Rainbow Mitts

By Elise madewithlove.fr
These mitts have been designed to use hand dyed yarn. They use around 2 to 3 grams of yarn for each finger. First you knit each finger individually. Then, step by step, you add each finger to the mitts. They are knitted from the fingers to the wrist. This design is knitted in the round, using the magic loop technique. You can of course adapt it to use double pointed needles or two circulars. I strongly advise you to plan the colors in advance: Put all the colors in front of you, in the same order as your fingers: left pinky, left ring finger, left middle finger, left index finger and left thumb, right thumb, right index finger, right middle finger, right ring finger and right pinky. Once you have chosen the colors, begin to knit each finger and for each finger finished, replace the fingers keeping the color order.

Rainbow Mitts

Material
10 mini skeins with different colors. I used Renaissance Dyeing Bluefaced leicester, but any fingering yarn will do. 1 skein of fingering grey yarn. I used Filcolana Arwetta Classic, but any fingering yarn will do. Black and white waste yarn. You need to use contrasting colors that are not the same as the colors used for the mittens. 2mm (US 0) Circular needles Optional : 2 DPN of the same size Tapestry needle 2 Stitch markers

Pinky finger
Use a provisional cast-on with some contrasting yarn. Cast-on 16 {18} st, and be sure to leave a tail around 20 to 30cm / 10 inches (for the grafting of the fingers that you will do later) and join in round. Knit 15 rounds. Bind off all stitches loosely and weave in ends. Remove the provisional cast-on and place all the 16 {18} stitches on the white waste yarn. Make 2 pinky fingers.

Index, Middle and Ring finger

Use a provisional cast-on with some contrasting yarn. Cast-on 18 {22} st, and be sure to leave a tail around 20 to 30cm / 10 inches (for the grafting of the fingers that you will do later) and join in round. Knit 20 rounds. Bind off all stitches loosely and weave in ends. Remove the provisional cast-on and place all the 18 {22} stitches on the white waste yarn. Make 2 of each.

Gauge
3 stitches for 1 cm wide 9 rounds for 2 cm high I recommend that you do your swatch in round for more accuracy.

Sizes
See drawing bellow to know how to measure your hand: S: 8,5 cm / 3.35 inches large - 20cm / 8 inches circumference. L: 10,5 cm / 4.13 inches large - 24,5cm / 9.6 inches circumference

Thumb
Use a provisional cast-on with some contrasting yarn. Cast-on 20 {22} st, and be sure to leave a tail around 20 to 30cm / 10 inches (for the grafting of the fingers that you will do later) and join in round. Knit 20 rounds. Bind off all stitches loosely and weave in ends. Remove the provisional cast-on and place all the 20 {22} stitches on the white waste yarn. Make 2 thumbs. You now have 10 fingers in front of you.

Rainbow Mitts

Fingers setup
Pinky fingers step-up:

With another black waste yarn, put the 9th and the 10th st { 11th, 12th st} on it and make a knot. You now have 2 st on black yarn and 16 {20} st on white yarn for index and ring fingers. 2 st on black, 14 {18} on white yarn and 2 st on another black yarn for the middle fingers.

Thumbs set-up: With the black waste yarn and a tapestry needle, put the last stitch of the round and the first stitch of the round on it. You now have 2 st on the black yarn and 14 {16} st on the white yarn. Tie a knot on the black yarn. Index, Middle and Ring fingers set-up:

With the black waste yarn and a tapestry needle, put the 2 st and the first 2 st on it. That means the 1st 2th 19th and 20th st {1, 2, 21 and 22th st}. Make a knot. You now have 4 st on the black yarn and 16 {18} st on the white yarn.

With the black waste yarn and a tapestry needle, put the last stitch of the round and the first stitch of the round on it and make a knot. For middle finger only:

Rainbow Mitts

Add the fingers to the mitts

On a circular needle, you are going to add the ring finger, the middle finger and the index, paying attention to the way the fingers are oriented: the stitches on waste yarn are oriented to the top (the bound-off st are at the bottom). You will only take the stitches that are on the white waste yarn Ring finger: The tail and the black waste yarn must be on the right side. On the circular needle in front for you, put the 8 {10} first st. On the second needle put the last 8 {10} st. All the st waiting on the white yarn are now back on the circular needle. Middle finger: The tail must be on the left side. On the circular needle in front for you, put the 7 {9} first st. On the second needle put the last 7 {9} st. All the st waiting on the white yarn are now back on the circular needle. Index finger: The tail and the black waste yarn must be on the left side. On the circular needle in front for you, put the 8 {10} first st. On the second needle put the last 8 {10} st. All the st waiting on the white yarn are now back on the circular needle. Now you have 23 {29} st on each needle. The beginning of the round is on the forefinger side.

