Friday, September 21, 2012

Ombré Mittens


My Ombré Hat is one of my favorite winter accessories, so I had to design some matching Ombré Mittens! These mittens are a great way to use up remnant bits of worsted weight wool and play with color at the same time.

The mitten chart is made so you can use up to 13 different colors. At the end of the pattern there are two different three color versions: ABCABC and ABCBABCB (used in the sample with blue, purple and an ombré yarn.)

The mittens are knit on really small needles with worsted weight to give them a really tight, almost felted like fabric. Since you are knitting worsted at a tighter gauge than normal, you can easily substitute a DK or Sport weight yarn.

Materials

  • 5 - Size 3 (3.25 mm) Double Pointed Knitting Needles
  • Up to 13 colors of worsted weight yarn, ~200 yards total. The sample is knit in a three color version with KnitPicks Chroma Worsted (Midwinter) and Blue and Purple Berroco Peruvia. (Note that the Ombré Hat contains up to 9 colors.)
  • Size: Women's Small. 10.5" cuff to fingertip, 3.5" wide. For larger gloves, go up a needle size or two. You would still get thick, comfy mittens on size 5 or size 6 needle
  • Gauge: 7 sts/1"; 15 rows/2".
  • Yarn needle for weaving in loose ends.


Symbols Key



The Ombré Mittens Knitting Pattern
- In these instructions, I will include the relevant pieces of the chart. For the full mitten chart in 13 and 3 options please see the end of the pattern.
  • Cast on 48 stitches on size 3 double pointed needles with color A.
  • Join to knit in the round and knit 3 rows of 2x2 ribbing (*K2, P2* across the whole row.)
  • The Cuffs - Begin knitting Chart A, following the chart from the bottom up, right to left. The pattern is a 4 stitch repeat, and the 24 sts in the chart are knit twice.

    Chart A - Both sides of the cuff, 24/48 sts shown.
  • Round 25: The thumb increases begin. In pattern (Chart B), K23, M1, K1, M1, K24 (The first 20 sts and the last 24 sts are represented by the 4 st repeat shown in brackets at the bottom.) Continue increasing as is charted until you have completed round 38 with 62 sts on your needles.
Chart B: The "V" on the chart indicates a M1 stitch, and the color refers to the color in which you should make this stitch. The yellow box indicates the increased stitches that will eventually be set aside for the thumb. The Ω is a stitch cast on with the backwards loop method.
  • Round 39: Set aside stitches for thumb. K23 sts in pattern, slip 15 stitches (shown in yellow box in chart.) Cast on one stitch (Ω) using the backwards loop method, and then K24 sts in pattern. (48 sts)
  • Round 40: Begin Chart C. Repeat the 24 stitch chart twice. (The pattern is a 4 stitch repeat until the fingertip decreases begin.)

    Chart C: Showing half of the mitten stitches from above the thumb until the fingertip decreases.
  • Round 64 - Beginning of the fingertip decreases: *K4, K2tog* across in color pattern. The decreases and colorwork pattern are now a 12 stitch repeat. Continue the decreases as charted in Chart C until 8 sts remain (after Round 75). Break yarn and pull through remaining stitches.
  • Thumb - Place the 15 set aside stitches onto three needles. Join yarn at the first slipped stitch, K15 following Chart D, M3 (18 sts). Continue for the 14 thumb colorwork rounds.

    Chart D: The 18 sts of the thumb.
  • Thumb Round 15: Using only color I, *K1, K2tog* across. (12 sts)
  • Thumb Round 16: K across
  • Thumb Round 17: K2tog across (6 sts). Break yarn in pull through remaining stitches.
  • Weave in loose ends. Reinforce the bottom of the thumb as needed.
  • Repeat pattern once more for the second mitten.


Full Mitten Charts
I am providing additional color charts to show you how you can make these mittens with fewer than 13 colors. For each of the following charts, open them in a new window for a larger version.

13 Color Version - FULL CHART For the thumb, see chart D above.

Three Color Version 1: ABCBABCB
This version of the pattern is the easiest to adopt to a two color version (by treating the lightest and darkest green as the same color), and is the one that I followed for my Ombré Mittens. In my mittens, light green was blue, medium green was Chroma and dark green was purple.





The mittens before the addition of the second thumb.  


Three Color Version 2: ABCABC



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Abbreviations Used in this pattern:

Kfb - increase by knitting into the front and back of a single stitch.
M1 (Make 1)- increase stitch by picking up yarn between two stitches, twisting and knitting.
K - knit
P - purl
I-cord - knit stitches on dpn's without ever turning the needle (effectively knitting in the round with a small number of stitches.)
SSK - decrease by slipping two stitches then knitting them together. Alternatively, you could slip one stitch, knit one stitch and pass slipped stitch over.
K2tog - decrease by knitting two stitches together.

These knitting pattern was created by ChemKnits for your personal or charity use. You are not to sell, distribute or reprint this pattern without the permission of ChemKnits. © 2012 ChemKnits