Last Friday, I decided that I would pick two of my current projects and advance them by at least two rows every day. It has been really very beneficial and productive, although I had to tear out sixteen rows on those men’s mittens that first day.
Despite that setback, and coming down with the flu, I have managed to finish the first mitten (and give them a soak!).
I’m not very happy with how the thumb worked out. I may have to re-work them in DPNs since the Magic Loop method really stretched out the stitches. And there’s an unsightly hole where I didn’t do a good job picking up stitches for the thumb (must keep practicing that). But I persevered because I wanted to know if I had enough yarn left to make the second mitt.
The answer is: YES!
Overall, I’m very happy with the pattern (Men’s Mittens). The fit has been perfect for my husband following the gauge, and I have had to only shorten the thumb length by 0.5″. (I’m curious how nicely the women’s mittens would fit me.)
The only issue I have had is that I’ve knit it using the Magic Loop method. The pattern calls for Double Pointed Needles and tells you what to do based on what needle you are working. Quite a bit of mental exercise and gut relying have gone into making this just right. Hopefully I took good enough notes that I won’t be scratching my head as much as I start the second mitt.
Knit Me For a Loop 
Do you like magic loop? I like dpns enough that I’ve never tried it. Should I? Am I missing out?
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I think there is a place in my knitting for DPNs and ML, and even two circular needles at once. I was never confident with using DPNs as I prefer knitting with circular needles. It just became easier to carry one long needle in my project bag to finish up my hats rather than keeping track of four short little pointy things. I find it is also easier to try on the garment if it’s on a long needle rather than DPNs. It was fiddly to learn though, but then again I’m not a coordinated person. If DPNs work for you, I don’t see why you should switch.
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Yay for a HO! When I knit my Aunt’s mittens/gloves, I knit the hand part using magic loop and then I switched over to DPN’s for the thumb and fingers. I found that it helped with tightening of stitches. However, I had the same issue as you with the holes in between. I just used the tail of the yarn and tightened those areas up while I was weaving in the ends 🙂
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