Even though I’ve been knitting a long time, there are a number of things I had never knitted until recently. For instance, the socks I entered in the fair this year were the first I ever made. When I was asked to design a hat for Simply Shetland 2, I had never made one before. The common items that people typically knit have not been part of my repertoire! My knitting preference has always been sweaters. Â
Okay. I’ve never made a pair of mittens — I’ve knitted several pairs of gloves, but not mittens. I’ve never had the desire to make mittens, even when my daughters were small. So what’s the big deal?
I am part of the Mitten Exchange at the Knitters Guild. I took yarn from an anonymous someone to make mittens and someone has my yarn and is making me mittens. The mittens I am making are absolutely hideous.  I would not wear them to change a tire. They are UGLY! Part of it is the yarn and part of it is me. I’ll own up to my share of the problem, but that does not change the reality of the situation — they are UGLY!  I have spent hours and hours trying to make them look good, but they just don’t. So I am thinking of buying replacement yarn and giving it to the person with a note of apology. OR, could I replace her yarn and give her mittens out of different yarn?  I don’t know what else to do. They are embarrassing!!
It’s not like I haven’t had my share of failed knitting projects — I’ve had quite a few. But in those cases, I just stuffed them in a bag to be tossed out at a later date. In this case, I have made a commitment to someone else. Someone out there is expecting a special pair of mittens next week.
What would you do? Should I buy more yarn and/or make her mittens out of something else?
Could it be that you are being too harsh? She must have loved that yarn to have bought it! Just do the best you can with that yarn & if you’re still unhappy, do another.
Comment by Marina — October 10, 2006 @ 6:54 am
From Susan — I don’t think I’m being too harsh. Everyone who has seen it is underwhelmed. And I do think I have already given it as much time as I can. It’s just not working!
Comment by surly — October 10, 2006 @ 7:08 am
I say trash the mittens altogether and knit her a pair of gloves if that
is what you enjoy. Most adults prefer gloves to mittens anyway. You can
always knit her a lovely scarf instead. Anything that comes off your
needles could not possibly disappoint anyone!
Comment by Michelle — October 10, 2006 @ 7:11 am
You are in a terrible situation. I am a member of the guild and I know how this mitten thing works. You have to make mittens with the yarn that was given to you because that is what is expected. The person who put the yarn in the bag is expecting mittens made out of that yarn. If the mittens do not have holes in the thumb and they look like mittens, what else is the person expect to get. Since you can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear (or however that saying goes) I would leave them as is and not admit to making them. If the yarn is wool, you could always do some needle felting to add pizzaz. Good luck!
Comment by Michele — October 10, 2006 @ 9:27 am
Have you seen “Favorite Mittens” by Robin Hansen? It is a compilation of her two
“Fox & Geese& Fences” books. (I can never get the titles to them right!) It has
gorgeous stranded mittens in it knit out of basic yarn, like Bartlett. You could knit a
practice pair from the book for your swap person, and give them to her, along with her
bad juju mitten yarn. I predict that you will then want to knit several more pairs of
mittens, because those designs are truly addictive. They are complicated enough to hold your
attention and be a little challenging, but since mittens are such a small project, you
can knit them fairly quickly and get a feeling of accomplishment. I live in Iowa, and even
though I’m 44 years old, I still love handknit mittens. I’ve never bought myself a pair of
gloves—there is no warmth in them. Brenda.
Comment by Brenda — October 10, 2006 @ 10:25 am
I’m kinda with Marina on this…person X might love this yarn and is expecting comfy, tire-changing mittens out of them — they might be disappointed if they don’t get back what they expected. She might just as well be hating the yarn someone else sent her. Can you post an anonymous note with the Knitter’s Guild asking people what they think? You might not be the only one suffering with a yarn/design issue. Given that there isn’t mush time left, and I wouldn’t want to disappoint the recipient, I’d just hurry up and finish it so I could get onto something else.
This reminds me of when I got married, and a few people bought off-registry items that they were looovely and couldn’t wait to see these items [read: groteque artifacts unfit for the stalest of ribbon candy] displayed in our new home. Thank goodness I can say we still live in a small apartment and plead mini-storage. [read: returned for store credit] Different strokes, as they say.
Comment by Laura — October 10, 2006 @ 11:00 am
This is a tough one. I think I would just grit my teeth and finish them. The yarn is what it is and the recepient selected it, not you. But, sometimes I’ve chosen a yarn I thought would be perfect for a project and then when I’ve worked with it, ugh, it is totally wrong, and I’ve had to give up and find more suitable yarn for the project. Perhaps he/she would have felt as you do if he/she actually tried to knit mittens with the yarn and given up on it. Egads, I just reread what I have typed. Can you tell my astrological sign is Gemini?
Comment by Barbara — October 10, 2006 @ 2:16 pm
I’m with those who say it was her choice, knit it. It does concern me that members of the guild read your blog. Even if you’ve decided the yarn owner doesn’t, I wonder if everyone will be trying to see those mittens and having a good laugh over them. I definitely would not knit her gloves. The swap wasn’t about knitting what you wanted, it was about knitting mittens.
Comment by Gerrie — October 10, 2006 @ 3:44 pm
I can’t imagine youR work being really ugly.Can we see THEM?
Comment by katomliz — October 10, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
She chose the yarn. I don’t know what she was expecting out of it, but I’d just finish them.
Comment by surly — October 10, 2006 @ 6:21 pm