The bug beetle mittens are done (ignorance is bliss – I can no longer call non-bug insects bugs with a good conscience). The pattern is Entomology from the book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together. I used an itty bitty amount (maybe 50 g of each color) of an aran weight yarn (7 veljestä from Novita) and 3 mm needles.
Every time I do stranded knitting, the inside of the work turns out better and neater than the last time. That is way cool.
I’ve had the bamboo double pointed needles I used for these for years now, and I never used them before. I think they were one of the first needles I ever bought when I started knitting in 2007. They’re on the sharp side, which meant a really painful knitting experience at the time.
But now that I no longer have the beginner knitter’s death grip and my gauge has mellowed (the yarn no longer creaks when I knit), these turned out to be awesome needles. I think I only used them because all my other 3 mm needles were in use, but I’m glad I did. At least Prym’s bamboo needles have just the right amount of grip for neat stranded knitting.
Looking at the pictures, I can see that I’ve made some mistakes, but I probably won’t want to fix them (I would duplicate stitch the mistakes away). When I start using these, no one is going to notice one stitch in the wrong place – including me.
Bamboo number 1 knits! 