Be careful not to knit any tail or black yarn in the process. Pinky finger: On your circular needle, put the last grey st of the first needle and the first grey st of the second needle on black waste yarn and make a knot. Add the pinky to the mitts: the tail must be oriented on the ring finger side. On the needle in front of you, slip1 the 7 {8} first st. On the second needle slip the last 7 {8} st, then knit to the end of the round. All the st waiting on the white yarn are now back on the circular needle.

Now you have 30 {36} st on each needle. Knit 15 rounds, or until the desired length to get to the base of the thumb without stretching the mitt. Next round: knit to 2 st before the end of the round. Now go to the thumb step. Thumb: Slip the last 2 st and the 2 first st of the mitt on black waste yarn and make a knot. Take the thumb, orienting the tail to the index. On the circular needle in front for you, place a marker then knit1 the 8 {9} first st. On the second needle knit1 the last 8 {9} st and place a marker.

With the grey yarn, knit 3 rounds. Next round: knit to 1 st before the end of the first needle, and begin the little finger step. Rainbow Mitts

1 To help you, you can first slip the st on a

DPN and then knit the st from this DPN. 4

The beginning of the round is now at the thumb. Now you have 72 {88} st. Knit 2 rounds. You can now remove all the white waste yarns. If you have another circular needle: do those steps again for the second mitt. If not, continue the pattern instructions and return to the beginning of this section for the second mitt. Gusset and thumb decrease: First needle: SSK, knit to marker, slip marker, K2tog, knit to the end of the needle. Second needle: knit to 2 st before marker, SSK, slip marker, knit to 2 st before the end, K2tog. Repeat this section every 4th round until you made a total of 9 gusset decreases and 7 thumb decreases. You now have 40 {56} st left including 1 st before the marker on the first needle, and 1 st after the marker on the second needle.

Gusset
Gusset decrease: They are done every 4th round, at each marker. First needle: knit to the marker, slip marker, K2tog. Knit to the end of the needle. Second needle: knit to 2 st before marker, SSK, slip marker, knit to the end of the round. Repeat this decrease every 4th round for a total of 2 times. Knit 3 rounds. From now, you are going to add more decreases on the thumb section. If your wrist is large, you can continue the previous decrease for a total of 6 times before to begin the next decrease section. You will then decrease a few stitches less.

Rainbow Mitts

Wrist

Grafting the fingers

Now you can remove all markers. Knit 12 rounds, or until the desired length. Next round: purl all stitches. Then knit 8 rounds and bind-off all stitches very very loosely, leaving a long tail to sew them inside. Fold the hem inside the mitt: the purl round will help you to fold. Sew the hem inside, taking the time to sew each stitch. Be careful to sew very loosely: I recommend that you to stretch the fabric as you sew. This will allow the wrist to be stretch enough, so that the hand fit inside.

Between each fingers, you have stitches waiting on black waste yarn. Its now time to graft them. Begin with the thumb: on one DPN, slip the 4 waiting st of the thumb. On the second DPN, slip the 4 waiting st of the mitts. Cut and remove the black waste yarn. This step may induce small holes on each side, so I strongly recommend that you pickup 1 more st on each side of each needle (which gives you 2 more st per needle) With the 6 (4+2) colored st from the thumb in front of you, and the 6 (4+2) grey st of the mitt behind, use the thumb tail to do a grafting of the stitches. Do the same for each hole between the fingers.

Rainbow Mitts

For the hole between the index and the middle finger, gaft the 2 fingers together. For the hole between the middle finger and the ring finger, you have 2 tails. You can choose any tail, its not important For the hole between the ring finger and the pinky finger, proceed like for the thumb.

Each time, do not forget to pickup 2 st per needle, one on each side to avoid small holes. Turn the mitt and weave in ends. You can now wash and block your mitts.

Pattern, photography and illustrations by Elise Dupont http://madewithlove.fr Published on InTheLoop.fr 2012

Rainbow Mitts

Appendix

Rainbow Mitts