Knitting The Stellar Parallax Mitts by Bunnymuff

After knitting stockinette for days on my Calliope sweater, I felt that I needed a color-work challenge. Mona Zillah aka Bunnymuff has a pretty pattern done in Fair Isle, stranded knitting. The pattern is called Stellar Parallax and you get two patterns for the price of one as it includes directions for a hat and mitts. I’m knitting the fingerless mitts first.

The Wool Yarn

I am knitting with wool yarn which I have in my stash and it includes Rauma (orange and yellow), Tukuwool (green), and Jamieson & Smith 2-ply (blue) and J&S Shetland Supreme (black- dark brown – and white-undyed). The only problem I had was with the dark brown yarn which would occasionally become very thin in places as I knit. All the other colors were very consistent.

A New Way to Knit Corrugated Rib

I was unsure of what needle size to use. My first cuff was knit with a size 3US which is bigger than the pattern suggest. It turned out to be too large around so I began again with a size 2US .

Size 2 US used for all of knitting (9-inch circular needle) except for top of hand and thumb ribbing when I used size 1.5 DPNs.

First, I did the cast-on and ribbing as I usually do corrugated rib. And it looked like this (photo left below). The cuff was too large, so I began again with a smaller needle and followed Mona’s directions (photo right).

One Mitt is Finished

On September 4th I finished my first mitt. All that’s left is the weaving in of ends, which will be a big job. I took some photos while knitting the ribbing at the top of the hand with the thumb stitches on hold.

The whole mitt was knit with size 2 needles until the ribbing. I used size 1.5 to finish off the ribbing on the hand, and then I used the 1.5 for the thumb. I don’t like the Hiya Hiya set of three needles, so I bought some wooden DPNs to use for the second mitt – they are Lykke brand and are beautiful.

Ending Notes on Knitting the Stellar Parallax Mitts Pattern

I enjoyed knitting this pattern by Bunnymuff (link goes to her Ravelry store). She has a lot of colorwork patterns that I love, but she also creates patterns that require steeking – which I’ve never done. Steeking, in case you don’t know, is required when knitting colorwork sweaters that will become cardigans. Because Fair Isle knitting is done in the round, the sweater opening has to be created afterward. It all seems quite scary to me because you must cut up through your knitting! Yikes… I plan to learn it one day, but I’ll have to be in the mood. So I’m sticking with more simple colorwork projects for now.

black cat, knitting basket, fontana — Fontana checks out the knitting basket

As I’ve said, I really liked knitting this pattern and it didn’t take long to finish the knitting. The weaving of ends is another story! I tried to carry the yarn colors more on the second mitt, to keep ends at a minimum, but it didn’t help much. It also didn’t help that Fontana, my cat, would insist on jumping into my lap while I tried to keep all my balls of yarn organized….!! How do cats always know to bother us when we are the busiest? Oh well, in the end, it’s all worth it.

Buying the new set of DPNs, Lykke brand (this is an affiliate link to Amazon), size 1.5 US, made a huge difference when completing the top ribbing for the hand and thumb.

weaving in ends on Stellar mitts — New Lykke DPNs

Lykke driftwood double-pointed needles — New Lykke DPNs

I have yet to wash the mitts because I am still weaving in ends! It’s never-ending, but I love the look of the mitts, which fit perfectly. I’m happy with my color choices and I learned a new way to knit corrugated ribbing. I’ll have to begin the hat part of this pattern soon before I forget where I put all my matching yarn.

Creating My Own Mitts Fair Isle Pattern

When I recently traveled to New Hampshire, one thing I wish I’d taken along was a good pair of fingerless mitts. My emerging plan was to go home (to Florida) and begin creating my own mitts Fair Isle pattern.

I’m not a pattern writer, I am a pattern follower. I have no idea how to go about setting up a knitting pattern but, why can’t I learn? I’ve already learned so many things in the past decade which I ever would have imagined would be necessary for life after 50. My brain is working well, and I’ve taught myself numerous new tasks. The best way to do something new and challenging is to jump in!

