Berry Hill Fingerless Mitts

So, my classroom is really, really cold. The heat comes on in the morning, and then for the remainder of the day, the fan blows cold air through the room. It actually creates a breeze in the room. Needless to say, I am always bundled up in extra clothes. I wear sweaters, scarves, gloves and sometimes even my coat. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to hand out papers when wearing gloves, so I decided to knit some fingerless mittens to keep my poor little hands warm at school. I found the pattern on Ravelry, and I love the pattern stitch in these mitts. It was very easy and it looks really cool. I used Red Heart acrylic yarn. My aunt gave me a bunch of it that she couldn't fit in her suitcase last time she visited. I guess even yarn is cheaper in the States :) The yarn is a dark green color. I knit in the round with size 3 dpns. And here are the pictures.......the right hand mitt......

And the left hand mitt.......

When I started the increases for the thumb, I followed the pattern exactly, but discovered that the method for increasing used in the pattern created little holes in the fabric (as seen below). After two increases like that, I changed the way I increased. In order to create a more solid fabric, I increased by putting the needle between the two stitches and making a stitch. This worked much better than the way outlined in the pattern.
This was my first time using a sewn bind off technique. I really like it and think I will use it more often. It allows the bind off edge more give. I usually bind off much tighter than my cast on edge, but this bind off edge is really comfortable. All in all, I love my new fingerless mitts. They allow me to do everything I need to do while keeping my little hands nice and warm :)