the subject of mitten thumbs, I have no idea how this happened:


See the loopy thing at the base of the thumb? Beats me how I managed that, but it doesn't seem to affect anything, so I'm not going to tempt fate by cutting it.

Sorry if this post was a bit disjoined. I'm trying to fit in all my mitten pictures and finished project celebrations before work, which has made me a bit frazzled. Up for tomorrow: cardigan I must make; Samus update.