must-have Mittens
When gloves aren’t enough, have some mittens to hand! By Mary Henderson.
Fair Isle is a fantastic technique. Not only does it look great, it also doubles the thickness of your knitting, which means your mittens are going to be super warm! This simple two- colour design is the perfect introduction to the technique, and you’ll have a great pair of mittens at the end of it. Your hardest decision will be whether to keep them for yourself or make them as a gift!
Striped Mittens (Make 2)
Cast on 36 sts using 4 ½ mm needles and Yarn B. Work in K2, P2 rib for 12 rounds. Change to 5mm needles. Work Chart rows 1– 5.
Inc for thumb Place stitch marker ( PM), cast on 1 st by backward loop method, K1, cast on 1 st by backward loop method, pm, cont to end of round in patt.
Next round Work in patt. Rep last 2 rounds until there are 11 sts between markers Place the 11 thumb sts on a holder.
Cast on 1 st over the gap. Continue in patt until 3 more reps of Chart are complete or mitten measures the desired length from wrist to knuckle of middle finger.
Decrease for top Continue in patt, at the same time dec as folls: *K1, ssk, K15, k2tog; rep from * once more. Work dec round until 12 sts remain. Arrange 12 sts over 2 needles held parallel and join with Kitchener stitch, or grafting.
Cut yarn and weave in ends.
Thumb
Needle 1 With Yarn B, K 11 sts from
holder.
Needle 2 Pick up and knit 2 sts across half the gap.
Needle 3 Pick up and knit 2 sts across the remaining gap sts. Arrange sts evenly over 3 needles. Knit in round for 7 rounds in Yarn B. Dec for top ( K2tog) to last st, K1. Next round K1, ( k2tog) to end. Cut yarn leaving a 20cm tail, thread onto tapestry needle and pull through rem sts. Use tail to neaten any gaps in the picked up sts.