Grab a pint!

I love living in Portland – for those unaware, Portland Oregon and Vancouver Washington, where the Knit Pick secret lair is located, are just separated by the Columbia River, so many of us working here actually live in Portland.  Portland has such a vibrant creative scene which, while it definitely includes a lot crafty fiber people, it also has a strong food, wine, and coffee local scene.  And my personal favorite – locally made handcrafted beer! (We aren’t nicknamed Beervana for nothing here).  Walk into practically any pub and I bet you’ll find a locally made (and yummy) beer here!

So when spillyjane put out this mitten pattern, I knew they had to be mine.

Beer Mitts!

I opted for the fingerless version – it’s what I normally wear as there are only a couple of months a year here I feel I really need mittens.  Just enough to not freeze my fingers when I’m drinking a cold beer. 🙂

I haven’t done a lot of colorwork at all – I leave that for my fellow coworkers who are colorwork experts (Kerin! Melissa!).  But I really enjoyed this – it’s a great project for others who are curious about colorwork but feel intimidated by a lot of the patterns out there.  I’m sure I could have done a more even job but I like how they turned out anyway.

 Beer Mitts!

And funny enough, I’ve been using Knit Picks yarn for several years now but I’ve never really used Palette for a complete project – just little bits here & there (and actually I have another project that I’ve finished but it’s a secret for now!).  But I can see why it’s so popular! 🙂  It was great to work with & once I soaked them in some wool wash, my mitts feel so lovely on.  And the colors are incredible!

Beer Mitts!

Sorry for the not great photo but I wanted to show you all my pints! 🙂  I kept with the beer colors that spillyjane used in the pattern (Masala, Bison, Cornmeal, Bittersweet Heather and Cream) but I decided to use a bright blue (Sapphire Heather) for the main color because I think they show up better.

Now I’m thinking I might need to make a pair of Cupcake Mittens for my visits to Cupcake Jones. 🙂