Last night I finished a pair of mittens that I started a while ago. I love making mittens because they are portable projects, and a rather necessary accessory for the Canadian winter that is quickly approaching. I like customizing colours and patterns and making sure that my cuffs are long enough.
Really warm mittens are often knit with a stranded pattern in two colours. The stitch pattern usually includes a maximum of 4 or 5 stitches in a row of one colour.
I knit with a rather tight gauge, using 4mm double pointed needles and worsted weight yarn from Topsy farms. My general recipe for stranded mittens is as follows:
Decide on a stitch pattern: Colour in some squares on graph paper being sure not to make more than 5 stitches in a row one colour.
Figure out how many stitches and rows are in your pattern repeat: Choose one point in the pattern and count horizontally and vertically until you have mapped out a repeatable pattern block.
There are 4 stitches and 6 rows in this repeat |
There are 6 stitches and 10 rows in this repeat |
Decide on how many stitches to cast on: This should be a multiple of the number of stitches in one repeat, and it should fall somewhere between 48 stitches for size small to 54 stitches for size medium/large.
Using the first pattern, the cast on could be (4)(12)=48 or (4)(13)=52 or (4)(14)=56
In the second case it could be (6)(8)=48 or (6)(9)=54
Cast on: Use one colour, cast on the appropriate number of stitches and join in the round being careful not to twist.
Knit cuff: Join second colour and work until the cuff measures 2.5 to 3 inches (depending on your cuff preference).
Thumb Gusset: Mittens are very form fitted at the cuff, and you need to increase stitches to account for the width of your hand at the thumb area. The way to do this is to increase 2 stitches every alternate row on the thumb side of the mitten. The increases will affect the stitch count, and the pattern repeat. A good work-around is to change the patterning for the thumb gusset. A checkerboard or striped pattern on the thumb is easy to do.
Continue until the gusset is 17-21 stitches depending on thumb size. Keep gusset stitches on a stitch holder or piece of scrap yarn, and cast on a full repeat of stitches, or whatever is needed to maintain a consistent pattern across the hand.
Knit Hand: Keep knitting in pattern until the mitten fits up to your little finger.
Decreases: Put the mitten on your hand. Mark the stitches at the little finger and index finger edges for decreases. There should be equal numbers of stitches on the palm and back of the hand.
Keeping pattern consistent repeat the following two rows until approximately 16 stitches remain
Row 1: knit until 2 stitches before the little finger edge. K2tog in main colour, SSK in main colour. Knit in pattern until 2 stitches before index finger edge. K2tog in main colour, SSK in main colour.
Row 2: knit in pattern. Use main colour over the 2 stitches on the little finger and index finger edges.
Kitchener stitch bind off. video credit: the knitwitch on youtube.
Thumb: pick up and knit (in pattern) the stitches from the scrap yarn/stitch holder, and stitches from the cast on edge around the thumb hole. I often choose stitches that are not right on the edge of the thumb hole to avoid creating holes around the thumb. The number of thumb stitches is not critical. Make it fit your thumb. Knit in pattern in the round until the thumb is 1.5 to 2 inches long.
Decreases: K2tog in pattern until around 6 stitches remain. Cut yarn leaving a long tail. Draw yarn through stitches and pull tight.
Weave in ends
