Mitten Advent Calendar – More Info

I’m so excited that people are interested in knitting along on my Mitten Garland Advent Calendar! Even Susi is going to give it a go as she spends the summer jetting off to Minnesota, Chicago and England. (I tell you this is a great travel project.) I want to answer a few questions and offer some updates…

I was asked to take a couple pictures for scale.

You can see the mittens are small, but not super tiny.

I’ve set up a topic in our Ravelry group for this knit along. Please join so we can share pictures and stories of how our calendars are going. People are already sharing their yarn choices and getting started.

There was also a question about what supplies I am specifically using.

Knit Picks Palette in Finnley Heather 26043, Pimento 24246 and White 23728

I am using Knit Picks Palette for my yarn. It is the fingering weight I use for most of my mittens. It is reasonably priced, $3.49 a ball, comes in 150 colors and I comfortably get my gauge with it. I am choosing to stick to just three colors because it really goes with my decor, but you shouldn’t feel restricted by that at all. (I’m actually tempted to throw in a darker grey too.) Make every mitten a different color if you want. Use up all your leftover fingering yarn! Some of the pattern will require three colors, while others you can get by with just two.

How much yarn will you need? That is a tough question as I have only knit the first mitten myself. I can tell you that that mitten took about 30 yards of yarn, so for 24 mittens you will need about 720 yards. As I am using three colors with 231 yards per ball, I will probably end up using two balls of each color. Which means this whole project will cost about $21.oo for yarn. I will list the amounts needed for each mitten by color on its chart, this will help you plan week to week especially if you are using up leftovers.

I am using size 1US/2.25mm double-pointed needles for my mittens.  They can get a little unwieldy for the tiny thumb. On my next mitten, I will try using my 4″ double-points. I am a tight knitter, so you may find you need to use a smaller needle, like a size 0US to get gauge. Keep in mind your gauge doesn’t need to be precise as no one will be wearing there.

Some people have mentioned they’ve never done a Latvian braid before. I found this tutorial helpful the first time I did it. It really is pretty simple.