"Snow Day" Free Mitten Pattern

Here is a little present from me to you, a mitten pattern I designed over 10 years ago now, but one that I think holds up.  I'll be back in the new year with the third instalment of the Shawl in a Ball project(s), but in the meantime, Happy Holidays and may your 2018 be filled with lots of knitting!

"Snow Day" Mitten Pattern

Yarn: 2 50gm balls worsted weight yarn (sample done in Cleckheaton Country 8 ply, gauge stated on the ball band is 22 sts and 30 rows = 10 cm (4”), and I used very little of the second ball)

Machine: midgauge, no ribber required (sample knit on Studio SK860, can also be knit on LK150 or Bond.) MT 6

Size: Youth or ladies S (ladies L in brackets)

Finished measurements : Youth or Ladies’ S: circumference – approximately 20 cm around (8”), length - 19 cm (7 ½ “)

Ladies’ L: circumference – approximately 22 cm around (8 ½ ”), length – 22 cm (8 ½ ”)

Symbols/abbreviations:

 \ remove stitch from needle and replace on needle 2 sts to left (except the stitch farthest to the left, which moves only one stitch over so as not to increase the total number of stitches in work)
/ remove stitch from needle and replace on needle 2 sts to right (except the stitch farthest to the right, which moves only one stitch over so as not to increase the total number of stitches in work)
^ lift purl bar from adjacent stitch and hang on empty needle
S small
L large
T tension
MT main tension
EN every needle
EON every other needle
K knit
R row
RC row count

Special Tools: EN and EON selector tools handy, garter bar would also be useful

Special Techniques:

Triple strand “braided” e-wrap (adapted from “back and forth e-wrap” described in Mary Anne Oger’s Knitting on the Edge )
Break off three lengths of MY approximately 3X the width to be cast on. Holding three strands parallel, e-wrap cast on first and every alternate needle across. Change direction at the last needle and e-wrap back all needles skipped in the first step. See photos below.

Basket Weave Pattern (from Susan Guagliumi’s Hand-Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters )
TIP: If you ensure that you are moving sts towards the carriage side of the bed, then this will make it easier to remember which direction you should be transferring the sts and you will not need to follow the chart as closely.

The transferred stitch closest to the carriage should be placed on the needle immediately adjacent (two sts on this needle) so as not to increase the overall number of stitches. All other transferred stitches should be moved in the appropriate direction by 2 sts.

Instructions

CO 44 (48) sts using triple strand braided e-wrap. RC000. T10 K1R. T6 K1R. Remainder of mitten is worked at T6. Work basket weave chart to RC27 (RC30).

Leave 8 sts on carriage side in WP, all other sts to HP. Carriage on hold. E-wrap CO 8 sts. Knitting on these 16 thumb sts only, K to RC15. Dec EOS, ER 2X to 4 sts. Break yarn and thread through these 4 sts, remove from needles and gather. Push thumb to the back of the work and fold in half, return 8 sts to WP, and rehang the 8 e-wrap cast on thumb sts on these needles. Cancel hold.

RC000, keeping continuity of basket weave pattern, resume working from chart to RC27 (RC30). This marks the end of the basket weave pattern. Remainder of mitten is knit plain.

Dec E4thS across row. K2R
Dec E3rdS across row. K2R
Dec E2ndS across row. K1R

Break yarn and thread through rem sts, gathering the top of the mitten. Sew seams, braid and secure the 6 strands of yarn (from cast on) as shown in the photo, and weave in remaining ends.

Repeat for second mitten, making sure that thumb is worked on the opposite side as that of the first mitten. This may require knitting either one less or one more row before starting the thumb to ensure carriage is on correct side.

© 2007 Ciobair Fibre Designs. Pattern for personal use only.

Shawl in a Ball #2

I've finished the second shawl in a ball (see previous post on the first shawl in a ball), this time with my newly acquired garter bars, and let me just say that this is definitely the tool for this project.

Just to refresh your memory, this project was inspired by a suggestion from Judie based on this blog post that describes an off-centre triangular shawl.  Because you decrease one stitch every other row on the left, and increase one stitch every row on the right, the working stitches move the project across the bed to the right until you run out of needles on which to increase and have to shift the project back over the left to keep going.  For my first project, I used waste yarn to accomplish this, but as the shawl gets wider the frequency with which this shift to the left has to happen increases (along with the number of stitches that have to be shifted), so the waste yarn method gets pretty tedious quite quickly.  So, garter bar to the rescue!

I bought these from Kriskrafter and am very happy with them.  Take a minute and check out this great review on YouTube by Diana Sullivan. 

Each of the long bars are 75 stitches, so screwed together they cover the entire bed of my SK860.  I was hoping the first "shift" would happen at or before 75 stitches so I wouldn't have to join the two bars together the first time, but believe it or not I had 76 stitches in work when I ran out of working needles on the right.  Go figure.

You can see the orphaned stitch on the left of this photo, so I attached the two bars together, which was very easy and straight forward, and successfully moved the stitches back over to the far left of the bed so I could continue my increasing on the right.  The whole maneuver took less than a minute.  In total, I had to make the shift four times before I ran out of available stitches on the bed (and ran low on yarn, wanting to save some for fringe).  One note, if you've watched the video above and plan to use a garter bar for this project, remember that we're just moving the stitches to the left, not knitting garter stitch, so there is no need to flip the work, just shift it.  Your carriage and working yarn will remain on the same side of the needle bed as they were before.






To the left is a photo of the shawl with all the stitches transferred to the garter bar (you will probably have to look closely to see that)

Here's another picture of the stitches again transferred to the garter bar.  You can tell it's a little further along in the knitting than the picture above as I've moved further through the colour gradation.

And here's the finished project, although I haven't blocked it yet as I'm waiting for a fine day to be able to put it outside on the deck to air dry a little quicker.  This is great yarn considering how inexpensive it is.  This particular colourway is called "Mindful Mauve" in case you're interested, but they have many great colours to choose from.

I have one ball left, called "Restful Rainbow", and although I am very tempted to make one more shawl in the same pattern I have been using, I will resist that temptation and experiment with some lace next. 

The pattern that I have my eye on is a hand knit one, available for free on Ravelry and Craftsy, called the Kohi Shawl by Pineapple Bird Knits.  That's the plan anyway, always subject to change or a better suggestion!

I hope that your knitting is enjoyable, productive and just challenging enough to be interesting but not frustrating.  Leave me a comment below on what you're working on, if you have any suggestions for the final shawl in a ball project, or suggestions for future projects!

Nancy