Slimmer, Smaller, X-small and Just Right

A couple days before Christmas, the weather became a little bit frosty and I remembered some fingerless gloves that Julie had made and written about a couple months earlier.  At the time, she was asking if they would be worn by people in Wisconsin in winter . . . while they might not work so well for Winter in Wisconsin, as I was walking across the office park to get a warming latté in the cafe in another building, I was thinking they were PERFECT for cold winter days in Austin, Texas.

I contacted to Julie to find the pattern--I decided they were a great last minute Christmas idea for a friend.  Julie told me I could find Tera Johnson's Braided Mitts on Ravelry and suggested that I use a smaller needle because they were on the large side.  I pulled some nice wool out of my stash and started knitting ...

I never finished the first pair because, even before I had added the thumb and the ribbing at the top, it was clear they were going to be STILL way too big for me and I knew they'd never work for my petite friend whose hands had to be at least as small as mine. 

So when I saw my friend over the holiday, I showed her photos from the Ravelry site and looked at everyone's Braided Mitts projects and decided on a color and yarn.  Then we traced her hand, mitten style, so I'd have something to use to compare as I reworked the pattern.While I waited for the yarn I ordered for her (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Grape--a dark red-violet), I worked on making the pattern fit.

I felt a little like Goldilocks, first making a slimmer pair from a tweedy brown wool ... that felt too long, then making a smaller pair (in the photo above), which was OK for me, but still too large for Charisse, then making the extra small pair from the grape yarn.

It's hard to see the pattern in the dark yarns, but they are all the same, with the single braided cable on the top.

Tonight I am meeting Charisse and another friend after work ... fingers crossed that the "slimmer" brown tweedy pair and the X-small grape pair fit. The timing, at least, is good. Temps are predicted to drop dramatically over the weekend and stay there for a couple weeks. I have a feeling that I'll have an opportunity to wear sweaters and coats that have been too heavy for Texas.

I couldn't resist ordering a ball of the luscious Cashmerino yarn for me, too ... so I'll knit one more pair for me, tweak the pattern slightly and have a pair that will be "just right."  I'll be tucking this into my bag and working them up quickly.  I figure once the cold weather hits, I'll REALLY be in the mood to knit.