Nifty Gifties: Painfully Easy Cabled Fingerless Mitts.

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been on a birthday gifting frenzy of late and can finally post these brilliant and ridiculously easy cabled fingerless mitts I also gave my friend Lauren for that special day.I decided to do a really simple pattern that I could easily bang out in a day (who wants something complex when its summer and you're knitting winter items that won't be worn for awhile?) and found an excellent wrist warmers pattern over at Wine & Needles, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants high satisfaction with minimal work because these aren't even knit in the round!The mitts are worked straight on a set of 8 dpns, and its a six stitch cable crossover. The side and thumb hole are simply seamed at the end and because of the ribbing, you can't even tell! Amazing.I knitted up Lauren's using this excellent Moda Dea Bamboo Wool, which is washable, super soft, is eco-friendly, and holds brilliant color. The blue velvet color just pops insanely in person, and because its not striped or has weird weight, it showcases the cables beautifully and gives off this silky sheen. I'd be hard-pressed to find downsides to Bamboo--its even odor-resistant, which means making these fingerless mitts for smokers (though dropping the ciggies would be a better idea, kittens!) is probably the best thing you could ever do so they don't have that dirty winter unwashed stale smokey smell that I often get blasted with on public transportation, which is so unfortunate.When I was knitting them up, a friend kept asking me, "Now how do you wear those? Don't your fingers get cold? What's the point?" to which I declare, when you live in the city, fingerless mitts are so irresistible because while if its really cold you must tuck your fingies into pockets, they are perfect for those moments when you have to pull out your train card to get on the subway outside or unlock your door. Sometimes you just need your fingers to be free, and if you're anti-glove and pro-mitten like myself, fingerless mitts are perfect if you don't have mittens which turn into fingerless mitts laying around.What's more, Lauren emailed me this morning to tell me she unfortunately caught the nasty cold that's plaguing everyone I know right about now---including myself---and that while home sick today in her freezing apartment, she's laying about the couch in these mitts while she finishes up homework and odds and ends. Golf claps! Wears for the sickly, too!File Under: Perfect Expensive Looking Giftage for a city dwelling friend. The rewards are so amazing.