Knit for Victory

These mittens were inspired by the Jaywalker socks by Grumperina, the first socks I ever knitted. When trying to decide what to call them I asked my OH (explaining about the sock pattern) and being a Star Wars fan he came up with Skywalker!
I love the Chevron and the way they stay up on your feet so I thought I’d experiment with some fingerless mittens. Rather than use some self striping yarn I thought I’d also experiment switching colours in the round. This pattern helps to ‘hide’ the small shift from each round. I found twisting the different colours at the round helped to reduce any gaps. The thumb gusset increases are slightly different to conventional ones, in order to keep the decrease pattern running up the thumb (see picture below).

I used 3 colours of Rowan 4 Ply soft (Blue – A, Rose – B, Pink – C) and 3mm DPNs

Abbreviations:
kfb: knit front and back of stitch
p2sso: pass 2 slip stitches over

Cast on 60 stitches with A and split 15 on each needle
Round 1: Knit all stitches
Round 2: [kfb, k5, sl2, k1, p2sso, k5, kfb] across each needle
Repeat these 2 rounds once more
Change to B and repeat the 2 rounds above 2
Change to C and continue in pattern

Continue switching colours B and C every 4 rounds until you’re happy with the length – the ones above have 5 colour repeats

Thumb Gusset
At the next colour repeat (knit round)

Round 1: (first needle) K5, kfb, k3, kfb, K5, knit all stitches on remaining needles
Round 2: (first needle) kfb,  k6, sl2, k1, psso, k6, kfb. (remaining needles) kfb, k5, sl2, k1, p2sso, k5, kfb
Round 3: (first needle) K5, kfb, k5, kfb, K5, knit all stitches on remaining needles
Round 4: (first needle) kfb, k7, sl2, k1, p2sso, k7, kfb. (remaining needles) kfb, k5, sl2, k1, psso, k5, kfb

Continue with the above decreases until there are 31 stitches on the 1st needle (continuing to switch colour every 4 rounds).

Next round: knit 5, put 21 stitches onto some waste yarn, CO 5 sts, rejoin to remaining 5 sts on 1st needle, knit round all stitches (60 sts)
Round 2: [kfb, k5, sl2, k1, psso, k5, kfb] across each needle
Continue in pattern, with colour changes until almost desired length. For last 4 rounds, return to original colour and cast off.

Rejoining thumb
Place stitches across 3 needles, there will now be 2 chevrons on the thumb, one along the front and one on the ‘back’ (closest to the fingers) so will need some ‘tweaking’ to ensure the pattern continues correctly, there will also only be 14 sts in each chevron, rather than the 15 for the rest of the mitten.

Round 1: k21, pick up and knit 7 stitches across gap
Round 2: k4, kfb, k4, sl2, k1, p2sso, k4, kfb, k4, sl2, k1, psso
Round 3: knit
Round 4: k4, kfb, k4, sl2, k1, p2sso, k4, kfb, k4, sl2, k1, psso

Continue until desired length, knitting the last 4 rounds in the original colour, cast off.

Sew in all ends and block to ensure the chevrons stay pointy. Although, as you can see from the picture, this works better at the wrist than at the fingers which tend to curl with movement.

I’ve finally made the leap into yarn dyeing with Kool Aid. It smells to high heaven but it’s pretty effective to dye with.

This pattern is with my first attempt – it’s Pink Lemonade, Grape, Cherry, Lemonade and Mandarin – I’m not 100% sure about the colourway but the lace pattern (from The Harmony Guide stitch book) shows it off rather well.

Using 3mm needles and sock weight yarn, Cast on 58 sts (the pattern is in multiple of 9 + 4)

Row 1 (wrong side): purl

Row 2: K2, *yf, K2, sl1, k1, psso, k2tog, yf, k1; rep from * to last st, k1

Row 3: purl

Row 4: K2, *yf, K2, sl1, k1, psso, k2tog, yf, k1; rep from * to last 2 sts, K2

Repeat these 4 rows

Simple but effective

I made three pairs of socks in the three sizes below, using the tiniest amount of yarn possible, including some leftover from a pair his mum had made herself so now they have matching socks!

