Alpaca Glittens!

As mentioned on my pattern search for glittens, my morning commute often involves 10-20 minutes waiting for the bus in Boston cold. I like to read my morning paper, but I hate repeatidly taking off my mittens to turn a page or get out my bus pass. Therefore, I decided to create a pair of glittens (or convertible mittens) following the Broad Street Mittens pattern.

I made these with 2 balls Artesano inca cloud (100% alpaca) color ZK 50 g/131 yards. (That I purchased in the UK.)

I have small hands, and I attempted this pattern even though it indicated that it would fit a women's large. Switching to smaller than 2.75 mm needles (used in the pattern) did not affect the gauge enough that I was willing to start over. The cuffs and the fingers fit well, so they feel good on my hand.

I wanted to make the mitten shell smaller, since I have small hands, as written it seemed as though it would be quite large, so I made the following adjustments:

My decrease for mitten shell:

• ... (same as written pattern)
  
• K even around all four needles for 17 rounds.
• Then, on each needle -- k to the last 2 stitches, k2tog. K one round even.
  
• (my changes start here)
  
• K4, K2tog *repeat (K last 2 sts)
• K 3 rounds even
• K3 K2 tog - repeat to end (K last 2 sts)
• K 3 rounds even
• K2 K2 tog - repeat to end (K last 2 sts)
• K 2 rounds even
• K1 K2 tog - repeat to end (K last 2 sts)
• K 1 round even
  
• K1 K2 tog - repeat to end
  
• K 1 round even
• K2 tog - repeat to end
• K2tog enough to get 4 sts final
  
• Make Icord as directed

Working with alpaca was wonderful. I cannot wait to use it in another project!