Given that so many of the tasks in the rest of my life lately are huge undertakings with long time horizons, knitting projects that are quickly and easily completed have special appeal for me these days. Today I’m sharing the latest case in point: fingerless mitts.
I started with this:
One lonely skein of Wisdom Sonnet yarn, a wool-silk blend with long color repeats. It is similar to Noro Silk Garden, but softer and thicker. I rescued this sad little skein from the back of a clearance bin at my local Tuesday Morning discount shop awhile ago. I believe I paid about $2.50 for the 93 yard skein.
Well, friends, those 93 yards with very little knitting effort quickly became these:
Wonderfully fraternal soft green and blue mitts! Score!
I used a free pattern from Ravelry (Camp Out Fingerless Mitts by Tante Ehm) and US size 6 needles. I’m kind of in love with Tante’s pattern. The construction is interesting, starting with the garter stitch band around the hands and then picking up stitches for cuff. Since these are worked from the finger-side down, they are a great way to use up a small amount of yarn. Oddments of leftovers, handspun, etc. all would be perfect for this simple pattern. I think you could easily adjust the pattern to accommodate any gauge with some very simple maths.
Now I just need a cool morning around here so I can wear these. Come on fall!
You may remember that I’ve been trying to develop a version of ladybug-inspired mittens that will fit a 2-year old toddler. After a brief fitting with the intended recipient during my visit to Las Vegas a few weeks ago, I learned that my Ladybug Mitt Prototype was ENORMOUS on her, just as I suspected it might be. This weekend, I regrouped and came up with this one instead:
The crane embroidery scissors are there to give you a sense of the scale of these. Yes, they are tiny! The wrist is about 5″ in diameter when stretched.
I changed a few things to get this new result. First, I changed the yarn. This is some shrink-resistant very soft wool called Dive Zenith. It worked up into a much softer mitten than the Vanna’s Choice acrylic I was using (which I will save for some bigger kid mittens, probably for charity).
Second, I used a different pattern. This time I tried Ann Budd’s Basic Mitten Chart, which includes multiple sizes and gauges, including the one I used, for toddlers.
I improvised the stripes and black top and embroidered the dots.
From cast on to tucking in the ends, this mitten took about an hour and that includes some ripping back as I figured out how round I wanted the top to be. I expect its mate to go even faster. Gotta love kids knits!
This pair is going to a tiny friend of ours who turns two this weekend. A follow up pair will be going to live in Las Vegas soon. And still to come are a 4-year-old sized pair of Bug Mitts for a boy, so stay tuned for a post on those soon.
Later this week I’ll be flying across country to visit my parents and sister since my dad is celebrating his birthday on Sunday. Since winter is coming, I thought I’d knit up some cute mittens to give to the adorable children of my sister’s best friend—a girl and a boy.
I have had my heart set on making them Morehouse Merino Buggy Mitts. These mittens don’t have to be super warm (these kids live in Las Vegas) and I want them to be durable and easy care, so I got an assortment of brightly colored Vanna’s Choice acrylic yarn at my local Michaels store.
I made the first mitten this weekend—a ladybug version for the little girl.
I followed the pattern’s smallest size for stitch counts, but improvised with fewer rows than it called for because it seemed too narrow. The center stripe and spots are duplicate stitch, which I normally substitute with less wonky looking intarsia, but in this case I figured the duplicate stitch would make the mitten less likely to pull apart with hard use.
I’m happy with how the mitten looks. It just needs some crochet antennae at the top. However, as soon as I finished sewing spots, an interesting thought occurred to me—this mitten looks huge! It is about half the size of my hand. I have no idea if it will fit a one-year-old, but I think it will be enormous.
So I’ve decided I’m taking this one mitt with me as a sample to let the kids try. These mittens take next to no time (I think I had this one done in an hour or so). Once I get a better idea of how small the kids’ hands are, I’ll go from there. Either way, this mitt will get a mate…it just might end up going to live with a bigger little girl than the one I intended. I’m looking forward to making the boy’s pair: orange, green, blue, and red stripes with buggy eyes!
Hmm, now I’m wondering if I’m too old for my own Buggy Mitts.
These mitts knitted up so quickly, I didn’t even have time to mention them in a work-in-progress post!
Pattern: Baby Fan Mitts by Morgan Wolf (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino in Redwood Bark, used less than 1 skein
My project notes on Ravelry
Background:
Last fall and spring, I had some very cold hands while walking my dog early in the morning. I can’t put my hands in my pockets and hold her leash at the same time. And I have learned from experience that having my fingers wrapped up in full mittens or gloves is more hassle than it is worth. So when I saw this lovely Malabrigo Silky Merino yarn on sale this summer at Sandrasingh.com, I knew it would be the perfect thing for some fingerless mitts. This was my first time ordering from Sandra, and the experience couldn’t have been better. The yarn was on my doorstep before I even had time to wonder when it would arrive. I think I ordered on a Monday morning and the mailman brought the yarn on Wednesday. It was that fast. I also got a personal email from Sandra following up on the order. I highly recommend her shop.
These mitts work up fast! I only worked on them during parts of a round trip cross-country flight and an hour or two tops on the ground. I suspect I’ll be keeping this pattern in mind for quick Christmas gifts.