The Yarn

My favorite yarn for colorwork, or Fair Isle, is pure wool, like Jamieson and Smith, Rauma, and the likes. I’ve used it for knitting Katie’s Kep (twice), Tettegouche hat, and the Keramos Cowl.

Jamieson & Smith jumper weight yarn comes in many colors and in affordable, little skeins, so I can gather lots of colors without spending a ton of money. (Fairlight Fibers has this yarn at a great price.) I also have a few skeins of Rauma Finull, and Tuku wool.

Knitting in stranded colorwork means using a little of each color, with more used for the main color. Mitts, mittens, socks and hats will use very little yarn compared to bigger projects like shawls and sweaters. I plan to focus on these smaller projects for a while.

wool, Jamieson and smith, 2ply jumper weight, — Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight / Rauma

Ideas For Getting Started With My Mitts Pattern

The best way to figure how many stitches I will use, is to have a mitt or mitten that is already knit. If I know the count, and that mitten fits me, I can begin my own pattern (for my own personal use) with that number of stitches. This works as my gauge.

The Hedgerow Fingerless Mittens (Ravelry page) is a FREE pattern offered by Mary Ann Stephens. I considered knitting this one first. Knitting up a free pattern would be a good place to start when creating my own mitts.

Although I like the Hedgerow mitts, I chose to knit a free pattern called Fair Isle Mitts. I was happy with the outcome and loosely based my own mitts pattern after that one.

Planning the Cuff

What I like about these mitts patterns is that they have a fairly short cuff. I don’t like a long cuff going up my arm for something like this. These mitts will be used for in the house when mornings are chilly, or when the weather is not quite bad enough for mittens. No long cuff is needed.

I can begin with a Latvian Braid, as I did in the Glissade mittens. Or I could begin with a corrugated rib as with the Oulu Mitts. A simple K1, P1 rib would work too.

I chose a simple long-tail cast on, then 2×2 rib. I changed color after five rows. I cast-on only 52 stitches, because my daughter has skinny wrists, and then increased to 56 for the colorwork on the hand.

Planning the Colorwork

After knitting the Fair Isle Mitts, I can follow the thumb increases suggested. I needed to find colorwork patterns to follow for the top of the hand and the palm.

My knitting book library consists of some nice examples of Fair Isle graphs. These mitts will be for my daughter, so I’ll look for motifs that would be cute or pretty to appeal to her.

It really helped me to see the design by drawing it out and using colored pencils.

drawing of mitts pattern with flowers in colorwork — Mitt colorwork plans drawn out

I’d like the palm of the mitt to have a small, repeating pattern, and the top of hand to have a larger design. The thumbs could be stripes. It helps to have books on hand which offer lots of little patterns to choose from.

Colors will be purple and green, with possibly another overall base color which is lighter in color.

knitting books fair isle graphs colorwork stranded — Knitting books with Fair Isle graphs

The Mitts Design I Chose to Knit

After deciding on the flower pattern and finding yarn colors I liked, I jumped in and began knitting!

The first mitt I knit was for the left hand. I followed a flower pattern, for the top of hand, came from a book of hats I own. I also did a repeating pattern from another book. I changed that on the Right Hand mitt and gave the palm a pattern of rows with alternating colors.

I just carried the colors as stripes on the thumbs.

little flowers fingerless mitts pattern — Little flowers on the top of hand

For the second mitt, I also added a neutral line of white up the edge to separate the top from the palm. I did not do a line of alternating color after the braid either. In other words, I changed what I didn’t like about the first mitt.

fingerless mitts palm knitting patterns — Palm patterns are different

Final Words on Knitting My Own Mitts Pattern

The size is good on these mitts and I’m fairly happy with the colors. I learned a few things which I can carry over to the next pair of mitts I knit.

This design is for my own personal use and not a pattern you will find anywhere. The flowers are part of the Peerie Flooers hat in the Milarrochy Heids pattern book. I may have to knit the hat now to go with these mitts.

Lots of ends to weave in

Knitting Review of The Oulu Mitts Colorwork Pattern

The cold weather is here, and even in Florida temperatures have been freezing in my area. Knitting mittens and better yet, for me, knitting fingerless mitts, has become an obsession. I purchased the Oulu Mitts pattern as it was on sale in December. The pattern is from Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks.

