I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by love! With Christmas all wrapped up and the Holidays nearing a close, this will be the last in my four-part series about mittens.
Mittens make great gifts! Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be posting about mittens, the various methods, thumbs, cuffs and shapings. I’ll be posting a free-for-a-limited-time mitten pattern every week and its matching hat pattern will be offered at 50% off in my Ravelry shop. Coupon codes are at the bottom of this post.
Today, I’d like to talk a little bit about perhaps the simplest of all thumb strategies, the afterthought thumb. This thumb treatment is extremely useful when we want to knit mittens without disturbing a stitch pattern or a striping pattern.
Because it requires no gusset, mittens can be worked over a consistent number of stitches right up until the base of the thumb. Once the appropriate length has been achieved, thumb stitches can be placed on hold for working later. (If you’re a sock knitter, you’ll probably be able to relate this thumb technique to its sister heel technique, the afterthought heel, useful when knitting striped socks.)
You may recognize this thumb from a pair I recently knit for my niece, Rowan, from KnitPicks Felici, their self-striping yarn:
And, of course, I’ve used the afterthought thumb in today’s free pattern, the Tess Mittens. This week, our mitten pattern features mosaic knitting, possibly the easiest way to do color work. With no floats and no second yarn to carry, mosaic color work is as easy as knitting stripes! AND, it remains stretchy, making it ideal for small fitted projects like mittens and socks. Mosaic knitting creates strong, graphic color blocks using slipped stitches. Tessellated or interlocking patterns are common in mosaic knitting and impart bold, energetic visual movement to the fabric. For “Tess”, I’ve paired a classic Greek key motif with a solid thumb, mitten cap and simple hemmed edge.
The half-price hat pattern today is Diana, one of my favorites! I have this hat in three different colors and I wear it with everything no matter where I am. It’s an easy, slouchy hat pattern with a cabled brim just right for those who are new to cabling techniques. It works up fast in a sport/DK weight…I’m partial to Quince and Co Chickadee for this one.
Hope you enjoy it. Coupon codes this week are TESS1 for the mittens and TESS2 for the hat. I guess I won’t be seeing you until next year, now. Happy knitting ’til we meet again!
