Progress on the Endpaper Mitts

I've been knitting Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. I'm using Noro Silk Garden for the main color, it's a heavier yarn than the Koigu used for in the pattern, so I had to make a few adjustments because of the gauge. I'm getting 6st/inch instead of 8st/inch which makes the mitt too big if I keep the same stitch count as the pattern. (The contrast yarn is the Louet Gem yarn, but 2 strands to equal the Noro Silk Garden.) So I've made 3 changes -

#1: A cast-on of 45st, using Robin Hansen's Maine cast-on (I tried the tubular cast-on but couldn't get it to look good, I'm going to keep practicing) and did ribbing for just 6 rows.

which led to:

#2: K one row in the main color decreasing 3 stitches before switching to the chart. I did the chart over 40 stitches (it's a 10st repeat) with the first and last stitches kept in the contrast color. The thumb gusset increases were done between these 2 stitches. I haven't done the thumb itself yet, but I've put those stitches on a holder and continued up the hand as in the pattern.

Which led to:

#3: Since the yarn is heavier, it's working up too thick to use as fingerless mitts (for me anyway, a thinner yarn would've worked better). So I turned them into one-finger mittens (no, not that finger ). When the mitt got to the knuckles, I made the index finger in a 1x1 checkerboard pattern (K1 main color, k1 contrast color). I did the rest of the hand as a regular mitten, following the pattern chart until I got 2-3 rows before the decreases. I switched to the same 1x1 checkerboard pattern for a couple of rows and am now working out the decreases.

Once I finish that, I'll go back and do the thumb in the 1x1 checkerboard pattern. The 1x1 checkerboard pattern coordinates well with the endpaper design - it's a continuation of the diagonals. Hmm, does that make 4 changes (the thumb being #4)?

The second mitt should go pretty quick since I've already figured out what I need to do.

See? Except for these few changes, I followed the pattern.