Remember November with this Knit Hat and Mitt Set

I don’t know what happened to Vanessa Smith that one November so that she needed to commemorate it in yarn, but I think it’s a good thing for the rest of us that she did.

The Novemberist hat and mitts patterns feature two-color stranded colorwork in a chevron pattern, making them classic enough to wear every day but with a spark of something special, too.

Use a tonal or multicolored yarn for one of the colors to make it look like a much more complicated project than it is.

The hat is worked from the bottom up and has a doubled brim, as well as being extra thick because of the stranded knitting on the rest of the hat. The mitts are the same, with turned hems on both ends and stranded knitting everywhere else. That makes the mitts warmer than you might expect from fingerless gloves while still being functional. Both patterns use DK weight yarn, so they’re warm without being too heavy.

The hat comes in two sizes and the mitts in one, women’s medium, so you can stitch them up for yourself or any of your friends who might need some stylish warmth this season.

And they don’t use a whole lot of yarn so you can maybe even use leftovers from other projects if you’re making just the hat or the mitts, or make them with different colors if you don’t care about them matching perfectly.

You can find both patterns on Ravelry: the hat is here, and the mitts here.

If you’re a fan of chevrons, check out this cute chevron yoked sweater, a great fleecy throw, this classic single-color chevron sweater or this bold chevron throw with a great color gradient. If I didn’t already have too many blankets I would definitely knit that one!

[Photo: Vanessa Smith]

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Next Pattern:

This swirly square stitch knitting pattern from Studio Knit is a lot of fun, and it looks kind of complicated without being difficult at all.

The swirly nature of the block comes from regularly placed increases, as the pattern is worked in rounds from the center out. Switching between sections of all knit stitches and all purl stitches (which gives you stockinette and reverse stockinette respectively when worked in the round) adds to the off-kilter flair but makes it really easy to knit.

You can work it in a single color or change colors regularly. This isn’t really a change colors randomly kind of pattern just because it looks better if you work a full repeat in a single color, but you know there are no rules so you can do whatever you want.

You can also make it any size you like, and indeed use any yarn you want. This one is blanket sized and used five colors of worsted weight yarn, but you can use any yarn and corresponding needles (you’ll need double pointed needles and circulars of various lengths, depending on how big you want to make your square).

For a start, why not grab some cotton yarn and stitch up a swirly washcloth? You could still use a couple of colors if you want, jsut for fun.

Once you try that, you’ll probably want to make a bigger version, and you could definitely use more colors than Kristen did (or just one color if you prefer), you just need to make sure you change colors at the beginning of the pattern repeat to keep everything looking good.

If you’re ready to start (and I know I am!) you can grab the free pattern and check out a video to help you get started at Studio Knit.

[Photo: Studio Knit]

Next Pattern:

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