Bird Cage Mittens

So I am halfway done with the knitting on my birdcage mittens, meaning I have one mitten complete. I set my knitting down for about two weeks in the middle of it, and you can definitely tell right where I picked it back up again because the gauge changes so drastically. Also, my bind-off on the top is ugly. And the thumb. I do not like the way the thumb worked up. BUT! It turned out, and I'm pretty pleased with it for that reason alone - you can tell what the image is. That counts as a win in my book. Even if my technique does need some help.

In progress - you can see the bottom of the cage. 

I think the other reason for dissatisfaction is this: the sense that if my gauge hadn't gotten looser, I wouldn't be able to wear the mitten at all. I went down two needle sizes, and maybe only needed to go down one. But to be honest, it was more about which needles in my collection were available than the swatching I didn't do, and I had 3s and 4s, not 4s and 5s. So we'll see how the second one goes - I really like the look and feel of the tighter first half of work on the mitten. I've definitely got enough yarn to frog the first and knit a new left hand mitten with the leftovers from the skein if I need to. I think the skeins would almost make two sets of mittens, if I was careful with it.

A peek at the inside of the mitten. Eventually the floats will mat down on
each other to form a second layer of yarn to keep my hands extra warm. 

 These photos were taken probably a day before I set the project down for a few weeks, so the mittens look neat and tight up to about this point, and then they get a little raggedy. Okay, not even really raggedy. Just less tight. And I suppose that knitting looser meant that I stopped pulling my stitches too tight at the "corners" where my dpns met. Blocking should fix some of that, but blocking is not a cure for crappy knitting technique, even if it might hide some of my lesser failings!

Corrugated rib. I love it. 

I think I want to knit corrugated rib forever and ever. I love it. The way it looks, the way it knit up, the way it feels, the tautness of the fabric. I love me some lace, but this was an amazing thing to work up. Plus I love the sturdy-ness of it. Some mother somewhere created this stitch in the hope that it would keep up with her adventurous, curious children. Or maybe to put a cuff on a sleeve for a sweater with loose sleeves she'd created for herself. It seems so utilitarian and useful, but it's also really pretty. Form and function, hand in hand!