āLeave all your other projects and make those, Susan!ā said Jenny. āI want to see a finished one.ā
āAwwwww!!! So CUTE!ā said everyone else at Guilty Knitters (Even the non-cat lovers!!)
So what could possibly be so cute and engaging that I would abandon my lovely Autumn RoseĀ Sweater and work on them exclusively?
It was these – Kitten Mittens!!! š
From Kitten Mittens |
They are by Jorid Linvik and called Cat Mittens (pattern also includes a hat pattern).
The pattern is on Ravelry here->> Cat Mittens
And on Jorvid’s website here along with several other beautiful mitten patterns if you’re not a cat person ->> Jorvid’s website and mitten patterns
My confidence boosted by my fairisle on the Autumn Rose Sweater (More about that soon), I decided to dive straight into these mitten. I’ve actually never made mittens before – always going straight to gloves and I’ve defiantly never made anything like these before – it was a learning experience.
I chose some beautifully soft Artesano 4 ply 100% Alpca yarn it is fantastically soft but maybe not the best choice forĀ noviceĀ mitten makers – it didn’t seem to want to make even stitches the way Jamieson’s yarns do!
Then I had fun with tension – if IĀ believedĀ the ball band the mittens would beĀ enormousĀ – but I know I pull much tighter when doing fairisle so I swatched some tiny fairisle swatches
From Kitten Mittens |
So glad I did!
I had assumed, as I have small hands, I would have to go down a couple of needle sizes. It Ā turned out, as I knit tighter on fairisle, the given 3mm was the right size (and if I’m honest, I could have stood going up to 3.25mm).
Those needles BTW are from my Knitpro set of dpns – a birthday treat to myself a couple of years ago at a knit show š It really helps to have a set of the same needles right Ā there to experiment with.
From Kitten Mittens |
So why did I start these on a big circular needle doing magic loop? My 3mm dpns were in use on my Autumn Rose sleeve (yes, I’m doing a sleeve now š )and I didn’t want to pull them out.
The magic loop was far from “magic” for me š
I had very scrappy stitches at the “corners” and the pushing and shoving of the stitches along the needles was driving me mad. A friend suggested switching to two needle magic loop to get neater edges – I did. It was much better but still quite scrappy and uneven. Ā And all that shoving the stitches around every 30 second on such a small project !!! Ghhaaa!!! šæ
(If you’re sitting wondering what Magic Loop is, there a good site with a good description of the one needle, two needle and DPN methods–>>> Knitting Help – Small Diameter Circular Knitting)
I put Autumn Rose on stitch holders, and switched to dpns – happy, happy, happy! Suddenly (about half way up the left mitten) I’m much more even, the edges are neater and my tension loosened up. I was also racing though the rows noticeably faster without the stop start of magic loop.
I have been bad and forgotten to take WIP photos for you so I’ll just have to show you my finished mittens – I love all the detail packed into these mittens – they really are a feast of “catness” š
The cats on the fingers…
From Kitten Mittens |
The desperately cute paw prints on the finger tips…
From Kitten Mittens |
From Kitten Mittens |
Not to mention the fish bone running up the thumb…
From Kitten Mittens |
And the cat on the back of the hand too..
From Kitten Mittens |
As you can see from the photos they are not “stitch perfect” – the wrong side is pretty neat though š
From Kitten Mittens |
But does Ziggy approve? She’s not sure if she like other cats in her territory – even knitted ones, so she’s keeping a watchful eye on these mittens …
From Kitten Mittens |
I am very very pleased with these (can you tell?) Ā and plan to wear them non stop until July!
Completed Knit Report | ||
Name: | Kitten Mittens | |
Pattern: | Cat Mittens by Jorvid Linvik | |
Yarn: | Artesano 4ply 100% Alpaca | |
Pattern Problems: | None with the pattern – well presented PDF with big clear charts. Big problems finding a circular method that suited me. | |
Pattern Modifications: | None | |
Washing and Wearing: | Very warm based on this photo shoot! | |
Knit It Again???: | Very likely | |
Difficulty: | 4/5 Small, fiddelly, tension issues, neatness issues. | |
Rating: | 5/5 hard but fun | |
Other Postings Relating To This One: | None |
Those are so cute! That pattern has been in my Rav queue for years-might be time to finally think about starting them…
These are just gorgeous! I can understand you wanting to wear them all the time!
Those mittens are amazing! I’ve been thinking of doing a small fair isle project for a while and they look like the perfect place to start
Those are so awesome and Ziggy id beautiful!!
Those are seriously cute mittens. Ziggy looks like she’s taken some of the glass balls out of your vase for eyes! They are the same color.
LOVE these mittens. They are so cute. I knit my first pair of stranded mittens last Winter and I wear them all the time. They are fantastic. I will probably only knit mittens from now on because they are warmer and easier to knit than gloves.
Fantastic! Fairisle in the round in tricksy yarn, you are brave, but it was clearly worth it. I love the monochrome.
Just seen the matching socks on his website, are you goung to do those too?
I’m tempted by the socks but it would have to be in a machine washable yarn, not fluffy alpaca!! š
I really cannot get my head around the effort of handwashing socks….
Just showed non knitting husband the cool pic at top of page of your kitten mittens. He was surprised they were knitted as he thought they were standing stones!?
Why stop in July??
Amazing stuff! Black & White = perfection.
I Love these mittens.. may need to knit some for the coming winter š