! Alyssa Heath, 2010

HOW ABOUT NOW? MITTENS

Over my Christmas break, I made an ill-fated version of a lovely herringbone beret from Kelbourne Woolens, called Opus Spicatum1. By the time I’d figured out you can’t just substitute dk wool for aran, it was too late. But I’d got the herringbone pattern in my head and wanted to make some mittens. If you’ve made Opus Spicatum you’ll probably recognize the cleverly integrated decreases. I won’t pretend I made them up, but the pattern’s free! These mittens are nice and roomy, if a little bit loose around the wrist. I’ve put suggestions for adapting the pattern to get a better fit in blue below, but I have yet to knit up the improved version. Too many projects on the go at once! Yarn: I used Rowan purelife organic, 1 ball each in ‘tannin’ and ‘indigo’. You will also need a scrap of a bright contrasting dk yarn. You could easily substitute any dk weight wool for this pattern2 – that’s why I chose it! This is a great pattern for contrasting colours. Needles: I decided to be awkward and use 3.25mm circular needles. I am sure this could be worked on dpns. Gauge: 8 sts per inch and 8 rows per inch, stockinette stitch, blocked.

1 http://www.kelbournewoolens.com/

2 Knitting disclaimer – as long as your swatch comes out OK!

! Alyssa Heath, 2010

SKILLS REQUIRED Two colour knitting, knitting in the round, adding in a thumb (good tutorial can be found here; http://akittenknits.blogspot.com/2006/12/thumb-trick.html), kf&b, decreasing. KEY

Knit in main colour

Knit in contrast colour /

k2tog in main colour /

k2tog in contrast colour

Remove marker, slip one stitch, replace marker. MC – Main colour CC – Contrast colour All others follow standard abbreviations. CUFF c/o 44 sts on circular needles using CC. (Tip for adapting – measure your wrist. Mine is 7 inches round where the cuff sits, and they fit quite loosely. If you have slim wrists, or want a tighter wrist band, use the gauge to work out the number of stitches you should cast on, then round up to the nearest even number.) Switch to MC, repeat *k1tbl, p1 * for 1 inch. (Tip for adapting – you could make this longer and miss off the first couple of repeats of the herringbone pattern to make the mitten grip more at the wrist.) k1 round. INCREASING This section will take you from 44 cuff stitches to 70 stitches for the main body of the mitten. The Herringbone pattern is worked over a ten stitch repeat, so this can easily be adapted by adding or removing a repeat for bigger or smaller hands. However, before you do this it is worth measuring your hand at its widest part to make sure it will still fit – and my increasing method won’t work so you’ll have to figure out how to do it evenly. You should have 44 stitches at this point. Split this into 4 sets of 11 stitches with markers.

! Alyssa Heath, 2010

*k1, kf&b* five times, then k1. Repeat this across the four sets of stitches. This should leave you with four sets of sixteen stitches (64 in total). From the start to the first marker - k5, kf&b, k4, kf&b, k5 First to second marker - k8, kf&b, k7 Second to third marker - k5, kf&b, k4, kf&b, k5 again Third marker to end -k8, kf&b, k7 This should leave you with 70 sts total. Split these into 7 groups of ten stitches using markers. MAIN BODY Start the stitch pattern below (pattern 1), repeating each row across the seven sets of ten.

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Stitch pattern 1

Repeat rows 1-4 of stitch pattern 1, 5 times. (Tip for adapting - If you want the mitten shorter, repeat rows 1-4 until it reaches the bottom of your thumb snugly.) At the beginning of the next row, change to the contrasting scrap of yarn (red works well!) and k13 stitches. Then slip these back onto the left needle, go back to your regular pattern repeats. Repeat stitch pattern 2 once. You should be left with 63 stitches total.

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Stitch pattern 2

Repeat stitch pattern 3, 7 times.

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Stitch pattern 3

Sense check – if it doesn’t reach over the top of your little finger, repeat stitch pattern 3 until it does!

! Alyssa Heath, 2010

Alyssa Page 4 1/2/10Then to finish off the main body of the mitten, complete rows 1 – 16 of stitch pattern 4. This will leave you with 7 stitches total. Cut the tail of the yarn, thread it through these stitches, pull it through the wrong side of the mitten and pull tight. Sew in ends.

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Stitch pattern 4

THUMB Turn the mitten inside out, and pick up stitches from the edge of the line of contrast yarn. There’s a handy tutorial with pictures below: http://akittenknits.blogspot.com/2006/12/thumb-trick.html). This should give you 28 stitches in total (two sets of 13 from the edge of the red yarn, and two in the corners of the hole to stop gaps on the end). Note that this mitten isn’t any different depending on where you place the thumb, it’s when you block it that it becomes a right or a left mitten. Split the stitches into two groups of 14 and separate with markers. k1 round k12, k2tog, k12, ssk, k1 round k11, k2tog, k11, ssk, k1 round k10, k2tog, k10, ssk, k1 round k9, k2tog, k9, ssk. k11 rounds Then to decrease the end of the thumb: k8, k2tog, k8, ssk. k7, k2tog, k7, ssk k6, k2tog, k6, ssk k2tog 6 times. Cut the tail of the yarn, thread it through these 6 stitches, pull it through the wrong side of the thumb and pull tight. Sew in ends, block (defining left and right mittens).