May is here, and with it a new project and new technique for the AC Knitwear Boost Your Knitting. This month, it is a pair of mittens that start with the tubular cast on. I had not heard of this cast on before, but having watched the video tutorial, I am sold! Basically you start with some waste yarn and about half the stitches you will actually need, knit a little bit, then fold the provisional start up into the knitted stitches to begin the pattern. I’m dramatically simplifying, of course, but that’s the basis of it. The technique produced a very neat folded edge that is a little stretchy but not floppy. I can see that it will be very useful!

As a project, it is fabulous because it is bigger yarn on bigger needles, and mittens are smallish in any case, so they are going super-fast. Here’s where I am so far – up to where the thumb gets separated off.

The back of the mittens get this nifty stitch pattern that looks cabled but is really a sort of wrapped stitch pattern. A thinner strip of the same pattern goes up the thumb as well.

The yarn is some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that someone gave me a few years ago and has been sitting in my stash waiting to become something. It is very soft and has a really nice drape. I’m a little sad now that it’s getting warm out and I won’t have any use for these lovely mittens for a couple months!