Knitting

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How to Knit the Warmest Mittens Ever

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tips for knitting warm mittensI’m really a knit glove kind of person. Once I discovered that fingers are not as hard as I’d imagined, I kind of stopped knitting mittens.

But I definitely see their appeal for times like walking outside when you don’t need free use of your fingers, or for kids whose hands grow way too fast to fuss with tiny fingers. And they do keep your hands warmer because all the fingers are next to each other, but when your hands get as cold as mine do, it’s hard to tell the difference.

While you’re going to the trouble to knit you own mittens, you’re going to want to make them as warm as you can, right?

Interweave has some great tips for knitting warmer mittens, including using wool and a tighter-than-normal gauge. Using felting or stranded knitting to make the mitts warmer are also great ideas.

Another tip: knit the cuffs longer than seams reasonable. This allows you to tuck them into your coat so your wrists or lower arms don’t get exposed to the cold.

Do you have any mitten knitting tips or a favorite pattern? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Guillemet Mittens from Knit Mitts, via Interweave.]

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

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Comments

  3. I took a mitten class at the local yarn store. Have one complete. Really not sure about starting another one! Need to find a book for beginners – when I look on line the covers all look great …. uncertain of the insides. I always am appreciative of the book reviews. Craft Gossip rules.

Have you read?

Make Your Knitting Machine Scarves Better

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

  • the simple cinching method mentioned above
  • sewing the stitches together
  • three needle bind off
  • grafting
  • crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!