This cute fingerless mitts pattern, Maine Morning Mitts, is easy to knit and is good practice for knitting in the round. I love knitting hats in the round, but not so much these smaller circumferences. Mitts, mittens and socks require DPN’s, small circumference needles, or the use of Magic Loop.

Casting on using DPN’s is frustrating as heck, if you ask me. When I discovered that I owned small circular needles in the size 7, which was suggested for these mitts, I decided I would go for it. (Can’t remember why I bought them, but glad I did.)

The ChiaoGoo set of short circular needles in size 7 (image below) contains two cords and two sets of needle tips. The cords are 5 inches and 6 inches in length. The needles to attach are 2 and 3 inches long. Pins are include to tighten and loosen the tips. The package does not include a connector to connect cords. This is not something I even thought about but a reviewer complained about it. It seems that with a connector the cords can be made longer! I’m still learning about this stuff.

For my first mitt, I used the longer cord with the short needle tips. It was a struggle stretching the stitches around, so for mitt #2, I am using the shorter cord, still with the short tips. I’m also doing a corrugated rib for the cuff. The Twist needles image above is a link that will take you to Amazon where I bought my needles. (This is an affiliate link, which means I could make a small profit if a purchase is made. It does not add anything to the price you pay.)

My plan was to create a corrugated ribbing on the first mitt, but I cast on the incorrect number of stitches to complete the pattern. Because of that, I switched back to the original cast on number and did the 2×1 rib as the pattern calls for. That is why some pink stitches are showing at the beginning of the cuff.

I like that my new mitts will match my tan version of Katie’s Kep. All I need is a cowl or scarf to complete the set. Hmmmmm….. I’ll be thinking about this one.

I have a few skeins of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn and chose the brown “Meteorite” as the main mitt color. The pink stripe is “Camper”. I love the bits of color that speckle this yarn, and it’s wool, so the mitts will be warm.

The second mitt was done a little differently at the cuff with a 2×2 corrugated rib in the pink and brown colors.

More Knit-worthy Free Mitt and Mitten Patterns

All mitt and mitten patterns listed were offered for free at the time I wrote this post. And in case you missed it, the pattern for these Maine Morning mitts is also listed again.

• STASH’s Smitten Mittens – Easy
• Mitts For Anna – knit flat, no circular knitting, but must be seamed
• Lambing Mitts – Fold-over mitts and cute lamb photos too!
• Hedgerow Fingerless Mittens – Colorwork
• Maine Morning Mitts – shown on this page!

I have since purchased the Oulu Mitts, by Caitlin Hunter and will have a post about knitting those soon.

If You Hate DPN’s Like I Do

Hate is a strong word, but if I have to begin any small circumference project with DPN’s, I usually get it all screwed up. Even if I cast onto a straight needle first and move the stitches to DPN’s, they get all wonky so I can barely tell if the stitches are straight and I am doing things right. Once the project gets going, I can deal with DPN’s okay, but I don’t love them. I’m watching for stitches to fall off the needle when I’m not looking, or dealing with following a pattern as I change from one needle to the next. And then there are the ladders that might form.

All in all, I see no reason for using DPN’s except for tiny things like thumbs. But that means having small size cables to use. I never invested in the big expensive needle sets because there are many brands and I didn’t know which one I liked best. Also, when I began knitting I used my grandmother’s old straight needles. Once I began knitting hats and sweaters, I found that I needed various needle sizes and lengths and just bought what I needed for each project. Eventually I accumulated bunches of various needles made by various brands. If I knew back then what I know now I would have invested in interchangeable sets.

I’ve been knitting regularly for a couple of years now and the brand I consistently use and like most is ChiaoGoo. I recently had a Knitter’s Pride needle tip break off during a hat knitting project, which knocked that brand out for me. The Twist needle set I bought (pictured above) is pretty nice (needle tips twist onto the ends of cords), although one needle keeps loosening as I knit. Now that I have viewed other ChiaoGoo sets, I am wondering if buying a complete set of small size cords and needle tips is the way to go. Eventually I want to knit socks. And my favorite type of mittens are stranded colorwork in fingering weight yarn. I would use the small size set quite a lot, but it’s expensive.

Knitting with long cables and doing Magic Loop may be your preference. I still do not know how to do Magic Loop, but maybe I will learn in the new year.