My Year of Mittens!

I finished off my 2019 knitting goal just in time! Twelve pairs of mittens!

I ended up having to stop blogging about this project since some of them were secret gifts! But now they're all done and here's the round-up of all 12 pairs. With ravelry links if you want details!

Thrummed mittens


Colorblock mittens #1


Sailor's Rib fingerless gloves


Mittens to order


Blue Selbu


Colorblock mittens #2 (for The Girl)


Baby niece mittens


Yellow and grey Olines Vantar


Blue and grey Olines Vantar


Yellow and grey fingerless mitt


Colorblock mittens #3


Zigzag fingerless mitts


What a fun project this was! I met my goal of 12 pairs, although I didn't knit everything on my dream list. I got a lot more practice in stranded colorwork and I'm feeling pretty confident there!

I also made up the patterns for several of these, a few of which I might write down nicely and put up for free on ravelry.

I'm not sure what's next for me, but I already miss having a mitten always going! They are such handy little projects (pun intended!).

Year of Mittens: Summertime

In June I finished my blue Selbu mittens!



Then I made some colorblock mittens for my kid.



The next mittens I made are for a holiday surprise, but I don't think the recipient reads my blog. I made this pattern up and charted it on graph paper.



Then in August I made this pair of yellow and grey stranded mittens from the pattern Olines Vantar, available for free on Ravelry. I loved this pattern so much I immediately started another pair!



I'm still on track for my goal of one pair per month all year! And I still have loads of mittens I want to make!

Year of Mittens: April

In April I only knitted one mitten. Not one pair, just ONE! 

My Ravelry project is here.

This pattern was basically just the chart. There's about four lines of "directions" and otherwise you just get to puzzle it out. If you've made this style of mitten before, no problem! If not... well, it took some digging in other patterns and books for me to make this whole thing work.

So far I'm pretty pleased. The fit is good, though I could've made it longer, and I really like the dense fabric this made. On my March mittens, the thin fingering weight yarn made a pretty soft, light mitten. This mitten was knit in Wool of the Andes Sport on size US 2/2.75mm, so it's firm and hefty without being too thick.

Now I just have to knit another one!

Year of Mittens: March

For March I made the second mitten from the pair I began in January.

I was pretty pleased with how this pair turned out. The yarn is Knit Picks Palette fingering weight wool, which is the smallest yarn I've made mittens with so far, and the smallest yarn I've done stranded colorwork with too.

The pattern is Mittens to Order, a free Ravelry download. I adjusted the pattern to add length, both because my row gauge was short and because the math seemed to be a little off in the pattern. This involved adding more pattern repeats to the chart; when I got to the last row of a main motif, I went back down the chart a few rows and started again. I also lengthened the thumb gusset and the thumb itself.

The first mitten I knitted (right hand) fitted very well! My mods worked and it was a smooth, perfect fit, just snug enough. But the second mitten came out much smaller!

This was very frustrating as I was so careful about measuring and keeping notes. I have never had a gauge so irregular, so I have to believe I just wrote down the wrong needle size. I must have knitted the first one on a US 3 and the second on a US 2.5.

Blocking helped a little but there's really no changing the size difference. The left one is slightly small for me, but not too small to wear. I still like them!

They are VERY thin, though, from being made with such lightweight yarn. I do love the intricate designs you can make with finer yarns, but I think for future mittens I might stick with sport and worsted.

My Ravelry project is here.

Year of Mittens: February

I finished one pair of mittens for February, which means I'm right on my goal, but after a more productive January I feel behind now!

I knitted these fingerless mitts at a pretty leisurely pace and finished them just as February ended. They're going to be a birthday gift for The Man in a few weeks.

They were a pretty simple knit once I got going. The hardest part was following written-out directions when I am so used to charts. When I started knitting I never thought I'd say that! But the language just felt so cumbersome and random.

The back of the hand is patterned in a broken rib which has a great texture I love. These next two photos are post-blocking.

The palm side is knitted in a slip-stitch pattern that gives the look of a chunky rib and also has the effect of pulling the knitting in and shaping the mitt over the curve of the hand. You can see below how the palm side is a little shorter and it's drawing in. I'm not sure if that's intentional in the pattern but I like it.

I used Wool of the Andes Worsted in Garnet Heather. It took just over one skein, so I now have an extra 90% of the second skein hanging around.

My Ravelry project is here and the pattern is here.

Year of Mittens: January

I finished my first month in my Year of Mittens challenge!

For January I'm ahead of my goal of one pair per month! So far I'm having a blast making mittens! They're small and pretty quick and I can try out all kinds of new styles and techniques.

Each month, I'm planning to do a mitten review post of what I knitted. I'll give Ravelry links to my projects (where most of my detailed notes are!) and direct links to patterns if available.

The first pair I finished was made with thrums - little pieces of wool roving that you twist and knit into a stitch. This makes a super fluffy, warm inside!

Unfortunately, they ended up super duper huge for me, so I gave them to my husband, who loves them. 

I used Cascade 220 and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes roving. Pattern is a free Ravelry download.

Next I started a pair with a stranded colorwork pattern. I love this one so much! But it was a little slow with the finer yarn and needles and so far I've only made ONE!

The yarn is Knit Picks Palette and the pattern is Mittens to Order, a free Ravelry download.

This is still a UFO and I'll knit the other one in February.

After that I made a simple pair with colorblocking. I based them on this pair I saw on Pinterest. 

They are mostly Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted, but I threw in a little Cascade 200 and some Dream in Color Classy from the stash. I love these and they are my new everyday pair!

The pattern is loosely based on Mitts that Fit, which I've used, altered, and re-imagined a dozen times over the years.

I'm excited to keep making mittens!