Mitts for Daddy

Last week my Dad asked if I could make him some fingerless mitts to keep his hands warm. This is the first time Daddy has asked me to knit him anything so of course I got some measurements of his hands and wrists and got started. I had a bunch of black Cleckheaton Country 8 ply (it's a DK weight, superwash wool) that I got from my old LYS in Virginia. I decided this would be perfect for a manly pair of mitts. I decided to knit it at 6 stitches per inch (slightly tighter than DK weight usually is) to make them more durable and to counter act any "growing" that the superwash tries to do.

Using Daddy's measurements, I pulled out The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns for directions, promptly decided I'd use them more as guidelines than rules, and started knitting. At this point I've done all of the thumb gusset increases (you can see the thumb area on the right) and now I'm working even until I get to the point where I'll separate the thumb stitches from the rest of the mitt. I need Daddy to try them on this morning to see how much farther I have to go before I can separate those stitches. Fortunately, we're supposed to go to the gym in a little while so I can get him to try them on then.