I’ve been working on my hoodie, but I need to finish something, so I started a new project: mittens!

Now, I have tried mittens before and hated them. There’s always a hole when you do the thumb gusset. It’s aggravating. This time I decided I would prevail.

The pattern I’m using is from Knitter’s Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman. (If you haven’t read any EZ, then I highly suggest buying this book, it’s at most bookstores and is quite cheap, and a fun and informative read.) They are the Mitered Mittens, and it’s an extremely simple pattern.

I did make a few changes - I did a 2x1 rib on the cuff, since I think it looks better than a 2x2 rib, and I didn’t want to do an I-cord cast on. I also did a mitered thumb instead of an afterthought thumb, and I made a more rounded decrease at the fingers instead of the pronounced arrowlike point in the original pattern.

I’ll upload pics after I work in the ends.

Oh - also I did a line of crochet up the middle of one side (I’ll take pics so this is clear), but I think it makes a nice look.

To avoid the thumb gap, I picked up three stitches instead of only one, then immediately decreased them at the next row. This method seems to have eliminated the worst of the thumb hole that has always irritated me about mittens.

I used Araucania Nature wool, in olive green, with size 5 needles.

Onto the second mitt!