Review: Stitch Style Mittens

In honor of day two of snow in Arkansas, I thought it would be fun to look at a collection of projects that’s perfect for when you need to keep warm.

Stitch Style Mittens is an old book (published in 2007, but still available on Amazon) that includes 20 projects in knit and crochet. There are fingerless mitts, mittens, gloves and muffs by a variety of designers and for a range of skill levels.

There are some really cute projects here. I like the Spot-on Mittens by Judy Furlong, which are white with stranded knit spots worked in different colors. Jennifer L. Appleby’s Slip-Stitch Wrist Warmers are pretty and practical, in a classic stitch pattern and a sweet pairing of purple and pink. The super-long and picot-edged Textured Gloves from Malgosia Dzik-Holden are sophisticated show-stoppers, while Katherine Hunt’s Striped Mittens in black and white are a staple for knitters everywhere.

The Fair Isle Warmers pictured on the cover and designed by Gabrielle Carter are nice, too, and great practice on lots of little motifs (good for stash-busting, too). Most of the patterns can be viewed on Ravelry.

Some of the projects are a little strange, or just not suited to my taste, but if you’re a big fan of keeping your hands warm, this one is worth looking up.

Have you been knitting any mittens, gloves or mitts lately? 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.

Next Pattern:

Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply