Just a head case and it's a mystery mitten

Although it still doesn't have a nose or eyes, I'm counting the revisited Baby Bobbi Bear is officially in the FO category. When I know who the bear will be living with, I'll add the appropriate facial features (buttons are not for babies).

Like all the bears I've done lately I wasn't crazy about the pattern shaping for the head. I frogged this one back to the end of the increases and shifted the decreases around a bit to get a flatter back of the head.
The increases and decreases at the side of the head remain problematic for me but on this go 'round, I opted to go with the tuck and sew solution rather than further frogging and rethinking.
As you can see in the photo, the increase/decrease line at the sides of the head could almost be simply sewn front to back to form low on the head ears. In a revisit the delay of the beginning the side increases and decreases might make for a good built in ear solution.
The paired increases of the completed bear does create a nice profile. In a revisit, I think I'd move the front paired decreases away from each other to form a bit more of a triangle running from nose tip to top of the head.
The mystery is two fold -- why would a San Diegan knit mittens in September and how did Elizabeth Zimmermann come up with the Mystery Sideways Mittens? This San Diegan is knitting mittens because I have family and friends in colder climes and I'm knitting these particular mittens because they have a weird construction that really appeals to me.

If you're not familiar with them, they were first published in Woolgathering #6 (published in 1972) and more recently in Homespun HandKnit (Interweave Press 1987). The mitten starts life looking like this:
And ends up looking more like this:
I found two minor errors in the Blind Follower instructions for rows 6 & 10 in Homespun Handknits (row 6 has a 3 where a 5 should be and row 10 has two 21s that should be 23s) but I really like the pattern.

I chose to 3-needle bind off rather than weave/graft. I didn't use EZ's M1 method. I joined the stitches to work the wrist and cuff in the round. I'm still playing with how long I want the cuff to be and whether I want to glam them up a bit or just stay with the utilitarian look.