Let it snow!

I finished Hayden and the Two-Way Mittens (their new name) yesterday, so I am ready for winter walking now. I'm very happy with how everything turned out.

After living with the first mitten for a while, I noticed a couple of things that I knew eventually would drive me crazy, like the inside ribbing was just a little too tight, and the flap was too short and hitting the top of my middle finger. So for the second mitten I made adjustments and it was so much better that I frogged part of the first to match. Now I am satisfied with them. Please note that they are the same size--the mitten on the right has its flap pulled up a little.

As for Hayden, I made a few small modifications to the pattern to suit my tastes and my knitting preferences. I cast on 100 stitches and used a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch, and I knitted for 6.5 inches before beginning the decreases. I worked out a different set of decreases, and I think it turned out really well; I like the "pouffy-er" look at the top, and it doesn't sit right next to my head but extends upward a little bit. I don't like a head-hugging cap on myself.












Here's how I did my decreases:

In the Hayden hat pattern, end with round 8 when you've reached the desired length of the hat.

next round, decrease 4 stitches evenly (96)
next round (the purl round), *P6, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *work in pattern for 5 stitches, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *P4, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *work in pattern for 3 stitches, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *P2, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *work in pattern for 1 stitch, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *P2tog*
next round, *P2tog*

Break yarn, run through live stitches and pull tight, secure on other side.

This is a great pattern, and thank you to Poor Miss Finch for providing it. I plan to make some more of these as Christmas gifts. I think they would also be cute with a small tassel at the top.