Knit handlebar mitts - road trial

Ok so i made a 2nd mitt but gathered the top thinking maybe the wide square top of the first try might be colder.

Square top created by 3 needle bind off; round top by thread long tail thru last row.

Square top went over readouts and brake handles better, with less pulling away than round top.

Tested them today. Temp was 3 degrees C when i got back.

Interestingly, the  round top was colder. I;m not sure why.Wonder if it's because the  square style allowed the  warmth of the mitt to rest closer to the hand.

At first i wondered if maybe the wind blew more on the round top hand. But the round top was still colder on the way back when the wind blew on the other hand.

With skin right against the mitt, my hands were chilly but not frozen.

About half way thru the ride, I put on a nylon cycling glove under the mitt. Hands were  toasty that way. Underpad of mitt gave good grip on the thumb throttle and brakes inside mitt.

Went barehanded on last block home. Freezing. Not the coldest i've ever felt. I've also found that when you ride with handlebar mitts, once you get riding, your hands warm up and maybe generate some warm air inside the gloves. So it could be that taking the gloves off at end of ride, a lot of circulation warm up had already happened.

This ride did not test for waterproofing. Not too concerned about that. Most other cycling gloves would  get damp anyway.

I think these mitts are good for slightly below zero and above. If it was winter cold, I would probably go back to my padded  plastic coated pogies.

But the kmitted mitts do what i wanted in terms of really opening up the  colour options with affordable materials. Simple stripes had a nice Hudson Bay blanket kind of look.

I think i could further personalize these with a band of duplicate stitching, which wouldnt have to be in wool. But much more investment in time would take the affordability out of these mitts.

Wool is more expensive. And tighter gauge would be better. But tighter is harder on the fingers to knit - for me anyway.

Probably a decent rate would be $50. Decent price point if you can upgrade with colour. I would probably post at $45 and  try to keep the # of hours down.

With the square top I changed from in the round to back and forth at the  handlebar opening. With  the round glove i continued in the round using a primitive steek technique. A lot more bulk is created. More time bc i;m not so skilled at this. Note to self - keep it simple, go back and forth at opening, add colour thru dup stitch. Idea - x's and o's - love the earth by biking kind of thing.

Certainly worth developing a pattern for:)