I have a cone of bright red wool two ply yarn that I have already used for several projects, so I have a feel for it. It is fingering weight, but a fairly crisp texture. It should wear well for mittens. I wound a center pull ball from the cone so that I could knit both mittens at once, one from the ball, the other directly from the cone.
I am starting much the same as I did with the socks, casting on 60 stitches with a No. 3 straight needle and knitting 20 stitches in knit 2 purl 2 rib onto each of three No. 1 needles. I then do the same on a second set of sock needles, to make matching them easier. I then continue knitting in ribbing.
I make two kinds of mittens and layer them. This pair is in finer yarn, so they will be mild weather or inner mitts for cold weather. For inner mittens, I like to make a generous cuff, at least four inches for an adult mitten. This allows the cuff to be folded over or tucked into the cuff of a parka or sweater sleeve to keep cold drafts from coming up your wrist. An outer mitten can have a looser cuff if it is to be worn over a sleeve.
I am still doing spring cleaning. Although it is July by the calendar, the temperatures are in the 60's or 70's during the day, so it feels a lot more like May. Between bursts of therapeutic cleaning, I relax by knitting the cuff which doesn't require much attention until it gets near the end. At that time I measure the two cuffs and count the rows.