Adorable Cabled Mittens

It's lovely seeing old friends. Dear friends. Friends so old and dear nobody even blinks when I pick up my needles at the dinner table while people are still eating, including myself, and start knitting away. People who despite not perhaps fully understanding the depth of my needle addiction have come into terms with the fact that when a lady must knit the lady must knit.

Roughly around coffee time the first mitten was finished so I excused myself and took my coffee outside to immortalize the creation on camera. While doing so, in the clear bright daylight, I decided I'm never taking photos of my creations again in conditions that require artificial lighting. There's nothing like a bit of natural light. Problem is, for the last few months we've had very little of it. But going towards the summer I hope to take more representable shots of the lovely little things that fall off my needles. 

Without further ado, let me present the latest mitten pattern. There's no thumb gusset, so it's easy to knit and  fits your hand nice and snug, at least the way I prefer my handwear. Again, not the most unique design, as probably all the known cables have been used in mittens a million times before, but to share the mittens I just made, here's the instruction below:

Yarn: Novita Katri (100g = 160m, 100% acrylic)

Gauge: 19 st & 27 rows = 10cm

Skeins: 1

Needle: 4mm

Instructions:

Left mitten: 

Cast on 36 st. Devide evenly on 4 double pointed needles. Knit rib for 13 rows (K2, P2). Knit according to the chart on needles I and II and stockinette with needles III and IV adding 1st on both needles II and IV=38st. Knit for about 28 rows, K2 on needle III, pick up 6 on a stitch holder, cast on 6 and knit 1 = thumb hole. Continue knitting until you've reached the tip of your index finger and begin cast off. SKP1 at the beginning of needles I and III and  K2TOG at the end of needles II and IV. Continue decreases on every row in this manner until 6 stitches remain. Cut the yarn and run the end through remaining 6 stitches twice; pull firmly and darn in the end.

Right mitten:

Work as mirror image.

Thumb:

Pick up the 6st from stitch holder plus 10 stitches from the edges of the thumb hole. Divide evenly on 3 dpns. Knit for about 13 rows. SKP1 at the beginning of each needle until 6 st remain. Cut the yarn and run the end through remaining 6 stitches twice; pull firmly and darn in the end.

Click to enlarge

Sanna's Cabled Mittens II

Sanna is a complete air head. She asked me to knit her a pair of mittens and then she just lost them while shopping. I mean, what's up with that. And then she asks me for a new pair. Same model, same size, same colour. The nerve! But I love her too much to refuse. Plus I'm not the one to tell her off, after all, I myself have lost about 5 pairs of sunglasses, a billion umbrellas, a few bags and a shoe. So, I knitted a new pair for my dear friend but still reserve the right to call her an air head.

This time I used Novita Katri (100g = 160m, 100% acrylic), my favourite. It's much thicker and hence warmer plus it doesn't itch at all. I used 3,5mm double pointed needles and the mittens took almost exactly one skein. The wrist part is longer this time, as a good pair of mittens doesn't only keep your fingers warm but prevents cold air from getting to where the sleeve ends and mitten begins. 

These mittens were tried and tested out today in the snow. Another gorgeous day in Winter Wonderland. Special thanks to my hand model, bravely playing in the snow at -15°C.

Instructions can be found here, on the original blog post.

Sanna's Cabled Mittens

A dear old friend of mine asked me to knit her a pair of grey mittens and I surely did, with pleasure. Inspired by the really pretty socks I made last week, I thought I'd try out coming up with a cable pattern of my own. Maybe not the most original ever, but I'm very very pleased with them. Go me!

It's been fun knitting on the train, really helps passing time.

Instructions:

Yarn: Novita 7 veljestä  (150 g = 300 m, 75% wool / 25% polyamide)

Gauge: 18 st = 10cm

Needle: 3½ mm

Skeins: 1

Right Mitten:

Cast on 44 on double pointed needles, dividing 11 on each needle.

K1 P1 for about 13 rows.

Knit stockinette on needles III and IV and on needles I and II work according to the chart below. Repeat rows 1.-8.

Once you've reached the base of your thumb, knit 2 at the beginning of needle III, leave 7 stiches on a piece of waste yarn for thumb to be worked later. Cast on 7, creating a hole for the thumb. Knit the rest of the stitches on needle III. 
 

Continue knitting the mitten until you reach the tip of your index finger. SKP1 at the beginning of needles I and III and  K2TOG at the end of needles II and IV. Continue decreases on every row in this manner until 8 stitches remain. Cut the yarn and run the thread tail through remaining 8 stitches twice; pull firmly and darn in the end.

Left Mitten: 

Work as mirror image to right mitten.

Thumbs: 
 Knit the 7 stitches from the waste yarn onto dpn and pick up 10 additional stitches along the inner portion of the thumb (17s all together) on 3 double pointed needles. Knit thumb until desired length (=until the thumb covers half your thumb nail). K2TOG on each needle every row until 8st remain and cut yarn leaving approximately a 15cm tail. Using a needle thread the tail through remaining the 8 stitches twice, pull firmly and darn in the end.

Mitten mania!

These are a pair of mittens I made for my bf.

The pattern for these really simple mittens is by Novita and available in Finnish.

Novita Mittens.

Yarn: Novita 7 veljestä (150 g = 300 m, 75% wool / 25% polyamide)

Gauge: 18 st = 10cm

Skeins: 0,5 skeins per colour

Needle: 3½ mm