Mittens for Me!

I actually knit something that wasn't from my own pattern...I know, what!?! After two and a half consecutive years of knitting, almost exclusively, my own designs I knit a really fun (and necessary) project. Mittens are a project I've only knitted a few times but are sorely needed up here, my fingers have been freezing and my only pair of mittens were pumpkin orange. 

I started with my yarn first, I had a solid color I picked up at Stitches West many, many years ago and a variegated fingering weight I thought was going to be a hat. The solid color is a merino wool, silk, and qiviut blend and it was divine to work with! Qiviut it a musk ox down fiber that is terribly expensive because it is harvested by hand not sheered. The yarn is one of the warmest fibers available and it's incredibly soft. Here is a link to learn a little more about qiviut fiber. I held my two yarns together (and reached approximately a sport weight yarn) and made the most beautiful marled mittens. My variegated color is Koigu fingering weight and I love how the two played together. You can check out my project page on Ravelry here. 

When I decided I was going to make mittens I decided to start top down incase I ran out of the pink yarn. I  thought that I could finish the cuffs in just the variegated if I ran short, turns out, I didn't need to worry! I didn't run out of either yarn and have wonderful mitts! 

I used a mitts pattern that originally had a stitch pattern but I opted to use the cast on instructions and the increasing but just knit plain stockinette. Now that I've knit one pair like this (following someone else's pattern but changing quite a lot) I have an idea of how I would design a pair of top down mittens. Maybe a pattern for fall 2022? 

I have a few more yarns set aside for mittens, some multicolored and some solids so you'll probably see another post or two in the future!