mittens – Page 2 – New England's Narrow Road

Fiddlehead Mittens

I’ve caught the mitten knitting bug! As I write this the temperature here in Florida is 88 degrees (says the app on my phone) but it feels like 101…! What? I don’t think that is correct, but the humidity here can really spike the “real feel”. My AC is not on, so I don’t think it feels like over 100. It does feel like 88 though.

Even so, I am knitting on my second Glissade mitten beneath the ceiling fans. Once it is done, I will begin the Fiddlehead mitten pattern. Because it will be knit in the same DK yarn (Brooklyn Tweed Arbor), I have an idea of needle size to use.

Fiddlehead Cast On Changes

The suggested needle size sounds quite big for such a large cast on number of 60. The Fiddlehead mitten pattern calls for a lining to go inside the mitten, and I want to avoid that. So I went down to a size 2 needle, and I am a tight knitter.

Fiddlehead Mitten knitting — A different cast-on

I tried the suggested i-cord cast on – which took forever – and I didn’t like it for my purpose. So I began over, and used the Latvian Braid. The i-cord is probably used because stitches will have to be picked up inside the cuff to add the liner. Since I am not knitting a liner, I changed things.

Mitten gauge is hard to judge unless you’ve knit a lot of different mittens and know which sizes works for each yarn weight. I recently knit the Glissade pattern and used a size 3 and 4 needle, but the cast-on number was only 48, not 60. I knit with this exact same Arbor yarn, so I knew if I used a size 3 or 4 with a 60 stitch cast on, these mittens would be huge!

Now that I’ve knit this far along, they still seem slightly large, but should be okay.

DK Yarn and Colors Used

I loved, loved, loved the yarn I used for the Glissade mittens. It was my first time using Brooklyn Tweed’s Arbor yarn and it’s a new favorite. Need some nice DK yarn? Check it out. The link takes you to Wool and Company, and they ship free to US locations, with NO minimum order! Arbor comes in many colors, but I knew I wanted greens, because this is a fiddlehead pattern after all!

For the background color I chose Degas, which is a light tan. Then I chose five shades of green for each section of the pattern. Color names are: Dorado, Treehouse, Wreath, Lovat, and Parka, with Degas as the light color for the background. Very pretty yarn and colors, and a few are now discontinued.

Arbor yarn in shades of green — Five green shades

Whenever I put stitches on hold, I always have a tough time picking those stitches back up again. This time I put the thumb stitches on hold using two different strands of yarn. I’ll use a very small size needle to pick them up, which may help. Then I can slip them onto the correct size DPN.

Fiddlehead mittens being knit on DPNs with thumb stitches on hold — Thumb stitches are put on hold

I have now reached halfway on the second mitten without doing the thumbs. I will do both thumbs last. These will not be done in time for the KAL with The Woolly Thistle, but I have already finished Glissade for that.

I am very happy with this pattern and the colors I chose – Dorado, Treehouse, Wreath, Lovat and Parka, with . Even without a liner, the knitting is quite dense and should keep hands warm.

Fiddlehead mitten pattern — Working on second mitten

top of mitten hand — Brooklyn Tweed Arbor DK yarn

Got some pictures today of my finished “Fiddlehead” mittens. I love the way they turned out. Fantastic yarn, good pattern (although chart printing is small – and the called for cast on takes forever – I didn’t do it), and best of all, they fit me perfectly! Those thumbs took some patience, but I am not used to doing colorwork. I’m also very happy with the colors. Possibly I will knit a hat in the future to match in order to use up the rest of the yarn.

hand knit pair of mittens in Fiddlehead pattern — Washed and drying

The Kitchener Stitch For Socks, Mittens and More

There is a lot more to knitting than picking up a pair of needles and choosing a pretty yarn. If you have done any amount of knitting yourself you will understand. I have learned a lot as I’ve knit various projects over the past year and a half.

One aspect of knitting you will undoubtedly come across if you knit mittens, socks or even sweaters, is the Kitchener stitch. It is usually done with a tapestry needle to either close up a mitten top (see below), sock toe, or stitch something together seamlessly. (See my Playdate Cardigan page also where I used this stitch on shoulder seams.)

Kitchener stitch at top of mittens — Glissade mittens

Basics of the Kitchener: End your knitting with even number of stitches on each of 2 needles. Do a set up stitch, and then begin the Kitchener. It weaves both sides of the project together without making a seam. If you look at my mitten tops, it appears that my stitches flow over the very top of the mitten like magic!

I have not done the Kitchener stitch often, but there is a good YouTube video by Very Pink Knits which has helped me to understand it better. She has a little mantra she says while stitching. She shows it on a sock toe, in slow motion, which is very helpful!

My Glissade mitten tops look pretty good, if I do say so myself. When I first tried this stitch, I practiced on something that didn’t matter.

