~Magic?... loop, not gauge!~

I've been knitting the Give a Hoot mittens by Jocelyn Tunney on Ravelry for Melyssa - as her College mascot is an owl. I have to say that although I love the pattern and the very unique thumb gusset, the sizing has been a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, before starting these I looked at a lot of the projects that had been done and read the comments, so I was forewarned of this issue before starting (for this, I love Ravelry!). However, even with this knowledge, using bulky yarn in place of the worsted weight, and a gauge swatch, I had to frog the first mitten 3 times before getting the correct size! The pattern lists the size of these as adult woman ~ I have small hands and they were working up too small for me! Now, I LOVE my dpn's and thought I had every size available until I realized I would have to go up to a size 9 after the ribbing - I DIDN'T have a 9! Now, being the stubborn, never say die Italian that I am, (because I only have 4 or 5 or maybe even 6 wip's I could have worked on) I decided that I would finally teach myself the magic loop method until I could get to the store and buy the missing 9's. I was pleasantly surprised that it was a piece of cake to do and although I will most likely go back to my beloved dpn's when knitting at home, I have realized that this will be a great way to knit socks (mittens, toys, etc.) in the car, at softball games, the beach etc. and not be searching high and low for the "dropped dpn" (I'm sad to say, that I drop them often and have been known to say very unladylike things while looking for them). The "almost finished" mitten on the left just needs eyes and I'm contemplating a backstitch around the owl (the cross-stitcher in me coming out) in blue to help it stand out and make it "school colors". As you can see by the picture on the right, there is NO WAY I will get a pair out of one skein of yarn - thankfully, I bought two :) My favorite thing about this pattern is the thumb gusset - it is fantastic! I will be making all of my mittens with this feature from now on. I hope you all had a great weekend - the weather here was beautiful - in the 50's, open windows, and a lot of melting snow. I REFUSE to think about the snow coming tomorrow and the "below normal" temperatures coming with it! Off to finish the other mitten!