Guinevere fingerless mittens
My latest design, Guinevere fingerless mittens, was inspired by Arthurian tales and coastal walks. I’m imagining mythical figures galloping along windswept beaches. A maiden is on a clifftop looking out to sea, maybe searching for her lover. Below her people are foraging for seaweeds and coastal flowers. Maybe they used these plants to dye yarns in the colours of these mittens!
Guinevere features a floral stranded colourwork pattern on the back of the hand and a small allover pattern on the palm. You knit the mittens seamlessly from cuff to fingers, then knit the folk-style thumbs last, with no shaping necessary.
A Yorkshire yarn
I chose to knit Guinevere fingerless mittens in Rowan Fine Tweed (4-ply; 100% wool). This is a British yarn spun in Yorkshire; the colours are named after Yorkshire places. Rowan fans will know that recently this lovely yarn was discontinued. Some yarn shops will still have stocks and many of you will have sufficient yarn of each colour in your stash: you’ll need less than one ball of each colour.
I shall rework these mittens in another yarn in similar colours and I’ve had a request for a purple colourway too! What yarn would you like me to use?
Excitingly, I have a limited number of kits available which contain a printed pattern, sufficient quantities of each yarn to knit the largest size and a short length of waste yarn for the forethought thumbs. If you buy a kit you will also receive a Ravelry digital download code. This means you can keep a copy in your Ravelry pattern library and will receive the updated pattern (with the new yarn) when it is available.
Guinevere pattern options
The pattern for Guinevere fingerless mittens is available to download from the Being Knitterly Ravelry store. You can also buy a printed pattern or the kit from the Being Knitterly web store. Both come with a Ravelry digital download code.
The pattern is available written for left-handed knitting as well as the standard one for right-handed knitters.
The pattern is written for four palm sizes 18 (19: 20: 21) cm | 7 (7.5: 7.75: 8.25) inches. The finished palm circumferences are 17 (18: 19: 20) cm | 6.75 (7: 7.5: 7.75) inches, so you wear them with a little negative ease. The finished length is 15.5 cm | 6.25 inches for all sizes.
Remember when you measure palm circumference for glove or mittens, you should put the tape measure around your palm, then bend your fingers toward your palm.
You knit fingerless mittens in rounds, so you can use double pointed or circular needles. You’ll need 2.50 mm | UK 12 | US 1–2 and 3.00 mm | UK 11 | US 3 of your preferred type for working small circumferences. You’ll also need a stitch marker for marking the start of the round as well as some waste yarn for the forethought thumbs.
I hope you enjoy the Guinevere fingerless mittens as much as I do.
