Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Book Review: The Mitten Handbook

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A long time ago, when I was writing the knitting website for About.com, someone asked me about all the different ways to knit thumbs on mittens.

I didn’t have a comprehensive list at the time, and didn’t know if there was one. And frankly I wasn’t that interested in mittens at the time to find out.

A long time ago, when I was writing the knitting website for About.com, someone asked me about all the different ways to knit thumbs on mittens, if someone asked me that question now, though, I could direct them to The Mitten Handbook by Mary Scott Huff. This book contains everything you need to know to knit your own mittens to any size, any gauge, using a variety of edging, cuff, thumb and top treatments.

Looking for more knitting patterns for Mittens? Check these out on Etsy. 

It contains an overview of mitten parts and thoughts on yarn, ease and construction methods. There are instructions for working eight different kinds of edgings, cuffs, thumbs and tops, with notes on whether they can be worked from the top down or the bottom up or both.

The circular thumb might be my favorite — it’s worked from the tip of the thumb down and joined to the body of the mitten as you knit.

If you don’t like to design your own or want to start with a pattern you can customize, there are also 20 full patterns that will give you a place to start or some good projects you can knit as written. Some of my favorites include the tiny goldfish thumbless mitts for babies; Little Bird, a mitten featuring Latvian braids and bluebird colorwork; and Snow Day, with a pretty Fair Isle snowflake design. You can check out all the projects on Ravelry.

The Mitten Handbook is a great guide for mitten lovers and those who want to learn more about customizing and designing their own patterns with some hand holding and good advice from a pro.

About the book: 160 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published by Abrams. Retail price $19.99

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.