Star Power Mitts

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You don’t need much yarn to make fingerless mitts. These took 70 yards for the main color (Coriander Heather) and 74 for the contrasting color (Black). That’s it. I used a fingering weight yarn. Everything was knitted with size 2 needles except the corrugated ribbing which I thought it best to go down to size 1 to give it a snug fit.

I love to add design elements to the thumbs—no plain thumbs here. I’m posting the mitten pattern for free. Why do I keep writing patterns and giving them out for free? I suppose I’m building some kind of portfolio. If I were to do something more complex, like a sweater in multiple sizes, I would charge for it. However, I like designing little things like hats and mittens for now. When I come up with a design that I think others might like to knit I make a pattern document and put it up on this website. I’m pretty happy with these small projects for now. Here’s the Star Power Mitts pattern for anyone to download:

star-power-mittsDownload

Happy New Year!

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During the last few weeks I’ve been knitting hats. I’ve been using the balloon blocking trick for blocking them like I wrote about in my Late Night Hat post. I figured out that you need to blow the balloon up smaller than your head size to get a snug fit. Try about an inch less than the head measurement and it should work.

Of all the hats that I’ve designed lately I thought this one–which I call New Year’s Cap– is worthy of a write up and post. I went with several classic Fair Isle componentes: corrugated ribbing, no more that 2 colors per row, and a fancy star on top. Below you will find the link to download the Free Pattern.

new-years-capDownload

Winter Wise Mittens

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Just for kicks I asked OpenAI to write a knitting pattern for a scarf and a stocking hat. It did! I asked it to explain color theory in Fair Isle knitting and it did! I asked it to write about the history of Fair Isle Knitting and it got the time period wrong by saying they liked colorful knitting there in the 1600’s. Not true! It does not know the difference of a Latvian braid and cable technique. So it’s like a beginning knitter—give it time!

Back to real life… It’s officially winter! I’ve been working on this pattern over the last week and wrote it up to share. I’m still obsessed with Latvian braids. I’m also really into fancy thumbs. It’s a little fussy to do the thumbs but well worth it for the finished product. Short double pointed needles make it more enjoyable for me to knit thumbs. I highly recommend them.

Here’s the pattern for Winter Wise Mittens:

winter-wise-mittensDownload

Superstar Mittens

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There are so many available knitting patterns now. Designing is interesting because it seems like everything has already been done so it’s quite the exercise to try to create something new. The Nordic star and been knitted a million times. Mittens are made in every color combination that you could think of. When I design mittens on my computer I will rework the motifs over and over again looking for a novel combination. When it comes to colors I can spend hours arranging balls of yarn on the floor like a crazy person.

My latest creation is called Superstar for no reason other than the star is big. I’m posting the pattern here for free. If you make them please send me a photo or post on Ravelry. It’s such a joy to see what people make with my patterns.

superstar-mittensDownload

Late to the Party

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After a recent kick of making hats, I finally found a good way to block hats–balloons! What took me so long? I blew them up to a 22 inch diameter and set the soaked hats on them to dry.

Talk about late to the party, I also just discovered Latvian braids! I just randomly decided to try them out on a hat and I love how they look. There are lots of youtube videos to help you understand how to make Latvian braids. I watched a few before trying it on a hat.

I chose my favorite hat and wrote up a pattern to share. I titled it Late Night Hat because I was late to learn about the balloon blocking and Latvian braids.

There are 5 color in this hat. If you choose colors that you already have consider using 3 dark shades and 2 light shades. For contrast, the Latvian braid should have 1 light color and 1 dark color. The background colors (main color 1 and main color 2) are both dark. The contrasting color is light and is the same for all the stranded colorwork. I used Knit Pick’s Palette and listed the colors in the pattern, but you could use other fingering weight yarns. Of course I recommend 100% wool.

Here’s the Free Pattern for Late Night Hat.

late-night-hat-updated-12_30Download

Men’s Christmas Mittens

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Happy Thanksgiving! A few weeks ago I worked out a new pattern for Extra-Large sized mittens. The colors and pattern design makes me think of Christmas but of course a fella could wear these any cold day.

Here’s the Free Pattern for Men’s Christmas Mittens. If you make them, please post on Ravelry or send me a photo.

mens-christmas-mittensDownload

Mesquite, Nevada

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I’m waiting on a yarn order to start some new pattern ideas using warm color. In the meantime I took a look at my stash and found some semi-warm tones and worked up a mitten pattern that I had been thinking about. Now that I’m down in Mesquite I’m seeing warm colors all around me. In the spirit of these warm colors I put together this combo using Knit Pick’s Oyster Heather, Asphalt, Hazelnut, and Brass Heather.

I love a fancy mitten thumb! I had this idea in my head the other day when I woke up so I went to my computer and started working it out on a graph. I’ve written the up the pattern below and I’m giving it out for FREE. Enjoy!

mesquite-mittensDownload

Floriculture Mittens

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I’ve been knitting mittens like crazy and I’ve learned a few things about what I like. I like wool (no big news there) but I don’t like machine-washable wool. I tried to make mittens with sock yarn so they’d be machine washable. Other than myself, everyone I knit for would prefer something that’s washable. But…. I don’t like the way sock yarn feels or looks. I still will use it for socks because you have to wash those more often. Mittens, on the other hand, can be worn for a while without needing a wash. So I think 100% wool is the best for mittens even though they will need to be hand-washed once in a while.

My latest design is Floriculture Mittens. The cuffs are really long and will fit under a coat sleeve. Of course I used 100% wool. Knit Pick’s Palette is the fingering weight yarn that I prefer. The pattern is charted and there are sections that you need to be able to trap your floats in the back of your work. There are lots of youtube videos on catching floats (sometimes called trapping floats) that could help you if this idea is new to you and you want to make these mittens. Generally I don’t go more than 4 stitches of the same color in a row without trapping the float. With the thumb I trap the float every other stitch.

Here is a Free Pattern for these mittens. Let me know if you make them. Send me a message or post them on Ravelry. Enjoy!

floriculture-mittensDownload

Dark Sky Mittens

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These mittens were inspired by two things, one being the color of Knit Picks Palette Abyss. It’s this amazing dark blue that reminds me of darkness of a truly dark sky. That dark sky–the one that you can only find in remote places away from light pollution is the other inspiration for these. The brightness you see from the stars is only there because of the dark sky. I felt like making a high contrast mitten using the beautiful color of Abyss (Knit Picks) and White.

Keeping with my theme of fancy thumbs, this one has a patterned thumb gusset. This is a charted pattern and while you are making the thumb gusset you work off of two charts at the same time. I’m a big fan of the thumb gusset style mitten because they fit the hand so much better than other styles. Enjoy this free pattern!

dark-sky-mittens-1-1Download