Warm and Colorful, by Kristin (and Christy)

I finished a project from my new book, Kristin Knits by Kristin Nicholas--The Checks and Dots Mittens! (Well just the dots, actually.)

I love combining colors, and I love colorwork, but not too complex since I'm new at it. Kristin Nicholas's patterns are perfect for me; I love the color, and I just realized that the charts and color changes remind me of Cross-Stitching, which was my first love, hobby-wise; Then I moved to the dark side and took up knitting.

The mittens are from the book, and the Headband is from Knitting Daily and is designed to coordinate with the mittens. The set is for my oldest daughter, who is colorful and outgoing like the knitting. When it's cold, folks will certainly see her coming!

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Lotus Pink, Christmas Green, Purple Flutter and Prairie Goldenrod. Less than one skein total for the pair of mittens and the headband of the pink and green; just a smidge of the purple and yellow.

Needles: Mittens--Brittany Size 7 dpns; Headband-- Size 7 Addi Turbo 16" Circular and Size 8 Clover Bamboo 16" Circular

Modifications: I used 4 colors instead of 5 for the headband, and I only used 2 colors for the cross-stitches instead of 3 as the pattern suggested. On the mittens, I added a stripe of purple in the cuff for a little extra zing. As if screaming bright pink and shiny kelly green were not zingy enough as they were.
Time to knit: Mittens: about a week for the pair; Headband: about 5 hours total, not including sewing in all those ends you see in the picture.


I would recommend both of these patterns. The mittens have a choice between plain or ruffled edging, and a checks or dots pattern. The directions for both are very well written and easy to follow. The headband was a nice quick knit, but honestly that bobble edging was tedious, and I would avoid it in the future.

Thanks for looking at these, and enabling my knitting insanity.