At first, this stitch drove me nuts. I really hated it, but after practicing, it’s really not that bad. I just have to go slow and pay attention. A lot of videos don’t tell you what to do with the last two stitches, but this video does.

Now, whenever I have a pattern that calls for this stitch, I write that little saying on the pattern itself so I don’t have to go look up the video when it’s time to do the Kitchener.

Milet Mittens Colorwork Knitting Project and Mods

The Milet mitten pattern is my first real colorwork, small-needle knitting project. I’ve learned how to hold the yarn for the Main Color (MC) and Contrast Color (CC), and I’ve learned how to carry floats from both hands. So, I figured I was ready to attempt something new.

I did a trial knit of this pattern to try and figure out what size needles to use. The first attempt at this mitten came out very large (also my needle sizes were off – see Flexi Flip size discrepancies). I had gone up a needle size because usually I have to do that. But this time the mitten was way too big.

When I began my knit-along mitten project, although I had another mitten pattern in mind (Helianthus), I stuck with the Milet pattern because I could understand it (especially the thumb). I did go down to needle sizes 1.5 and 2 (pattern calls for 1.5 and 2.5). It meant I had to order some new DPN’s to finish off the top and thumb.

Honestly, I think this mitten should be knit in size 1 and 1.5, with added length for cuff and hand.

Knitting Milet mittens - cast on day — Accomplished the floral cuff the first day of knitting

The colorwork cuff is knit first then a ribbed lining is worked. Once the ribbing is finished the work is turned inside out to begin the hand. (See mug photo below.) I like this idea of making a double layer cuff.

Because I like a longer cuff on my mittens, I added extra rows of maroon to the bottom of the hand / wrist area, then did a Latvian Braid (just for fun) with a couple more rows of maroon. I wouldn’t do it this way again because that wrist area is too loose. I like the braid, but overall the mitten is simply too wide and loose.

Colorwork mitten knitting — I added a Latvian braid and extra rows to lengthen the cuff

The pattern is easy to follow, but it did take me some time to figure out the thumb knitting. I’m not experienced with picking up stitches and very small circumference knitting, so the thumb was annoying. Because of this, I decided to knit it solid maroon until I got near the top.

It took me twelve days to finish this one mitten, but I did not work on it every day. I had to wait for my Hiya Sharp #2 DPN’s to arrive.

Learned this: Very sharp, metal, DPNs are super helpful when knitting tiny stitches.

Review of Milet Mitten Pattern

Overall I like the looks of this mitten. Loads of people have also knit it, so it is popular. Many knitters have mentioned having to add length to the hand, which I also had to do. The nice thing about mittens is that they can be tried on. It’s easy to adjust length of hand and thumb by adding / subtracting rows.

The thumb chart has been fitted in with the hand, so it’s very easy to follow – but you must know how to read a chart to knit mittens. It’s not difficult, but when designers put the thumb chart separate from the rest of the work, I don’t know how to incorporate that into my knitting. It’s something I will have to figure out because I have other mitten patterns I would love to knit.

Buy the Milet Pattern, by Ysolda Teague, Here

I added three extra rows of the white dot pattern, but once I got to the top “star” pattern I realized I needed more length. So I added a couple more rows there.

The mitten is also very wide. I believe a thin pair of gloves could be worn inside for extra warmth.

The left-hand mitten will not be knit exactly the same way as I will make better adjustments. I’ll use the same needle sizes so the pair will match, but next time (if I ever knit this pattern again) I will use smaller needles overall.

Changes, Mods, to Pattern For Next Time

Needle size 1 and 1.5 for a tighter cuff and smaller mitten circumference overall
Lengthen the cuff by adding more colorwork or plain color knitting, then more rows of ribbing to match length.
Add as many rows as needed of dotted colorwork to the hand length.

star pattern at top of Milet mitten pattern — The stars at the top add beauty to this pattern

Knitting in the Round, Choosing Needles, Size Issues

My new year knitting program is going to include smaller projects, namely socks and mittens. I began The Woolly Thistle Mitten KAL (knit-along) this month (2/2020) and while knitting my mittens, I’ve used 9 inch circular needles, Flexi-flips and DPN’s. Here is my opinion on all three.

A Look at 9-Inch Circular Needles

I really like the little 9 inch circular needles. I think I first used them when I made a little baby bootie (never made the second bootie!) But they were too big for the cuff of the bootie so I used DPNs. I also used them to knit the sleeves of the Polliwog Popover baby sweater sleeves.

Here you can see my Latvian Braid (first one I ever made) using two yarn colors on a 9 inch needle. I think Fontana is unimpressed, but I had fun making it. After doing a Latvian braid on the Milet mittens using Flexi-flips, I realized a 9-inch circular makes for a neater braid.

