Playing with the CSM

I decided to try to write an alligator mitten pattern for my CSM.

Here's a photo of my first attempt - I'll rip it out.

On my 72 needle cylinder, I knitted a 3" long 1 x 1 rib cuff (30 rows). Then I put in all the other needles and knitted plain for 1.5" (or 15 rows). I think this works great. I'll keep this in the pattern. See this photo.

Then I split the needles in half - 36 needles for the top, 36 needles for the bottom. 36 needles for the top doesn't cover the four fingers. In hindsight, I should have done a 44 top, 28 bottom split.
Here's what it looks like looking down on the mitten.

Another problem was how long the mitten on top was. I knitted flat for 3" (30 rows), then I decrease by moving the outer two needles over by one needle (basically making a k, k2tog configuration on the outside of the mitt). I stopped when there were 9 stitches left on the needles. I need to stop next time when there are 15 stitches left. - but that fits my hand, which I think is the average male size.

This photo shows a side shot of the mitt.


The bottom is TOO long. I knitted it flat for 1.5" and then did the decreases like I did on top till I had 9 needles left. Next time, I won't do the flat and start decreasing all the way to 9 needles.

The other thing I did was start to knit the red from the bottom. It was okay, but the original mitt was done in garter. I decided that I would just flip the inside to the outside. Continuing knitting wouldn't make the inside mouth rough, so I'll have to start this work differently next time.

So to the frog pond this mitt goes. . .