Originally published in PLY Magazine for handspun yarn, this pattern has been reworked for commercial sport weight yarns. A separate PDF with the original spinning instructions is included.

Size: Adult S (M, L, XL)

Actual Measurements: 8.5” (9”, 9.5”, 9.75” ) circumference and 10.25” (10.75”, 11.25”, 12”) long



To Fit: Unlined - Choose a size that’s about an inch larger than the circumference of your hand, measured around the widest part, not including the thumb. When in doubt, go larger.

Lined - Choose the size about 1.5” larger than the circumference of your hand. When in doubt, go larger.

Yarn: Outer Mittens - Cascade 220 Sport, 50g/164 yards (150m), MC - 8894 Christmas Green, 1 skein CC - 8903 Primavera, 1 skein.

Optional Lining - Misti Alpaca Lace, 50g/437 yards (400m), 533 Linden Green, 1 skein, for lining.

Stacie’s beautiful multi-colored mittens:

Yarn: MC - Bartlettyarns Sport, 4 oz./430 yards (393m) Jade Heather, 1 skein
CC - Bartlettyarns Sport Swirl pack, a multi-pack of 4, 1 oz./107 yards (97m) skiens, in Oatmeal Heather, Rust Heather, Coral Heather, and Dark Heather. There’s plenty in a Swirl Pack for any size
mittens.

Original handspun mittens:

Size: Adult S (M, L, XL)

Actual Measurements: 8.5” (9”, 9.5”, 9.75” ) circumference and 10.25” (10.75”, 11”, 11.25”) long

To Fit: Choose a size that’s about an inch larger than your hand, measured around the widest part, not including the thumb. When in doubt, go larger. My 7.5” hand is equally at home in 8.5” and 9” mittens.

Gauge: 6.5 (6.25, 6, 5.75) stitches and 8 (7.75, 7.5, 7.25) rows per inch. Stitch gauge is more important than row. No one wants a tight mitten!

Needles: size 2 (3, 4, 5) US for mitten body, size 3 (4, 5, 6) US for thumb, if desired. Finished mitten size is determined by gauge/needle. I find that my knitting is tighter in very small circumferences, so I use a larger needle for my thumbs. If this is a problem for you, too, going up a needle size helps a lot.

Yarn: 120 (130, 140, 150) yards of each of 2 colors. I’d recommend spinning 2 oz./ 174 yards of each in case you need to do any yarn surgery to make the mittens match.

They use handspun Spunky Eclectic “Dijon” on Shetland and Hello Yarn “Gobbler” on Cheviot.

SPINNING:
For these mittens, I wanted a springy balanced 2-ply sport weight yarn. I aimed for:

28 WPI singles
14 WPI plied
7 TPI singles
3.5 TPI plied