The Woolly Thistle mitten knit-along begins on February 13th so I need to settle on a pattern to knit. I had thought I would knit the Helianthus mittens, and downloaded the pattern to browse. The thumb is difficult because the thumb chart is not with the mitten hand chart. Am I supposed to overlap it? And how? Seems difficult to follow a chart when one part is in one place and the rest in another. (This is why I decided to NOT knit the Helianthus, and stick with the Milet pattern.)

The Helianthus pattern does give me the opportunity to do a Latvian Braid, which I tried. I love the look of it! I was using a 9-inch circular needle and the knitting was slow going, but the end product is pretty sweet! The pattern has clear directions for making the braid.

I’m using Rauma Finul PT2 yarn in colors Dark Petrol Heather (blue #4123) and Very Light Green (#4106) in the image above. If I decide to continue with this mitten pattern, I will probably begin over with a prettier color match up. It’s a floral design, so it really should be “flower” colors. The pattern designer knit it in orange and yellow.

The Latvian braid is created by simply knitting and purling rows but carrying the yarn certain ways. It’s very easy, just tricky when working with such small needles and tight stitches. To knit 2-color mittens like these, one needs to know the correct way to do colorwork.

Adding More Rauma to My Stash

Now that my new Rauma yarn has arrive, (The Woolly Thistle has super speedy shipping!), I will choose three new colors and cast on a new Milet.

I’ve seen way too many mitten patterns that I would love to knit – or attempt to knit. My first choice was the Milet Mitten pattern which I began and is turning out large (see my trial mitten). The pattern is easy enough to follow that I think I could have a good end result AND get the pair finished by the end of the knit-along – which is March 26th.

More Mitten Patterns Using Rauma Wool

Here are more mittens (and a couple fingerless mitts) I’ve had my eye on which use Rauma yarn, or similar. If my first pair of colorwork mittens come out okay I may go for it and knit all of these. If it ever snows in Florida, I will be ready…!

• Snovotter, by Skeindeer Knits (snowflakes) Fingering
• Winterland / Vinterland by Wenche Roald (winter scene) Fingering
• Marit, by Skeindeer Knits (big flowers) – DK yarn
• Shine, by Sofia Kammeborn (not sure about yarn for this one)
• Arthur Mitts, by Kristin Drysdale (fingerless)
• Sionnach Mitts (Fox Face) by Nina Pommerenke – these are cute!! Fingering

If you want to join the knit-along, sign into Ravelry and find The Woolly Thistle group. The rules and such are listed in the forum. There will be prizes, and pattern discounts, but the fun is seeing what everyone makes, and trying to keep up with your knitting! Cast on days are February 13th and 14th.

Thoughts About This Mitten KAL

As time has passed, and I’ve browsed tons of mitten patterns, and read lots of forum posts, I began to doubt if I would participate in the KAL. Forums can be cliquey and in this case, I feel that there are loads of participants – so many that getting lost in the crowd is very possible.

However, knowing that many people, from all over the world, are casting on, and knitting mittens specifically, while I am too… is encouraging.

So Cast-on day was February 13th… see how it went. I amusing the maroon and blue, with white, for my mittens.

I know that KAL’s are advertising disguised as camaraderie. Shops and yarn and patterns are mentioned in forums and on Instagram as hashtags abound. It’s all about sales in the end, but for a few weeks we can believe we are simply buddies, in the knitting trenches together, working to create a yarn keepsake.

In the end (fingers crossed) I will have a wearable pair of mittens.