We're heading into the last days of the Olympics so I thought I'd post a little progress report. I made it a bit farther with the Original Stranded Mitten. Here it is.
Yes, it is indeed bound off and will remain a glorified swatch, or wristie if I choose to use it as such. It just wasn't fitting right and since I detest weaving in countless ends, I tried to carry the yarn up the side but it was got pulled too tight in spots... It just wasn't working for me. We'll leave it at that.
I wasn't overly upset about it, instead I moved on to new projects, like a stranded hat for me :)
When little miss was going through my stash to pick the colors for her hat I happened to notice these 3 yarn buddies sitting comfortably together in a bag (leftover from a past project) and decided that a hat was to be created. It fits me perfectly, has a nice little liner on the inside, and is super warm - trust me I know, I wore it shoveling and it was glorious!
Still, a hat is not a pair of stranded mittens... As I was lying there in bed it hit me. Why not use the leftover yarn to make a pair of Glittens! A woman from my Thursday Night Knitting Group has a pattern written up, I can use the orangish color for the cuff, thumb, and inner fingers and use the green and blue for the rest. It will be perfect! That was Saturday night. So Sunday rolls around and I'm all gung-ho to get started. I spend the better part of Sunday finishing up the mitten portion and and start in on the thumb. Way too big!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now
I did try it on while knitting it up and it was a little wide, but I was okay with it. It was getting late and I was trying to hurry and finish up the mitten/thumb so I knit according to the pattern and I bound off without a final try-on-for-size. When I finally slid the mitten on I could fit 3 of my thumbs in the thumb section and I had a good inch and a half (which translates to 2 inches after washing) at the top. Sorry for the craptastic photos, it was late and I was vexed.
But I had to document the fact that they were knit up... Of course it only takes 2 minutes to reduce a mitten to a pile of yarn barf :)
Now let me note, that my issues weren't with the pattern itself, just the operator's execution of it! There have been several pairs of Glittens made that fit their wearers perfectly!
So now what? Scrap the mitten idea entirely, give it one more go... I went onto Ravelry and searched around for worsted weight stranded mittens and landed on a pair of Herringbone Mittens. That pattern called for larger needles than I had used for the Glitten, but had a couple fewer sts and had fewer rounds. Why not use this pattern with the same size needles as the Glittens and things
should fit. Right?
I CO for my new pair of stranded mittens on Monday, and finish them up aside from the thumb by Monday night. I DID try them on right before I started decreasing for the top. Just to make sure. The thumb would work better, it was nice (and a tad loose) on the sides which was perfect, and I was to the top of my little finger. This should work. Decreases were finished, the end was kitchenered, the moment of truth. Too small. (*&&*(^)^()*&(_*^%&*^()!!!!!!! My gauge must have tightened up in my excitement there at the top.
I think with some aggressive blocking it will fit but at the same time, I'm not crazy about the cuff. It's not as long as I would have liked (granted I could have made it longer but I was using the same yarn that I used for the Glitten so I just knit with what I had) and it's baggy around the wrist. Again,
not super-satisfied with the mitten. Naturally I don't have a finished picture of that one, but here's little miss helping me work on it.
Yes, the minions wear their hats indoors and no, I do not keep my house cold enough to warrant wearing a hat at all times ;)
That was Monday. I was miffed with my lack of Olympics-worthy mittens so I haven't even CO for the second Herringbone Mitten. I'm just indifferent to them and have no desire to work on it at the moment. Instead, I picked up little man's second sock which had been set down and neglected during the stranding frenzy and am working on finishing that up. I might make the second mitten and give them away for charity. We'll see. I have a stranded Harry Potter inspired bag charted up - though I have to tweak it a bit. I thought of some modifications to it while I was lying awake at 2am last night - what, you don't think about knitting when you can't sleep? - so I'm excited to get working on that and I have another hat to knit up which involves some colorwork... And my other WiP's... It was rather productive night, I must say. I'm a bit sleepy this morning but I had some Holiday Knitting brainstorms, and some other projects worked out :)
Who am I kidding, all that will have to wait until I can conjure up a pair of mittens that I'm satisfied with before the Olympics have finished!
But were soon eager for a larger adventure. 
There's little man's Valentine's Day socks all finished up, the OFFICIAL stranded mittens for little man (technically there is a stranded portion, so there!), the unfinished and still-to-be-frogged herringbone mitten, the Voodoo Priestess Headwrap/Scarf that I finished up during the Olympics (it is a pattern I wrote up for Gherkin's Bucket's Southern Charms Club), the frogged Glitten, my super-cool stranded hat, the minions' stranded hats, and the finished Valentine's Mittens for little miss. Not a bad haul for 2 weeks. 
