mittens on the way

A package heads to San Francisco today, containing the blue sweater and Lopi mittens pictured a few days ago, as well as two more pairs of mittens:

Both pairs were knit using two strands of worsted held together, following the instructions for the smallest size of this mitten pattern.  This gives a small to medium adult size, perfect for our age group. The double strand achieves a bulky gauge, but the fabric is more supple than I usually get with a bulky yarn.

I washed the Lopi mittens again, in hopes of evening out the fabric. The first wash was a simple soak and spin using a no-rinse wool wash. This time, I washed on the handwash cycle (ordinary top loader but with a handwash cycle) so there was a little bit of agitation. Because I used Lopi, a pretty fuzzy yarn, I turned them outside when I washed them. They look and feel much better now: