They are easy, quick, fun, and they make great gifts. That said, I’ve been knitting these [I][B]a lot [/B][/I]this year. Any ideas on spicing up the pattern? I am thinking of adding something to the back of the hand. I have never done color knitting, but I was thinking of alternating colors on the welts and bind off of the fingers and thumb, and maybe a matching snowflake or other color pattern on the back of the hand. Any advice?
Thank you in advance. I am always encouraged by everyone’s creativity and willingness to help.
Alex, So glad you asked. There are so many things you can do.
When I did little mittens for little munchkins I’d take co-ordinating colors and do some small patterns on the back of the hand sides with duplicate stitches. Very easy and just 2 or 3 vertical lines of a few sts. creates a nice little pattern.
. . . or you can do a ‘picot’ bind-off or try this pattern which has some cable and the said picot bind off. It’s been around for a long time but many may not have seen it.
Check knitty.com 2006 - a pattern called ‘Fetching’.
The pattern is not so difficult - I can do it - so you can do it.
Jean
Thanks for the feedback. I found this excellent pattern on Ravelry, and thought of using the cat (my wife is a cat lover) for the back of each mitt:
I was going to do the main color cream and the contrasting color light brown. I am using Cascade Yarns Eco Alpaca in colorways 1510 and 1522. I was planning to do something like this:
For the welts, I will do the purl rows CC and the knit rows MC, which will have the CC stand out with the MC peeking out from in between. I would then do the palm and back in the MC, with the cat in CC. For the thumb and bind off, I would do two rows (plus bind off row) in the CC, just to spice up the edge.
As I said, I am totally new to color knitting. Each welt is 3 rows. Do you cut the yarn after each welt, and then join the new color, or do you carry it up to the next 3-row block? If you carry it, how do you do that? If it makes any difference, I am knitting this in the round using the magic loop method.
Also, given that the thumb is really like a buttonhole (it does not separate from the main mitt and is not rounded if that makes sense), can I add a splash of color, or am I limited to the bind off row only?
Thanks for posting that link! I am a mitt knit-a-holic and am always looking for new patterns! I really like this one!
Seems there are many ways to jazz this pattern up - all mentioned above! Looks like you are on Ravelry…take a look at the many (free) fingerless mitt patterns - one is sure to spark an idea for you!
Since you will only have three rows between color changes, carry the yarn up the rows.
When it’s time to change colors from MC to CC, simply twist the MC and CC around each other once and con’t with the CC. On the next row, do the same to “carry” the MC up till you need it again.
Your daughter probably has seen me, as I’m pretty sure I’m the only guy knitting on the train!
I’m glad you bought the pattern. They are fun little mitts. Are you doing anything interesting with the pattern, or just knitting it straight through the first time?
I’ll have to ask her Course… it depends on which line you ride!
I am just knitting this pair as is. She actually wanted me to turn them into convertible mittens, but I didn’t find a pattern I liked that I could use to adapt them. I think I would need to make a pair straight from a pattern and then give it a shot - sometimes I can’t visualize adapting a pattern until after I have made it.
Course… it depends on which line you ride!