I could see from photos that the cuff was a corrugated rib, which I am familiar with, and I can do colorwork. I had the right type of worsted yarn called for, so why not?

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn in colors Old World, Amaranth, and Caraway — Shelter in Brown: Caraway, Red: Amaranth, Blue: Old World

The yarn is Brooklyn Tweed “Shelter” in colors: “Caraway” – the tan for my Main Color, “Amaranth” red for the ribbing, and “Old World” navy blue. I had this yarn on hand so had to find three colors that would work. In the end, I like the look. Here is the left hand mitt drying, in size Medium.

One mitt is finished and drying
Palm side of left hand mitt

Things to Know Before Knitting This Pattern

First thing to know about this pattern is that the directions are in chart form. The chart shows a k1 MC, P1 CC for the ribbing, which is actually a corrugated rib. The designer does not mention this and assumes the knitter will know how to do corrugated ribbing.

Corrugated ribbing of Oulu Mitt pattern — Beginning left hand mitt

The pattern notes say that the instructions are “written for the Magic Loop method of working in the round” – but, that is not really important because the mitts can be knit with small circular needles (which I used) or DPNs. She only references Magic Loop for the cast-on and dividing stitches between needles. I don’t really see the point in mentioning this at all.

Each of the three sizes has a “right” and “left” mitt chart to follow – so 6 separate charts are included. I began with the left, medium size, and ran into trouble with the thumb colors. The color chart is off, and since it was my first mitt, I wondered if I was doing it wrong or if the pattern was supposed to be that way. Eventually, I had to do the alternating colors and ignore the thumb pattern. Because of this, my thumb colors are not all correct, but the yarn covers the mistakes well enough. This problem was not mentioned specifically by test knitters or previous knitters, but a few did mention having trouble in general.

Neither the right nor left hand chart made sense to me when it came to knitting the thumb. It could be me, or a problem with the pattern, I honestly don’t know. In general I can follow patterns, and I have knit mittens without any problem, but the Oulu pattern did not make sense.

Pattern is wrong for left hand thumb — Thumb chart is off

Getting Gauge

I did not knit a swatch and used my first, washed and dried mitt to get my gauge. My gauge is way off for rows, which is why I needed to add an extra pattern repeat at the top. I got 24 rows in four inches, and she (the designer) has 31 rows!

While I was knitting the first mitt, I thought the mitt would end up too tight. In fact I added a couple extra stitches near the knuckles to widen it a bit. But the day after I finished knitting, I wore it outside while feeding the birds on a cold 32 degree morning, and the fit was good. Then I washed it and began mitt #2.

Oulu cuff and back of hand pattern — Cuff and most of hand finished

Changes I Made to Thumb Knitting

Needle size & Thumb stitches: Although the mitt seemed tight at first, it ended up fitting me very nicely. I knit the size Medium, on size 6 needles for the ribbing at the cuff and top. The rest of the mitt was knit using size 7 needles.

I did not use the smaller, size 6 needles for the thumb, as the pattern calls for. In fact I added stitches, by picking up 4-5 in place of the 1 stitch, and it’s perfect. Doing as the pattern suggested would have created a very tight thumb – for me. If you are also a tight knitter, you may want to do the same on the thumb.

Wearing Oulu mitt for left hand — Before washing

Pattern repeats and bind off: I added one more repeat at the top of the hand to get the correct length for me – due to my smaller gauge. For the next pair I would maybe make the cuff shorter. It’s hard to say if I will appreciate the length on the wrist area.

The pattern calls for a “stretchy bind-off” and I did a regular, rather loose bind-off which was fine. Some of the reviewers mentioned that doing a stretchy bind-off made the top flare. I can imagine that would happen. As it turned out the top ribbing could have been more narrow overall. I will plan to decrease a couple of stitches before doing the top ribbing next time.

Finished! I had trouble following the pattern for both the right and left mitt. Don’t know if it was just me, or the pattern. I had to figure too many things out for myself. Maybe a more experienced knitter would not have this trouble.