Make Your Mittens with Colorwork

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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If you’re new to lace knitting or just aren’t sure how to incorporate the technique into garments, check out these tops and sweaters that use lace as a decorative element.

The easiest lace out there is eyelets, and you can practice them plenty with this eyelet covered sweater from Knitcro Addict. It uses light/DK weight yarn and is worked in four pieces knit flat. It’s intended to be a little cropped and a little oversized, and includes sizes XS to XXL in the pattern.

If you’re in parts of the world where it’s getting colder as you read this, the Nora sweater from Bummbul might be a good choice. This is actually a great one for learning lace because it’s worked in super bulky yarn, which makes it easier to see what you’re doing and makes the lace super graphic. This one just comes in one size, with a 42 inch (106) cm bust, but that could fit a variety of people depending on how much ease you like.

Minimi Knit Design has a cute allover lace cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up. It’s worked in lace weight mohair held double, which maybe isn’t the best for those new to lace (because it can be hard to rip out) but it sure is pretty. Sizes range to fit from 30 to 66 inches/76 to 168 cm bust measurements.

If you’d rather not have lace all over your sweater, you can knit the Lumi sweater from Originally Lovely, which has a chevron lace pattern on the yoke and is otherwise worked in reverse stockinette stitch. (It’s worked inside out so you don’t have to purl every stitch.) The pattern has 9 sizes from XS to 5XL and uses worsted weight yarn.

Or try the super romantic sookie blouse from Trust the mojo (available on Ravelry). This sweet top is started working flat from the bottom up and has a V-neck and I-cord edgings. The sleeves are worked separately in the round, and the pieces are all joined together to work in one piece to finish off the top. It comes in eight sizes and is available in English and French.

You can also pair lacy sleeves with an otherwise plain top, like on the Starflower Wrap from Annelise Driscoll Gingrow. This intermediate pattern makes a wrap sweater with generous lacy sleeves and a double wrap belt. The pattern has nine sizes, from XS to 5XL, and is available for free from Hobbi.

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