I never really understood the allure of sock yarn, especially since I don’t knit socks. Why not knit with chunky yarn and have nice quick projects? Why can’t I have that cool yarn that only comes in sock or fingering weight? So, I started to investigate what I can do with it. After playing with all the yarn, I have kind of become obsessed with fades and marling in general over the last two years using sock yarn.
Around the same time, I fell in love with Hedgehog Fibres yarn, which goes well with marling, creating some really cool fabrics! I started with just using a speckled mohair with a solid and absolutely LOVED how it turned out. Where had this been all my life? Then, I started marling with different yarns, and dabbled with fades… hence why I needed fade mittens.
Choosing the yarn:
These mittens have 6 colors in them. You can buy mini-skeins or use leftovers from your stash! (Another small obsession is stash-busting patterns since I reorganized my craft room and realized how much yarn I actually have!)
I have found the best way to make a fade from my stash is to find two contrasting colors, like black and pink, and fill in the rest in-between to get from one to the other. I like the challenge of searching through my yarns to find just the right shade, plus it gets me to re-acquaint myself with what is in my stash.
For this pattern, you only need 65-80meters of each color, so if you don’t have much left from another project it will probably work. You use less yarn for the first and last colors, and a little more for colors 4 & 5 due to the thumb.
The last thing is caking your yarn. Putting the yarn into cakes will ensure that you are able to hold two of the same color together with each color throughout the project. If you don’t have a winder, then just divide the yarn into two balls so that you have two of each color.
Casting on:
When I am casting on, I like to have the least amount of stitches (like 10-12) on the first needle because there will be thumb increases going onto this one. The thumb increases add 15 stitches to this needle, so the extra capacity when you are doing the ribbing will be used up later. I also usually use needles that are 2 sizes smaller than the hand so the ribbing stays nice and tight. If you already knit tight, you might not need to do this.
You will be switching out one yarn every 6-7 rows, so keep those scissors handy because these knit up quick and you change colors every 10-15 minutes. When you get to a color change, just cut the color ending and add the new one in to keep knitting. It leaves quite a bit of ends to weave in, but totally worth the effect in the end! I did try to keep the color changes where you weren’t doing something else, like changing needle sizes, holding stitches for the thumb, etc.
Thumb:
When you start the thumb, I like to recommend leaving a longer tail when knitting that first row off of the held stitches to allow for any extra weaving around the inner thumb.
I like a tight knit around where you pick up the stitches of the inner thumb, so I usually weave in and out a few extra places to ensure that I don’t have any holes.
Modifications:
These are pretty basic mittens, so if you need them to be bigger:
1) add more rows for a longer mitten or more at the cast-on (in even amounts for the K1P1); or
2) if you add more in circumference, you may need to add more increases for the thumb.
Hope this helps in making some fabulous mittens!
You can get the pattern for free here on my Payhip, Ravelry, or LoveCrafts.
I love improvement, so if you find errors or a better way to write the pattern, let me know!
Happy knitting and be kind to each other. :)
Comments ()