i made these beautiful mittens out of anna zilboorg's book last spring, but had a hell of a time with the lining. i got them out this week to try to finish them, with a fresh eye -- and once again, three tries, and that's it for now.
what is it about lining mittens that is so unpleasant? i HATE thin, mohairy stuff. it LOOKS pretty, but i don't like knitting with it. add to that the trouble of in effect knitting the shadow of a mitten -- on double pointed needles -- attached to an already existing shape... no matter what i did or how far i got (rather far on one of them, way past the thumb gusset), something felt rather "hill house" about them -- just a little off. just a little unsettling.
this project leaves my "current and time sensitive" category and falls to the "eventually" category. i want to try again -- but ben could USE mittens now, and these are double stranded and plenty warm as it is. even if it's a few more winters before i get back in the saddle with this, i'll do it, because i like the idea that knitting (like writing) can be affected by changes made years after a project is "finished".
no point in letting a frustrating project like this take time away from small holiday projects that must be finished soon. and of course at this time of year there are often new signatures to embroider onto the signatures tablecloth.
so, in short: see ben's beautiful mittens! they're good enough, and may get better.