We were heading off on holiday a few weekends ago when the postman arrived at the door with what looked like an armful of magazines, so of course I had to leap out of the car and take them with us…

One was the latest Simply Crochet, issue 10. I had packed my craft bag very carefully with things to carry on with, or complete. Not new projects to begin. These were the hot pink crochet scarf… and the sewing up that really needed to be done on the little red knitted jumper and that cat (I know, I’m bored of mentioning it – so am sure you’re bored of reading about it!)

The trouble was that the bobble mitts designed by Hannah Reed really caught my eye. I’ve never made fingerless mitts before, thinking that they looked a bit dull as most I’d seen are made with simple doubles or trebles, but Hannah’s lovely pair are in one of my favourite crochet stitches – bobbles. The only spare yarn I had was a ball of brown I’d packed for embroidering for the cat’s nose. I don’t wear brown, it’s just not my colour but I know a lot of people who do. So, before I knew it the Clover soft-touch hook was in my hand and I whipped up the mitts during spare moments in the apartment. It just had to be done.

I wrote some notes in my little book after I crocheted these which I’ll share in case you fancy making a pair…

:: Make sure that the stitch count is 33 still after making the 5 chain thumb-hole, otherwise it throws out the following bobbles

:: I adapted the pattern to make a longer piece of crochet so did 11 rows of bobbles then 2 rows of double crochet at each end

:: I also double crocheted around the thumbhole to finish them off. Don’t do this! Unless your thumb-hole is big and a bit gapy. Mine were perfectly sized and now are a little bit snug. They’re wearable but the dc row and darning tightened them up rather. I’ll have to give them to a friend with slim thumbs

Simply Crochet issue 10 has some nice items this month, I recommend you have a little look at a copy.

Have a good weekend! Maybe I’ll bump into you at Yarndale? :-D