Or baby coughing fishes :op

That is the meaning and the name of the fingerless mitts I made called Kolenyas!

I believe I like the thought of hugs on my hands better! Haha!

For NOROvember I knew immediately that I would be making a pair of Kolenyas as I've been eyeing them for a very long time now.

Not only did I make one pair, but 2!! They really are fun and easy to make, so you end up just wanting to make more of them :o)

Pattern: You can locate the Kolenyas pattern HERE, which was designed by Carola Haglund about two years ago.

Size: On the 1st pair I made the "one size fits all" according to the pattern. Which I ended up not liking, as everyone's hands are just not the same size.

Despite this pattern being designed by a woman, I really think the original sizing is more for larger hands, or more fitting for a man. As the blue pair really came out loose to me.

Don't get me wrong... they indeed serve their purpose (as I wore them several times...while knitting, around the office, and avoiding cold steering wheels..before gifting them away to Janet! Haha) all while keeping me warm! ;op

I really like for fingerless mitts to hug me!

So the second pair I adjusted to be more of a custom fit for my smaller hands. Much better!!

Time: I knitted these up 2-at-1 time As I do with anything that is simple like this project to avoid the second syndrome and to plain just get it over with!

This project can be (and was) done within 24 hours! Really fast!

Needles: Well with the 1st pair I used US3s for the ribbing and 4s for the body, and for the 2nd pair I stayed on US3s the entire time both done on 40" cords.

Yarn: NORO of course! :oD And as much as I love NORO I never worked with Kureyon before, ooh wait that is not true...my 1st experience with Noro was with Big Kureyon!!

So this was my 1st time working with the baby Kureyon :o) Boy Oh Boy this stuff is rough!!

And I forgot how easily it breaks ...if you knit too tight! ;o) Afterall it is 100% wool!!

But all worth it in the end!

You only need 1 skein (really less than) to work these mitts up!

If you are really anal about the stripes needing to match, then you would need two skeins so that you can do some operating on them.

Cost: The blue pair was yarn that was gifted to me by Robin! Thanks Gurl!!

And the pink/brown pair I picked up during my last NCEE field trip earlier this month for only $7 bucks as we got a discount for coming as a group!

You can't beat that price for a pair of mitts, that would have cost more 'store bought' and wouldn't keep you anywhere near half way warm!!

What I learned: Overall, this was an easy peasy knit!

However, I did learn to do a gusset thumb, rather then just using waste yarn and keep knitting in a circle around it, only to come back to unravel later (like on my Fetchings project).

This pattern calls for you to do continual increases on both sides to make room for the thumb, and that was my first time doing that. I like that method much better!

Modifications: They say the second time around is better. So I definitely made some changes for the other pair.

First off, on both pairs I nixed the finger dividers, as I knew I wouldn't like that on my hands.

Below is the laundry list for the more snug/hug pair I made for my hands:
~ Still CO 30 sts, and extended ribbing for 20 rounds
~ Did NO increasing!
~ Knit 7 rounds
~ On thumb gusset only increased to 8 sts in btwn sm.
~ Did NOT cast-on additional stitches just joined in rounds for a total of 29sts
~ Knit 11 rounds
~ No decreasing at end of mitt
~ 4 rounds of 1x1 ribbing before BO
~ Thumb - PU 4 sts, K1 even round, then did decrease round of (K2, K2tog = total of 9sts - however ended up kind of tight on my thumb! So next time I would increase thumb by picking up more stitches and use stretchy BO - fyi).
~ Then knitted 4 even rounds before binding off on thumb.

Verdict: If you are looking for a gift that is quick, easy, and cheap then you found it!! Definitely could crank out a ton of these without getting bored! Especially with the fun color changes of the magnificent NORO! :o)

Go! And have some holiday knit fun!