Maine Morning Monsters

I'd like to introduce:

The Maine Morning Monsters



I decided to call them that not because I think they look bad, but because these mitts were not content to simply be another pair of Maine Morning Mitts. No, these babies had some serious delusions of grandeur.

The problem first surfaced on Saturday, February 23rd, while I was at Stitches West. The night of the Ravelry meet-up & party at Bobbins Nest Studio, I brought them with me to work on. As we sat in the coffee shop knitting and chatting, someone asked me what I was working on, and upon hearing that it was a pair of Maine Morning Mitts, pulled out a pair she had knit in Malabrigo. I 'fessed up that I had never used Malabrigo and had only even touched it for the first time this week. I admired their softness, lovely color, and (slowly) passed them back to her. This is when it happened.

The Maine Morning Monsters got jealous. They heard me ooing and aahhing over the Malabrigo Mitts and since they knew they could do nothing to change their basic fiber they set themselves to a loftier goal. They decided to try to be full-length armwarmers. You think I'm kidding? I'm not. I checked them the next morning after the party and discovered that the little suckers had almost doubled the amount of rounds between the cast-on and the beginning of the thumb gusset increases. It's a good thing I caught them when I did, because really, that full-length armwarmers with tank top look works for Summer Glau, but not for all of us!

Later that day I went back to Bobbins Nest to hang out & knit, but I took the braided cable hat with me instead. And then later that night, I wound up the Hazel Knits yarn sample and cast on the first itty-bitty Baby Bobbin Sock. I was so entranced by the itty-bitty sock that after I got home, I continued to knit on it for as long as I could, while the mitts languished at the bottom of the knitting bag. When I pulled them out again finally it was obvious that the green-eyed monster had reared it's ugly head yet again. Having lost their opportunity to be arm length, those bad little fingerless mitts tried to be full mittens! Really, they did! I don't know what they think they're playing at - adding all those extra rounds after the thumb - but seriously, can you imagine getting your stitches all twisted up over an itty-bitty sock? Sheesh!

Thankfully, the Maine Morning Monsters are finally completed. And now that they've been photographed and blogged, they'll be tucked into a drawer. Where no doubt, they will continue their mischevious ways, stirring up trouble and fomenting discord among the scarves and hats. I can only hope that the hand-knit socks will hold the line against any possible attempts for mass mobilization of knitwear.