by Emmy Petersson

Freja, the Nordic goddess of love and fertility, is the inspiration for these mittens. The design started with the pattern of small hearts in the palm, and I knew I wanted to combine it with more hearty shapes. The result is these mittens.

A ribbed cuff and the traditional Norwegian construction with a thumb gusset give the mittens a comfortable fit. They will look good in many color combinations and will shine like little jewels on your hands during cold winter days.

SIZE
Woman's medium

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Hand circumference: 8 inches
Length: 10 inches

MATERIALS
Yarn
Rauma Gammelserie [100% wool; 175 yd/160 m per 50 g skein]
[MC] color: 401 Off White, 1 skein
[CC] color: 401 Off White, hand dyed as described in Pattern Notes below, 1 skein
Note: The CC yarn in the sample shown is hand dyed. Rauma gammelserie comes in just a few colors. Rauma finullgarn is an excellent substitution with a larger color selection. See Pattern notes.

Recommended needle size
[always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed below -- every knitter's gauge is unique]
1 set US #1.5/2.5 mm needles

Notions
yarn needle
waste yarn for holding stitches

GAUGE

PATTERN NOTES
[Knitty's list of standard abbreviations and techniques can be found here.]

For the dyeing, I started with Rauma Gammelserie in off white, color 401. The yarn is dyed with Zenit reactive dyes, used as an acid dye. I used the number 42 red dye and the amount of dye powder was 2% of the yarn weight.

M1R: Insert the tip of the left needle from back to front under the bar that runs between the last stitch on the right needle  and the first stitch on the left needle; knit this bar through the front loop. 

M1L: Insert the tip of the left needle from front to back under the bar that runs between the last stitch on the right needle  and the first stitch on the left needle; knit this bar through the back loop. 

Charts
The charts for this pattern are very large. Each fits on a letter-sized page.

Click below and print each resulting page and assemble.

Left Mitten, left side
Left Mitten, right side

Right Mitten, left side
Right Mitten, right side

Thumb + Chart key

DIRECTIONS
Cuff
With MC, CO 57 sts. Distribute sts across needles as you prefer and join to work in the round, being careful not to twist.

Ribbing round: [K2, p1] around.

Work even until ribbing measures 2.5 inches, or desired cuff length.

Next round: [K14, m1r] four times, k1. 61 sts.

Body of mitten
Work one Left Mitten and one Right Mitten.

Join CC and start working from the appropriate chart for the hand, increasing for the thumb gusset as indicated. 13 sts for thumb gusset at the end of Round 20.

On Round 21, slip the 13 thumb stitches onto waste yarn and using the backwards loop method, cast on 13 sts over gap in the color indicated.

Continue working from the chart until all 70 rounds are complete. 8 sts rem.

Break yarn and thread through the remaining sts, using a tapestry needle. Pull tight, and thread the yarn through the top of the mitten to the inside.

Thumb
Return the 13 held thumb sts onto a needle and rejoin both MC and CC.

Working from the Thumb chart, knit across those sts in pattern. Following the chart, pick up and knit one st at corner between these stitches and the cast-on stitches of the hand; pick up and knit 13 sts over cast-on stitches of the hand, and 1 more stitch in the corner between these stitches and the held stitches. 28 sts.

Join for working in the round, and work in pattern following Thumb chart until all 25 rounds are complete. 8 sts rem.

Break yarn and thread through the remaining sts, using a yarn needle. Pull tight, and thread the yarn through the top of the thumb to the inside.

FINISHING
Weave in ends and block lightly.

Emmy is an engineering student from Sweden, who spends her free time, and most of her lectures knitting and spinning. When she is not knitting, you can probably find her studying, or out on the roads training for a triathlon.

You can find her on Ravelry as Yllet, or visit her blog.