mittens, mittens, mittens

so that holiday knitting that i had done? it seems that i was wrong. i had crafted mittens for my christmas craft exchange. the exchange will be this saturday for my family christmas. it has been a long (since i was a girl) tradition that the ladies 'craft' a gift for each other. decades ago it was a gift for all, now we draw names and as long as the gift item is 'hand-crafted' by someone it's golden. my how times change. so, back to my mitten dilemma. i made the cloisonne mittens for my recipient. all blocked and ready to wrap, i tried it on. too big. way to big. i rationalized that you might want them big to wear over another mitt, or not catch on your rings, or rub against your chapped skin. well, my beloved family squashed all those reasonable reasons and i found myself knitting another pair.

the blue clip is on the original pair, the smaller ones are the ones that i'm gifting. it appears, i will never learn (see last mitten gift ). so i've got a set in my gift stash.
since i was on a mitten roll, i started these.....

i made my niece a beret for her upcoming birthday and had some handspun left over. i just can't toss away handspun, so i cast on for a matching set of mittens knowing that i would need to add in some commercial yarn to complete them.

the colors compliment perfectly and i think having miss-matched mittens is perfect for an eleven-year-old.