Free Knitting Pattern | Fleece Love and Happiness

There are two design elements that I’ve been focusing on lately–fancy thumbs and mittens that are the same pattern on the palm and back of the hand. It is true that I’ve made several fingerless mitt patterns with star motifs, but Starla Mitts are different because the palms also have the star pattern.

The other change I made in this pattern is to use ribbing on the thumb and finger opening. I really like how they fit. I used Size 2 needles for the ribbing and the charted star pattern. I always make mitten with Size 2 needles when using a fingering weight yarn because the closer knit makes a sturdy mitt.

If you prefer a seeding pattern for the palms check out Star Lit Mitts and Star Power Mitts, patterns I posted in 2023.

Here is the FREE patten to download if you want to make Starla Mitts. If you want to share this pattern just link to this page. Please do not post the pdf of the pattern on other sites.

Starla Mitts Download

We are back from our epic 2 month camping trip. It was going to be longer but we got smoked out so-to-speak. The West is on fire! We had lots of fun and visited lots of people and places. I designed and knitted almost everyday but as usual I didn’t have good cell/internet so I didn’t post anything. I didn’t even check my blog or Ravelry for 2 months!

Over the next few months I’ll be putting out some of my new mitten patterns. In the mean time I thought I’d share a new pattern for a cowl. I named it after a place we visited: Lake Ozette on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. We also went to Neah Bay which is just north of Ozette – ah fresh air and no forest fires! (That’s what originally brought us to the coast.)

The Ozette Cowl was designed to keep your neck toasty but not strangle you. I tried on several cowls before deciding on the dimensions. As for the color palette, I pulled out my yarn and played around with it until I put these 6 colors together. I think this would be a good project for someone new to colorwork because there is no shaping. You start with 168 stitches and you end with 168 stitches. The begging and end of the tube is constructed with a 2-color ribbing. This gives it a somewhat stiff edge that does not curl.

Here’s a few tips if you are new to stranded colorwork. It will save you so much time (and yarn) if you learn to weave in the color changes as you go. There’s many techniques for doing this; just pick one and try it out. However, you may want to leave long tails at the beginning and end of the project and weave them in with a yarn needle. This way you can direct the tails away from the opening so they don’t show.

Another tip to get a nice edge is to cast-off with a needle that one or two sizes bigger than the one you are using. That’s the way I get a loose cast-off.