A Song of Ice and Fire-themed knitting (and gift-giving)

In my post on A Game of Thrones, I mentioned that I'd been working on an A Song of Ice and Fire-themed package for a secret swap. Well, now that that package has been (joyfully) received, I figured that I'd post about it.

The package was more specifically themed for House Stark and the northern lands. It included:

• spinning fiber from Dripping Fiber Studios in a colorway called "The Wall," which I special ordered,
• a double-pointed needle holder from Babylove Designs (my partner really wanted a DPN holder and I chose this one because the fabric read "winter" for me),
• a pair of Arya's Gauntlets knit by yours truly (I'm not crazy about these; more details below),
• Stitch markers from Little Skein in the Big Wool (I purchased a Big Bad set, but I thought that this particular wolf would work as a dire wolf just as well)
• an ice and fire lip balm set from Kisstixx, and
• a couple of goodies from See's Candies (specifically a Bordeaux treat and a Scotchmallow tree).

Here's a better image of both (one of the) mitts and the stitch markers -

Project: Winter is Coming
Pattern: Arya's Gauntlets by Julie Coburn
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light, "Tern" colorway

While I love the stitch pattern for the mitts (which is supposed to resemble chain mail), I’m not crazy about the construction - specifically the fact that the pattern does not include any increases for the thumb joint.

My modifications: for the thumb I picked up 20 stitches rather than 16, knit the 6 rows of ribbing that I was supposed to knit, then decreased to 16 stitches and knit 10 more rows. When I blocked the mitts, I manipulated the thumbs to indicate directionality.