Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Make Your Mittens with Colorwork

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Mittens are a utilitarian item if ever there was one. They just need to keep our hands warm reliably. They don’t have to be cute.

But since we’re knitters and we’re going to knit our own mittens anyway, they might as well be cute, too, right?

It doesn’t necessarily take a lot of effort to make a pair of mittens that’s objectively nicer than the options you could buy in a store, but if you want to put in a little more work than that, so you can have a really nice and pretty and warm pair of mittens, I’ve got just the thing for you.

The Hibernus Mittens from Fleece Love and Happiness are meant to be Christmas adjacent, but not so holiday that you don’t want to wear them in the not-Christmas cold season (which, where I live, is almost all of it, since it doesn’t usually get that cold until January).

It’s really the colors that give them a holiday feel, since the colorwork itself isn’t holiday, and blue dominates in the colorwork flowers and diamonds.

These mittens are perfect for intermediate knitters and have lots of fun techniques included. They’re worked from the bottom up with ribbing and a Latvian braid, then the colorwork is charted and has four colors total. There are charts for the back of the hand, the palm and the thumb, but the palm and thumb are an easy checkerboard pattern so you won’t have to follow the chart as you go on those.

The pattern uses super fine yarn and comes in one size for adults. Of course wool yarn would be the best choice here for warmth if you can handle wool on your hands.

You can download the free pattern from the Fleece Love and Happiness blog.

[Photo: Fleece Love and Happiness]

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Pencil Knitting Patterns

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns! 

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil. 

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn. 

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point. 

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up. 

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.