Using 4ply sock yarn and 2.5 mm needles
Cuff:
CO 28 (32,36)sts, join in the round
k1, p1 for 4(6,6) rows
knit until desired leg length (about 5cm)

Heel flap:
K14 (16,18)sts, turn and purl to the end
Row 1: Sl1, k1 until last st – ktbl
Row 2: Sl1 purlwise, p to end
Row 3: Sl2, k1, sl1, knit 1 to last st – ktbl
Row 4: Sl1 purlwise, p to end
Continue until 14 (16,18) rows altogether (including first 2)

Heel shaping:
Knit 9 (11,13)sts, turn
Purl 3(5,7),p2tog,p1, turn
Knit to one st before the gap, ssk, k1, turn
Continue until all sts knitted.
Pick up and knit 14 (16,18) sts along right gusset, pm, knit 14 (16,18) sts across top of sock, pm, pick up and knit 14 (16,18) sts along right gusset and remaining heel sts.
Next round: k to last 3 sts before marker, k2tog, k1, knit until next marker, k1,ssk until end of round.
2nd round: knit every st
Repeat these 2 rounds until 14 (16,18) sts remain on the foot. 28 (32,36) sts in total
Continue until foot desired length (only a few more rounds!)

Toe decrease:
Ensure sts are evenly spread across the needles and in the centre of the sock.
1st round:
Needle 1 (left side,top of sock): k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1.
Needle 2 (right side, bottom of sock): k1, ssk, knit to end of needle
Needle 3 (left side, bottom of sock): knit to last 3, k2tog, k1
Needle 4 (right side, top of sock): k1, ssk, knit to end of needle
Next 2 rounds: knit all stitches.
Repeat these three rounds until 12 (14,16) sts remaining – move so there are 6 sts on front needle and 6 on back needle – use kitchener stitch to finish.

I am officially a very rubbish blogger!
I’ve been really busy creating loads of mitten patterns recently that I must get the patterns up here so I can link them on Ravelry!

First off  are my Michigan Mitts. I bought the yarn in Michigan, I knitted them in Michigan (all over, from Royal Oak to Leland and many places in between) and them being mitt shaped (naturally) they look a lot like Michigan too.
I used Spud and Chloe Fine in Anemone (a word which always makes me think of Finding Nemo!) spud and chloe gorgeous yarn to knit with and lovely, lovely colours.

Using 3mm DPNs, cast on 48 stitches and joined in the round (for the rib repeat, use multiple of 4).
For every round: rib repeat of [K2,K1 tbl, P1], do however many rounds until you’ve got a cuff you’re happy with (mine is about 2 inches)

Thumb gusset:
Next round [K2,K1tbl, P1] once, kfb, K2, kfb continue round in rib repeat
Next 2 rounds [K2,K1 tbl, P1] once, knit next six stiches, continue rib repeat
Repeat these three rounds 4 more times (14sts in thumb gusset)
Next round [K2,K1tbl, P1] once, kfb, K2, kfb continue round in rib repeat (16 thumb gusset sts)
Next round K2,K1tbl, P1, thread 16 thumb stitches onto spare yarn and tie in loose knot, then join* knitting in rib repeat and continue in round

*I am not a fan of the way stitches ‘cast on’ here look so avoid them, it means the top of the mitt is slightly more narrow than the hand part but in my opinion this improves the aesthetic.

Continue to knit remaining 44 stitches in rib repeat until the desired length (mine are up to my knuckles) and cast off in rib.

Rejoining the thumb:
Divide thumb stitches across three needles, rejoin yarn and knit all stitches, pick up 5 stitches across inner thumb*
*I tend to pick up one extra stitch than I need at this point then decrease it on next row as this helps with the shaping, left with 20 stitches
Knit until 3-4 rounds from desired height
Next round K2, K1 tbl, P1 to end
Repeat for 2-3 rounds
cast off in rib

Make other glove
Repeat all of the above, however, instead of making thumb gusset on first needle after the round join, make it in the last needle to reverse the shaping,

Wear, enjoy, love