These mittens have sound effects.

I don't consider myself a knitwear designer by any stretch of the imagination. But I do occasionally have flashes of inspiration, sparked by some kind of need I encounter in my daily life. Last year, while I was working at the elementary school getting kids in wheelchairs off the bus at a miserable ridiculously-early-and-ridiculously-cold 7 a.m. every day, I loved the utility of my beautiful Last Minute Knitted Gifts wristwarmers, but my fingers still got cold during those between-bus waiting periods.

So I decided that I needed a pair of those awesome mittens with the half-fingers tucked inside the flap. And I couldn't really find a good pattern I liked, so I just made one up. I borrowed elements from Amy Singer's flappy mittens, and also from the gloves in Last Minute, I think.

I knitted the first one in Atlanta, and half of the second one -- but then I lost my enthusiasm for the project (something about spring, and not needing them so much anymore... and getting engaged and looking for jobs...) and I apparently lost the paper on which I wrote the recipe of what I did on the first glove. So I spent several afternoons picking at the finished glove and trying to figure out what the heck I did the first time around so I can do it again in reverse.

And yes, I am trying to make all the spirals go in reverse, so I double- and triple- and quadruple-check everything. I've ripped out the pinkie and first fingers so many times that I lost count! But here they are.

The yarn is Malabrigo, size 8 needles on the body and flap, size 6 on the fingers. I should have done the ribbing on 6s, but I didn't. Am considering ripping the ribs from the bottom and redoing, but am also lazy and decided that I'd rather get to wear these for at least a little bit of this winter.

And I say the mittens have sound effects because you all you can see is blue when the flap is closed -- and then "whap-shah!" Yellow!