Pattern: Jalie 4343 Mimi Insulated Mittens
Overall: Acceptable mittens that will be good for walking and standing around outdoors. I finished them last night, and we got a heavy wet snow today. They kept my hands warm and dry while de-snowing my car and playing in the snow!
More my PatternReview page. Here's a narrative to go with the technical details.
The good:
Polartec Neoshell is fantastic to work with- it isn't as slippery as I feared it would be and feeds well. No special needle considerations, either. A universal point worked fine. I see more Neoshell projects in my future (assuming I can find neat colors on sale at Discovery Fabrics, since they aren't shy about saying which of the billion varietals of Neoshell they are selling you).
And the color is a favorite - I already had matching thread because I'd made a few projects last year in a nearly identical color of linen.
These are quite warm thanks to the Primaloft Gold 200g insulation.
The Toughtek thumb panel provides a good grip.
They are the right length. (My fingers and thumbs are short compared to my palm girth so it's usually hard to get this right in ready to wear.)
Taping the seams for waterproofing took a long time but was very easy to do, and the tape didn't change the hand of the Neoshell much. Plus I got to buy a new tool for it (Dritz Petite Press) that is going to make my life so much easier as I work on my scrap quilt.
The bad:
The rounded points did not end up rounded if Toughtek was involved! I promise I sewed them as curves. I didn't trim the seam allowances as aggressively as I should have.
The mittens fit about a size too small in width and at the thumb. While the insulation probably has something to do with that, I think I measured our hands wrong. I've measured my hands multiple times now and keep getting a good .5" larger than the initial measurements two weeks ago, and that number changes throughout the day! Looking around now I see that some brands have you take the girth measurement while making a fist around the measuring tape. If I do that, we're both a size larger, and I'm on the edge of needing two sizes larger. (Which is probably why I like the way Jay's fit.)
The neutral:
I forgot how much insulated mittens impact dexterity. I haven't worn anything like these in years, making due with worsted and fingering weight knitted items or moderately/lightly insulated gloves. I can drive with them, but I prefer others over these. (If I use the larger pair, I can layer, and then have a better glove for driving in super cold conditions.)
The instructions for the strap placement left the seam side up. (Yet again I didn't trust my brain and blindly obeyed the instructions. )
I paired the insulation with the liner instead of with the shell fabric. This made sewing on the cuff far easier, as I had a smooth surface to sew as I sewed inside the circle while stretching out a very small piece of cuff fabric relative to the mitten opening. If I had to do that with batting fighting getting caught in my foot too I'm sure it would be a disaster for non-dextrous me. I'm putting it in the neutral section since others haven't complained about it.
I think I prefer a positive pairing action instead of just shoving one glove into the strap of the other, so I'll be thinking about where to add snaps. (Probably the straps.)
Elastic musings: Because my wrist is so small relative to my hands, the elastic doesn't do much for me. If I make the insulated version again, I'd run some elastic cord through a channel and add a toggle in the same place to get a better fit. (And eliminate the straps.) I would sew a cuff with a tapered shape for the same reason next time too.
The gripper panel on the underside isn't an ideal shape for gripping things, so I'd want to change that to be more of an angled patch going down the palm.
Future plans for this pattern:
Make a pair of shells to wear over my running gloves. This teal Neoshell is three-layer with a nice smooth tricot on the inside. Since I wouldn't want to tape the seams, use any Toughtek, or add a liner they'll go a lot quicker, too. I can add some reflective piping along the outer seams for fun and safety. I really should have tried on the shell before sewing these up to see if the shell is sized right by itself for a thin layer. (The cuff will need to be tapered to actually fit!)