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Mitts and Mittens for Stash Busting

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I think this is the last big roundup of pattern ideas I’m planning for this month of stash busting, but if there’s something I haven’t covered you’d like to see ideas for, let me know.

Mitts, mittens and gloves are great projects for stash busting because they don’t usually use a whole lot of yarn, so you can make a pair with a single skein or use up some little bits and pieces to make a matching (or not matching) pair.

For instance, the 75 Yard Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts by Jeanne Stevenson. They use just a little of a really luscious yarn, and you’ve probably got lots of little bits that you could turn into sweet little mitts. Hello, gift knitting!

The Campout Fingerless Mitts by tante em are longer but super easy and pretty. You work the garter stitch band for the hand, then pick up stitches and work the arm part in the round.

The Stash-o-motastic Mitts from purl3agony are true stash busters, and you can even use a bit of yarn of different weights if you need to.

Another one for the sock knitters (or sock yarn hoarders) is the Midsomer Mitts from Snippents and Stash. These use two skeins because they’re nice and long, but you could use your leftovers, too.

The Daisy Stitch Hand Warmers and Colorblock Hand Warmers, both from Purl Soho would be great projects for using up little bits or larger amounts of the same color.

And the Quo Vadis pattern by SpillyJane and Eunny Jang’s Endpaper Mitts are both great choices for the colorwork lovers.

And for a couple of lovely patterns you have to pay for, check out the Stash-Busting Stripes Mitts by Jane Irish Nelson or Stephanie Pearl McPhee’s lovely Cloisonée Mittens.

Have a favorite mitt pattern? I’d love to hear about it.

Jorid Linvik’s Big Book of Knitted Mittens: 45 Distinctive Scandinavian Designs is sure to inspire you to want to knit some fun mittens, whether embellished with classic motifs like birds, hearts, moose and classic colorwork designs or those with a more modern feel liks guitars and skulls, a giraffe, penguins or a turquoise lizard.

The book includes a lot of instructions on how to make your mittens come out right, including a discussion of how different gauges can give you different sizes of mittens (and which mittens can be worked to different sizes for kids and adults). The charts are a little different from others you might have seen in that they show how to divide the stitches on the needles and where to place the thumb.

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

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Comments

  1. These are some great (and colorful) mitt patterns. Thanks for sharing them, Sarah! I’ve made a couple pairs of the Camp Out Fingerless Mitts and love them! Really easy pattern, comfortable to wear, and looks really great in variegated or self-striping yarn.

    And, of course, I’m kind of fond of my own Stash-o-motastic mitts 🙂 Thanks so much for including my pattern here!

Have you read?

A Blanket Knitting Pattern Where Yarn Selection is Everything

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]