I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. This stranded color work thing is hard! I realize that my four little rows of colorwork don't even show up, but trust me, they're there. I think I even got all of the colors in the right places.



I did a couple of baby hats back before Quinn was born, but I think I must've been dropping the yarn and picking it up again each time the color changed. That won't work for a whole pair of mittens, so I'm trying to learn to do it right.

Maybe it's because I'm left handed and don't hold my needles right or something, but my fingers don't seem to be long enough. It makes my hands hurt. It almost makes me want to give up the whole idea of stranded colorwork, but I want those pirate mittens even more than I want my endpaper mitts. So I'm going to keep trying.

I've also got one of those little feelings about this. At karate last week, one of the mothers sat down in the chair next to me and started knitting with the yarn held in her left hand. It looked so different than any of the knitting I'd seen before that I sat there looking out of the corner of my eye, trying to figure out if she was knitting or purling, telling myself it'd probably be rude to ask. But between what I saw her doing and a picture I found here have given me an idea of what I think I'm supposed to be trying to do.

It's slow. It's not even remotely comfortable. But I think it's working. I'll give it another try tonight.