Latvian braid knitting — Fontana and my Latvian Braid

Overall, I do love using the small 9-inch circular needles. Yarn holders for the ends of the needles are necessary, and the tight circumference can tire my hands quicker, making them ache. Also my colorwork knitting is very sloooow on tiny needles because the stitches are so small and tight.

I have the ChiaoGoo and Hiya Hiya 9-inch and they are both very similar.

Three-Needle Knitting With Addi Flexi-Flips (Size Problems) and Hiya Hiya Flyers

Both Addi Flexi-flips and Hiya Hiya Flyers brands come as a three-needle set. You knit with two needles holding the yarn and use the third to knit. A bit like DPN’s but with fewer, and longer, needles, that flex.

Addi has different tips on the end of each needle so you can knit with either sharp or blunt points.

Flexi flip needle tips are blunt or pointed — Addi Flexi Flips – One needle with two tip choices – sharp or blunt

Using the 3-needle set is easier than DPN’s as there 1 or 2 fewer needle changes, depending on the number of DPNs used, but I still have some trouble with the beginning of round stitches. See my braid rows below and how the BOR colors are off. I do have trouble adding a 3rd needle to start a row.

Beginning of round difficulties — My braid is off a bit using the 3-needle combo

Also with only two needles holding the work, I found that I was dropping stitches, so I began to put stitch blockers at the end of the needle not being used.

I have both brands and the needles are similar. The tube connecting the needles is a little longer on the Hiya brand, and Addi’s needles are a little longer overall. Addi’s come in a tube and Hiya’s come in a plastic bag.

Addi’s Incorrect Sizing

But I want to warn you of one crucial difference and it has to do with needle size – dimension.

When I began knitting my first Milet mittens, I ordered (what I thought was) a size 1.5 US set of Addi Flexi flips. I ordered them from Wool and Company and they were listed as size 1.5 US – no mm size was mentioned. However, when they arrived, the tag simply said 2.75mm (see tag below). I had to look it up, and come to find out 2.75mm does not equal 1.5, it equals size 2. The needles were too large.

So I checked my older pair of Flexi’s which actually says 3.0mm / US2. (See the photo below) BUT…3.0 mm does NOT equal 2, it equals 2.5 US…!!!!

Size difference in Flexi flips — Incorrect mm to US sizing in FlexiFlips

I went back to my order form at Wool and Company to make sure I did not mistakenly order the wrong thing. I did not. I kept the size “2” needles since I didn’t have that size, but I still needed a 1.5 size for my mittens. So I looked at other places online. The small size needle is hard to come by but Amazon had them and advertised them incorrectly also. Or should I say, they were advertised as Addi Flexi Flips advertises them.

Jimmy Beans Wool was where I saw the only notice to customers that the sizes of the Flexi Flips were off. They mention that the smaller size needles are off in the product paragraph. I wasn’t crazy – the needle sizes are not true to advertising. And only 4 of the smallest sizes are listed wrong – all other sizes seem to equate correctly.

If you buy according to the metric system you are fine, but those of us in the US will be using the wrong size needles unless we compare the mm size to US sizing.

The Basic DPNs

I have a heck of a time beginning any small item using DPN’s (double-point needles. With all those pointy sticks in the way, it’s not fun to keep track of where I am and what I’m doing.

Using wood double-pointed needles to knit a sock.

I think it’s actually a little better when using very small needles to knit socks or mittens. The Snowfall sock pattern below has a repeat pattern that fits nicely on four, size one, metal, DPNs. But I did cast on using a 9 inch circular and knit the ribbing before changing to DPNs.

knitting socks with size one dpns — Sock knitting using double pointed metal needles.

Magic Loop

Many knitters use the Magic Loop method to knit in the round. I have looked into it, on YouTube, and found a toe-up sock example, which I may try one day soon.

I can’t give an opinion on the Magic Loop method because I have never used it. Basically you use a long circular needle, split the stitches, and knit as in the round. Some clever people knit two pair (both mittens or both socks) at one time on the same long needle!

Knitting Inside Out… What?

Something else I have just learned is that when knitting colorwork some knitters knit their mittens, socks, and whatever, inside out! Crazy right? The reason for doing this is to keep the floats more uniform and less tight.

I had to search YouTube for that information as well. Melissa B has a good video explaining how simple it is to knit inside out.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, I’d have to say from personal experience that I prefer casting on with circular needles. If I need to do a Latvian Braid, circular is my choice. If needle size is not too small – say size 0 – 2, I don’t mind knitting along with them either. Normal knitting, or stripes, are easy, but for very small sizes and colorwork, they can make my hands ache.

Beyond that, it really depends upon the project at hand. I still have a lot to learn and new methods to try, and a pair of mittens to finish.