Experimenting with color... Knitting...

OK... so I know I'm suppose to be organizing my office, but I thought I would share with you my latest knitting project...  I am still struggling with color changes, and thought practicing on some mittens for my kids would be a good way to try out a few techniques... 
I came across this cross stitch pattern and thought... hmm... could this translate easily to knitting?  I didn't see why not so I gave it a try...



It worked great!  And because the boxes of the pattern were roughly the same size as the knit stitches...
 I did not have to alter the pattern at all...

I found this free pattern on line for a basic mitten. To make them fingerless I stopped at the first [body]decrease round(3rd page half way down) and did a 2 by 2 rib for 6 rounds... then bind off... For the thumb (after I slipped my stitches back on to the needles) I picked up 3 stitches... K1 round ... then did a 2 by 2 rib for 6 rounds...


For my daughter I thought I would practice fair isle color change...  They turn out cute too!

Well... I am still not a pro, but I do have a better understanding of color changes... my knitting is still a little tight at the switches... but I guess i still need  more practice... If I come across a secret trick to make the changes smoother... You'll be the first to know... or better yet, if you have any advise I'd be grateful!  Happy Knitting!
***Jennifer