How I did it: I was inspired by a photo I saw of a pair of Norweigan mittens from "The Knitter's Almanac" by Elizabeth Zimmermann.

I didn't have the book, so I made my own pattern for these using a square grid in microsoft paint - simple increases every two rounds for the thumb shaping, and matching mirrored decreases for the tops. The best bit was seeing the fairisle develop in the round as I knit.

There's a link to my (new and improved!) knitting pattern below, free to anyone who wants to use it - although please mention where you got it, so other people can use it! The thumb hole is knitted in scrap yarn (indicated by grey), picking up the stitches and removing the scrap yarn after finishing the body of the mitts.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/iamaspiderhearmeroar/Redandcreammitts.jpg?t=1225246375

Lessons & tips: This is a pretty basic pattern (great for beginners like me) which can be adapted really easily to suit your own purposes.

Resources: www.knittinghelp.com helped me a lot, especially deciding on what increases and decreases to use.

Oct 27, 2008, 10:54AM PDT | 1 comment | 4 cheers