In memory of Dee Fifield, a lovely knitting friend, and cat
lover.
Size: Medium Adult; note: the mitten width can be increased if
necessary by adding the same number of additional blank columns at
either side of the middle of the mitten (show by a thick black vertical
line) and at each outer edge of the mitten.
Tension: 28 stitches per 10cm, using 3mm needles.
Materials: two differently coloured light DK/thick 4ply yarns,
approximately 50g of each colour, 100g in total, to make both mittens.
3mm double pointed knitting needles.
Tips for working with multiple colours:
When one colour is being used for a run of more than three stitches in
one go, you should loop the active colour under the inactive colour, to
carry the inactive colour with you, on the 4th, 7th, 10thetc. stitch. This
will make the back of the work neat, and maintain an even tension
over your fabric, as well as preventing the occurrence of large loops of
yarn that may catch on your fingers when you put the mittens on.
Start: Cast on 58 stitches. Working in the round, knit the stitches
depicted by a yellow block in your contrast colour, and the stitches
depicted by a white block in your main colour.
Working the thumb placement: The thumb placement is marked in
pink. When you reach the stitches marked for the thumb placement,
work them using a scrap piece of yarn, then places those stitches back onto the left needle, and work them again according to
the charted pattern.
When each mitten is complete, place the remaining stitches from the front of the mitten on one double pointed needle, and the
remaining stitches from the back of the mitten on another double pointed needle, then graft these two sets of stitches together.
Grafting:
Put the sewing needle in the first stitch of the front knitting needle purlways and pull the yarn all the way through. Do not drop
the stitch off the knitting needle.
Next put the sewing needle into the first stitch of the back knitting needle knitways and pull all the way through. Again, do not
drop the stitch off the knitting needle.
Now:
- Put the sewing needle into the first stitch of the front knitting needle knitways and pull the yarn all the way through.
Drop the stitch off the knitting needle.
- Put the sewing needle purlways into the next stitch on the front knitting needle and pull through. Do not drop the stitch
off the knitting needle.
- Put the sewing needle purlways into the first stitch on the back knitting needle and pull through. Drop the stitch off the
knitting needle.
- Put the sewing needle into the next stitch on the back knitting needle knitways and pull through. Do not drop the stitch
off the knitting needle.
Keeping working through these 4 steps until you have grafted together all the stitches, then break the thread and fasten it off on
the inside of the mitten.
Work the thumb:
Remove the scrap thread you used to work the thumb placement, then pick up and knit each exposed stitch using the colour it is
knit in: pick up and knit 10 stitches across the bottom of the thumb, pick up and knit one stitch at the corner, then pick up and
knit 9 stitches across the top of the thumb, then pick up and knit one stitch at the corner. You should have 21 stitches in total.
Work the thumb stitches in the round:
Knit in the background colour, after a few rounds knit an descending paw print on the front facing side of the thumb. Continue
until the thumb is as long as you want it to be (try it on to see).
Finish the thumb:
Using the main colour only, knit three stitches together, then k2tog to the end of the round. Break off the thread, thread it back
through the stitches a couple of times (for strength), then pull the stitches together, and fasten off the thread inside the thumb.
Place the whiskers:
Cut a length of the contrast yarn and split it into half the number of plys (to make a thinner yarn). Sew three whiskers coming
out of the each side of the cheek (put the needle up from inside at the point on the cheek where you want it to sprout from, and
push the needle back to the inside at the point where you want the whisker to end), and two whiskers coming out of the top of
each eye bump.
|
