Seriously Mitteny
When it comes to winter in the mountains, mittens are serious business! These are specially designed to keep the cold and wet out and the warmth in. To fit a child's hand 5.5" around, measured at base of fingers.
Materials:
150yds bulky weight or doubled stranded worsted weight wool/natural yarn (must be feltable) (example shown uses Knit Picks Cadena 'Mist', stripes (optional) knit with minimal amounts of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes 'Grass', doubled) 200yds sport weight yarn (alpaca recommened for it's superior warmth and softness) (example shown uses Knit Picks Andean Treasure 'Peach Heather' and 'Indigo Heather') 6.00 mm/US10 32" circular needle (or length preferred for magic loop) 3.25mm/US3 32" circular needle (all instructions are given assuming the use of magic loop knitting, unless otherwise stated) additional, smaller sized needle, briefly tapestry needle waste yarn
Guage:
3sts/" on 6mm/US10 with bulky/doubled-worsted yarn 6sts/" on 3.25mm/US3 with sport weight yarn
Outer Mitten:
C/o 30sts with 5mm/US8 needle and bulky weight yarn. Join in the round, being careful to not twis \*K2, P1\* for 6r lr contrasting colour 1r main colour 1r contrasting colour 4r main colour (\~2" cuff, pre-felting" Switch to stst and K12r \*K to 2nd last st on 1st needle, K1fb, K1. 2nd needle: K1fb, K across. K1r\* repeat between \* once more (4sts inc.) K to last 4 sts, c/o 4 sts to right hand needle, move next 8sts to waste yarn (8 thumb sts set aside). Redistribute remaining sts evenly over next round, continue knitting mitten hand (30sts) K12r main colour 1r contrasting colour 1r main colour 2r contrasting colour 1r main colour 1r contrasting colour 4r main colour \*SSK, K to last 2sts on needle, K2tog\* repeat from \* for 2nd needle. Klr Repeat last two rows 3 more times (14sts remain) Kitchener remaining sts. Weave in ends loosely and leave 2-3" tails (to be snipped close after felting Thumb: P/u/K 8sts from waste yarn, 1st from space after these (M1), 4 sts from c/o edge, 1st from space after these (M1). (14sts) K11r K2tog around (7sts) K1r K2tog around, K last st. Break yarn and pull through sts. Weave in ends loosely and leave 2-3" tail. Felting: Before felting, pick up purl bumps from inside cuff on 1st stst row after cuff ribbing. Use a non-felting waste yarn (I recommend cotton) 15sts. Felt as hard as you can/need to, to fit. Try on child's hand, if possible - you want it to be just slightly too big, but only slightly. My son's hand is about 30% smaller than mind, so I knit the pre-felted mitten to fit my hand and felted to his size. Mitten measurementsfrom cast-on edge, pre → post felting are: 2.25" 2" to cuff end 4.5" > 3.5" to bottom of thumb (where thumb leans out from hand) \~5.5" > 5" to top of thumb leaning point 9.25" 7" to fingertip decrease start point 11"8.75" total length 3.75" 3.5" across width of hand Provisionally c/o 54sts with 3.25mm/US3 needle and sport weight yarn. Being careful to not twist, join in round. \*K2tog, K across needle, on 2nd needle, K2tog, K to end of rnd (52sts) Klrnd\* Repeat from \* 3 more times (46sts) K even 13r K20sts, K6sts with waste yarn then transfer these sts back to left needle and knit again with main yarn to finish rnd. K1r \*K to last 2sts of 1st needle, SSK, K2tog on 2nd needle, K to end Klrnd\* Repeat from \* 2 more times (40sts) K24r \*(K1, SSK, K to last 3sts on 1st needle, K2tog, K1), repeat across 2nd needle Klrnd\* Repeat from \* until 24sts remain (4 dec rnds) Repeat dec rnd once more (20sts) Kitchener sts together, weave in ends.
Thumb:
P/u sts set aside for thumb (12sts) plus 1st (twisted) on each side of each needle (16sts) K18r K2tog around (8sts) K2tog around (4sts) Break yarn and pull through, weave in ends.
The size difference may appear surprising, but remember that the Inner Mitten does not yet have it's cuff and the felted mitten is thick and smaller inside than it appears. The Inner Mitten should fit comfortably on your child's hand without excess room. On the Inner Mitten, undo provisionally c/o sts and p/u sts with 3.25mm/US3 needle (54sts). On the Outer Mitten, with smaller spare needle, p/u the sts set on unfelting waste yarn (curl cuff out of the way. picking up from the inside). These sts will be tight and may need to be stretched a bit to work with. Turn Inner Mitten right-side in and tuck it inside Outer Mitten (WS's facing each other). Hold needles together, fabric's back to back. RS of Inner Mitten should be facing you, cuff of Outer Mitten "above"/"behind"/to the back of your work.
You should have 54sts and your work will be "inside out". Turn work around so the previous WS row is facing you and you are looking at the outside of the mitten. Slip the last st worked over the first st worked and the first st onto the last sts spot (they trade places to hide the gap you'll make by turning your work around).
With sport weight yarn (example in purple), K1st st from Inner Mitten with 1st st from Outer Mitten (1:1). K 2nd st from Inner Mitten with 2nd st from Outer Mitten, sliding Inner Mitten st off that needle but keeping Outer Mitten st on it's needle. K 3rd st from Inner Mitten with 2nd st from Outer Mitten, sliding both off. 2 Inner Mitten sts have been knit to 1 Outer Mitten st (2:1). Work 2:1 x 5 times, knit a 1:1 st, knit 2:1 x 6 t imes, knit 1:1. (27sts worked from Inner Mitten, 15st worked from Outer Mitten). Note, in image, there are 2 orange purl bumps for each grey purl bump, excluding the 1st, 14th, and 27th sts. Repeat for 2nd needle.
1st needle: K2tog, K1, (P2, K2) across needle. 2nd needle: K2tog, K1, (P2, K2) across needle (52sts) 2x2 rib for 5 rnds \*K2tog, rib across needle, repeat for 2nd needle rib for 1rnd\* Repeat from \* 3 times (46sts) Rib 15rnds K2rnds Icord b/o (cable c/o 3sts at start of rnd, \*K2sts, K2togtbl, slide 3sts back to left needle\* repeat til all sts are b/o, sew/kitchener last 3sts to 3 c/o sts). Sew in ends. Done! (I do recommend a cord, attached to either the cuff - between the inner/outer cuff or you can continue the icord instead of kitchenering it. An icord will stretch considerably, so I favour a crochet chain + slst row as that won't stretch nearly as much.)
Seriously warm, seriously soft, Seriously Mittens!
