Smitten by Mittens!

 

It has been a while since I have talked about Raynaud's Syndrome. Honestly, the warmer months don't bother me much, which could go without much explanation. If you are not sure what Raynaud's is, it is a circulatory disorder that is not life-threatening, in mos cases. When people who do not have Raynauds get cold, their veins dilate to allow more blood to flow to their extrimities (your hands, feet...etc). This helps keep your entire body warm. When people who have Raynauds get cold, their veins constrict which allows less blood to flow through the body causing the extremities to feel pain that I can only associate with frostbite.  

In the warmer months, it doesn't affect me as much. My hands hurt in the frozen section of the store, if I stay there too long or open the doors. Getting ice cream out of the freezer and into a bowl is a painful task (which bites because I do love ice cream). Even holding a cold beverage can bring my hand pain if it isn't wrapped or in an insulated cup.

So, when the Christmas presents are finished I am going to be making some mug cozies, and some wraps for water bottles and what not. 

Now that September has finally come and gone, it is getting colder. From walking home or walking to work, in the morning, there have been a couple of times that I wished I had thought about gloves. I did some reading and it is actually recommended that people who have Raynauds wear mittens because the combined body heat from your fingers being together, rather than separated by gloves, can actually help to keep your hands warmer.  Unfortunately, even though I live in a state that has snow, unless you are a child mittens are difficult to find. Even, right now, gloves are a difficult thing to find.

I have tried my hand at fingerless gloves and so far, it hasn't worked out in my favor. There are a couple of people who are making some fingerless gloves for me and I am excited for them to arrive.I am told that I can wear them to work, which is amazing because it does get cold, sometimes. Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at mittens because I cant find any.

I found this free pattern which I do believe that I am in love with! The mittens were so easy to work up and it was only in two parts: the thumb and the rest of the mitten. I have seen some mitten patterns where the cuff is separate from the main section and I think that is where I get lost with the fingerless gloves that I have tried to make. It took me about a total of 4 hours to make the pair of mittens. Which, I'm sure was mainly due to the fact that I had never made mittens before. Again, they were so easy to make and they are warm, which is of course the best part.

I am so proud of my mittens. I think even more proud than the lady bug blanket that I made a few months back. It was a small project but something that I was never able to do. Also, this is only the second thing that I have made for myself. The first being the Ember Shawl.Woohoo!

What is your favorite mitten pattern? What are you working on?

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Remember that you are beautiful and well loved.