I made these mittens for my friend L’s birthday. She’s a writer, the cold season is coming, and I can imagine her typing away at her computer while being cozy and warm.
It was the first time I used Drops Lima. This whole year I’ve been into wooly wools, the more scratchy and rustic, the better.
After knitting and frogging and reknitting and refrogging an albeit sleeveles, full sweater, I’ve realized the problem was the yarn. I had bought it from a local mill, last year, when the shops were closed, it was superwash wool, but the superwash treatment made it look and feel more like acrylic yarn than wool. It was too floopy and shiny.
Last month I found a local knitter who likes superwash on freecycle and gave her my superwash part of the stash (it rhymes!). That felt so good, after months of trying to use these yarns into the sweater above, slippers and shawls that would end up frogged.
So now I steer away from superwash and synthetic blends.
I had used Drops Karisma in the past to make a scarf for a family member, because I needed that garment to be easy to care for. It was okay, but you know… what I said above. So then I had this feeling that most other Drops yarns had some synthetics in them and I disregarded for a long time. But when I went a few weeks ago to my local yarn shop to find new yarn for making L’s mittens, I was surprised to see Lima and Nepal who are both a wool and alpaca mix. They’re really soft and warm. And not shiny!
Now to the mitten instructions, created with the spiritual guidance of Mrs Zimmerman. My friend has small hands, so they mittens look very small, but they were tested on big, manly hands, and they fit as well. If I made this for bigger hands, I would increase the original cast on (CO) with 2-4 stitches.
Fingerless mittens pattern
Yarn: Drops Lima (which is a DK weight)
Gauge: 20 st in stockinette stitch (ss) = 10 cm on 3 mm double pointed needles (DPNs)
Gauge is personal, make a swatch before to see which needles you need for this yarn!
CO 36 st on DPNs
Cuff
Knit the cuff in 1&1 rib (knit 1, purl 1) for 9 rows
K2, ssk to the end,
Knit 4 rounds
K2, kfb to end of round
Knit 15 rounds (keep the purls that you have created from the kfb and knit in pattern)
Afterthought Thumb (we will put in and afterthought thumb, which means we will keep the stitches we need to pick up and knit the thumb, on a spare piece of thread, while we finish the mitten).
K2, insert temporary thread, k7, move back to your main yarn, continue knitting 4 rounds in pattern. When you get to the spare thread stitches, just knit them normally.
Knit 9 more rows in 1&1 rib, then cast off loosely. You can use a bigger needle for your cast off.
Picking up thumb stitches
Now you have 6 st above your spare thread and 7 below, Pick up the 6 st and one on each side, from your knit, 8 st.
Knit 5 st, change needle
Knit 5 st, change needle,
You have 5 st left on your third needle.
Knit 4 rows
Rib 1&1 for 4 rows, cast off in pattern.
Abbreviations:
CO cast on
DPNs double pointed needles
SSK slip slip knit, slip 2 st onto your right needle and knit them together (decreases 1 stitch)
KFB knit front and back into the same stitch (makes 1 stitch)
Enjoy!
