I’m very happy to unveil my latest design today, and not a moment too soon for the never-ending winter weather. Please meet my Winesap Mitts, a great one-skein project (gift knitting, anyone?) that includes three different sizes to fit older children to adults!
I loooove a good pair of fingerless mitts. You can wear them indoors (just ask me), you can even wear them under gloves outside. And when I need a pair of mitts, it’s usually because my forearms, as well as my hands, are chilled. So my goal was to design some mitts that were functional and pretty.
I designed a longer arm that fits snugly, thanks to the ribbing pattern, and also is shaped to narrow toward the wrist. For a bit of whimsy, I designed the arms to be knit flat so that they could be closed with coordinating buttons. Then the knitting is joined in the round to knit the hand and thumb as with traditional mittens/gloves.
Perhaps my favorite part about the design process behind these mitts was that, as the saying goes, it took a village. Allow me to explain… 🙂
The beautiful yarn featured in these cozy mitts was hand-dyed by Christine of Skeinny Dipping in Massachusetts. (Isn’t that a great name for a yarn company?) I first met Christine a few years back at, where else, Rhinebeck. We were both at the Knitspot meet-up, and I noticed that she was wearing gorgeous mitts in a vibrant yellow-green color. They were so great that I had to find out more, and lo and behold, she had knit them up in her own hand-dyed yarn! Christine is a truly gifted dyer (and a wonderful friend to boot). Just look at her nearly-endless palette of color choices here. Swoon! Luckily for me, she dyed up a skein for these mitts in one of my fave colorways: “Evolution of the Maple.”
The colorway is primarily brown and green, but has lovely undertones of yellow and the occasional flash of purple. Because the colorway is such a complex combination, I focused on finding a stitch pattern to show off its rich variegation. The slip stitch pattern that you see on the hand of the mitts fits that bill nicely, I think, while also giving the mitt an unusual texture. The yarn base used for the mitts, her “Cannonball Sock,” is a lovely blend of merino and nylon, which lends both warmth to the mitts and a hint of sheen and glow to the colorway. I also like having the nylon content to ensure a snug fit and a hard-wearing lifespan for the mitts.
To further play up the variegation of the yarn, I thought it would be fun to draw out some of the accent colors. The best way I thought to do that? With the coordinating buttons I mentioned above! And this is where my Button-Partner-In-Crime comes in: my mom.
With one completed Winesap Mitt in hand, my mom and I descended upon the button aisle at her local Joann Fabrics store. We must have pored over every single button hanging in that aisle that day, as we clutched and compared different sizes, shapes, and patterns while muttering “almost,” and “not quite,” and my favorite: “well, I don’t hate it.” Then, in a stroke of genius, my mom alighted on the almost-chartreuse buttons you see pictured above. The combination did not hit me at first, but the more we stared at it, the more we loved it. After a few minutes, I was practically giddy. These were the ones! And it only took almost an hour to find them! (Hey, if you’re gonna do it, do it right…) So I hope you agree that these are the perfect fit. 🙂
Once the mitts were completed, the task fell to Andrew to accurately capture the stitch patterning, the fit, and the unique tones of the yarn in photographs. We discovered that: (a) snow on the ground provides some decent, if finicky, natural light; and (b) hand modeling is HARD hehehe. I think he did a great job, and is becoming quite the knitwear photographer, if I do say so myself…
Of course, I’ve been saving the best part for last. You know I love a giveaway, so let’s do it!
Leave a comment on this post before midnight Eastern time on Friday, January 31st to win not only a copy of the pattern, but also a skein of yarn from Christine to make your very own pair! And here’s the best part: Christine has very generously agreed to CUSTOM dye the skein for the winner!
(I want to enter just to try and get my paws on more of her yarn hahaha).
So there you have it: the Winesap Mitts in all their cozy glory. I hope you love them and find them as versatile, easy to knit, fun to wear, and mood-enhancing as I do. To learn more about the pattern or to purchase the pattern, you can go here on Ravelry or here at MWD. Thanks to everyone in my little village (including my very talented tech editor, Karen) for bringing these mitts to life!
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