Bloomin’ Happy Mitten KAL

We are wrapping up the Wee Winter Woolens KAL, so it’s time to start talking about our mitten KAL for January. January is National Knit Mitten Month after all! This year’s mittens are called Bloomin’ Happy and inspired by the fabric designs of Lotta Jansdotter.

I designed these mittens for me and just wanted a design that was going to make me happy. It is on the modern side versus traditional fair and I would say that these are a more feminine mitten. I will also mention that if you are newer to stranded colorwork you may find these a little trickier because of some longer areas where you will need to catch floats. I’m not saying that these are hard to knit, just that in some places you will be carrying yarn across the whole side of the mitten. I will give you some ideas to change the pattern up a bit, if you don’t want to carry the yarn so much.

Here are a few more notes on the look of the mittens. They have a ribbed cuff with colorwork in the ribbing. The pattern is different on the front and back of the mittens. I have knit my pair with a peasant thumb, but plan on offering the mittens with a side-gore thumb option as well.

KAL Details

• The KAL starts on Friday, January 5th with the first clue being releases around 8:00am CST.
• The next three clues will be released on the following Fridays, January 12, 19, and 26.
• The clues will be available on my site for free or you can purchase the pattern on Ravelry (coming soon). The Ravelry version will be a pdf that will be updated each week, so all the clues are together in the end. The version on my site will remain as four separate pdfs.
• To join the KAL all you have to do it knit along with us.
• Feel free to use the image above as your project image on Ravelry, blog, or website.
• There will be two thread in my Ravelry group for this KAL, one for just links to the clues and one for sharing pictures and chatting.

Yarn
You will need fingering weight yarn in at least two colors, though you can add a third color in the cuff if you wish.
I used approximately 58g/270yds for the 7.5″ wider/longer size – 38g/177yds of the main color, 20g/93yds of contrasting color.
I decided to use a third color in the cuff so I used 17g/79yds of CC1 and 3g/14yds of CC2.

My yarn is Knit Picks Palette in Ciel, White, and Raspberry Heather.

Gauge and Size
In an upcoming post I’ll talk more about choosing which size to knit and gauge.

• Gauge for these mittens is 10 stitches and 12 rows per inch.
• The pattern will be available in three widths 7″, 7.5″ and 8″(17.78, 19.05 and 20.32cm).
• Each width will have two lengths for the hand and thumb.
• It is important to get gauge to get the stated size.

Other Tools

• Size needles needed to get gauge. I am using US1/2.25mm. I use dpns, but you can do these in whatever way you prefer to knit in the round.
• Scrap yarn
• Tapestry needle
• Stitch marker

Stay tune for more information as we get closer.