Aren't They Marvelous?

Inspired by Adrian's Marvelous Mittens, I searched for, and found, a copy of Anna Zilboorg's "Marvelous Mittens" so that I, too could knit a pair from the book.
The pattern I chose is simple once you get past the increase rows, but for some reason I am not making as much progress as I'd expected. Could it be because I stop and try them on after each row is knit?

The yarn is a baby Alpaca one that I bought from Elann.com a couple of years ago.
I'm trying to work on the Argyle vest, really I am, but I just can't stay away from mittens.

The emerging argyle pattern is more visible in the above photo than in person, and seeing it makes me want to work on the vest for a while. I've been knitting fair isle with 2 hands, and while my left hand yarn tension isn't consistent (I'm a thrower not a picker), it is so fast and fun that I'm going to do my 2 colored stranded knitting this way despite the inconsistencies in tension. My hope is that I'll get better with experience.... and then there's always the magic of a good blocking!!