Swirly Retirement

My mittens are wearing out. My Swirly Mittens 2.0 were finished in the summer of 2010, so they've had four winters of hard use. I should not complain about that.

I was still deeply saddened when I saw that they're wearing out. I've patched them in three different places, but I have to accept that the fabric is getting really thin in the places that get the most use. I cannot darn them forever. This is the latest hole:

I've darned them once again, but I think they deserve to be retired, perhaps to take a place of honor on a shelf above the fingering weight yarn. I imagine in the middle of the night, the mittens will tell stories to the skeins of fingering weight yarn, stories of their creation, of falling snowflakes, of holding a leash and a snow shovel and a bag, of being pulled on and off and being stuffed into coat pockets time after time after time. The skeins will sit in awed silence, hoping that someday they, too, will transform into something beautiful and useful and loved.

Damn. Now I feel guilty about all the unfulfilled yarn in my stash.

Before next fall, I need to knit myself a new pair. I've been narrowing down the choices. (You can see them on Ravelry here if you want.) For right now though, I'm still in mourning.