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Review: Big Book of Knitted Mittens

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Big Book of Knitted Mittens reviewIt’s really fun to make and to have distinctive mittens and gloves. It’s a little something that can make you smile through the cold season and a way to give a little gift of warmth to family members and friends.

Mittens that are full of colorwork may look daunting, but all that stranding makes the mittens even warmer than they would be otherwise, and it’s well worth the effort involved in learning stranded knitting and chart reading to be able to make these lovely and cozy mittens.

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. 

The patterns are divided into general themes such as cuddly animals, mittens with bird motifs, felted mittens, mittens with symbols, mittens from the wilderness, domestic animals, motifs with personal meaning and exotic mittens. Some of my favorites are the dog mittens, with a Boston terrier motif inspired by Bob, the mascot of Ravelry; the South Pole mittens, featuring penguins and fish; Night Owl, with a large owl on the back of the hand and a small owl on the thumb; White Tiger, one of the felted designs; Flying Hearts, worked with a multicolored yarn for extra colorwork interest; Fox and Little Fox, great for a mom and child; the Sheep mittens, which form a full body on the backs of the hands when you put the together;and the Tiger Cub, an adorable motif for little ones. (Check out the patterns on Ravelry.)

There are also blank charts in the back so you can make your own designs or take motifs from the book and change them up to work on mittens of a different size.

This book is a lot of fun for people who are already comfortable knitting colorwork mittens, and it likely will inspire many more to learn the techniques so they can complete these fun designs.

About the book: 216 pages, hardcover, 45 patterns. Published by Trafalgar Square Books (click the link for a free pattern), September 2016, retail price $27.95.

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

Comments

  1. Hi Sarah, I don’t have a comment on the book, but could you please help me? I have been reading your ‘teaching’ on About.com about knitting test swatches for getting tension right. I’ve knitted – a per pattern instruction- 10 stitches on 5mm needles, 14 rows st st – should get to 2″ X 2″. Width correct, but too long. So I re-knitted with 4.5mm needles – still too long, but not wide enough . . what to do? I never know which way to go when that happens -which for me is mostly.
    Will appreciate you help. Thank You.
    Leona.

Have you read?

Adorable Ghost Knitting Patterns

Adding a bit of knitting to your fall decor is a lot of fun, whether it’s knit pumpkins or a bunch of adorable knit ghosts like these.

Knit ghosts can be super simple like this free ghost knitting pattern from Trixie Zynch on Ravelry. Using about 50 yards of worsted weight yarn, they’re worked from the bottom up and are super cute as a pair. 

This fuzzy little ghost from Forest Knitting Toys is holding a pumpkin and wearing a witch hat, though of course the accessories are optional, as is the fuzzy yarn. The main yarn is chunky and the ghost measures about 10 cm/4 inches tall. It’s worked in the round. 

Another fuzzy ghost in more of a Pacman style is this ghost plushie form South Stitch Girls. It’s worked in the round with bulky yarn and includes a sweet little bow you can make in whatever color you like. 

The ghost doll from Edith Grace Designs has little arms and a curl at the top of its head. The body is worked flat using DK weight yarn and you could also work it in glow in the dark yarn for extra fun. The body and head are worked in one piece with the arms knit separately. 

The Grim Grinning Ghosts from Susan Claudino are super cute and you can knit them in any yarn and gauge you like to make ghosts of different sizes. These are worked in the round with the body done in one piece and the arms are knit separately. The ghosts shown were knit in sock yarn, DK and worsted weight yarn. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

Make a ghost with funny striped legs with this ghost shelf sitter design from Claire Fairall Designs. It’s worked in three colors of DK weight yarn, and the letters spelling out boo are made with strips of garter stitch sewn into shape.