Druid Mittens

It's always a wonderful moment when magazine previews hit the Internet because then we designers finally get to share some of our little secrets from the past year. I designed and knit these mittens up in the spring and really grew quite attached to them, so I'm really happy to finally introduce the two of you.


This pattern will be available in the upcoming Fall/Winter issue of Vogue Knitting, along with many other wonderful mitten designs from a handful of great designers. A little mitten spread seems like just the ticket for Fall knitting, doesn't it?


The concept for these was something intricate and beautiful with lots of detail. The mittens are knit in fingering weight Shetland wool (Jamieson's Spindrift, one of my all-time faves, in the 'Leprechaun colorway') and covered with texture. Not the quickest knit, but really fun for us detail-oriented-types. Or those of us who just plain love bobbles (I'm not ashamed).


The pattern features knit-purl patterning on the cuff, shaped wrist, gusseted thumb, and garter stitch straps flanking the sides (I had to squeeze the garter in there somehow). The palm is worked in a textured tweed stitch and the thumb features its own little cable motif that grows out of the gusset.


The mitten is closed with a garter stitch saddle - a little detail that I really love. The garter stitch panels on either side come up and over the fingers, capping the top seamlessly, a la seamless saddle shoulder sweater construction, and are grafted together to finish up.


Being such a busy little pair of mittens, they require some acrobatic needle work and because of it look pretty lumpy after knitting. I highly recommend a warm wash in the sink - which will do wonders for this pattern and Shetland in general. They seemed a little limp and less-than-impressive before their bath, but afterwards bloomed wonderfully - the fabric becomes much more cohesive and the cables pop. If you aren't an immersion-blocker, making an exception for these babies will really pay off.


I've listed the pattern over on Ravelry if you want to check up on all the specifics, see the other patterns featured in this issue, or queue the project for your Fall or Winter knitting.


And the honor of all honors: the folks at Vogue chose these for the cover of the issue! Talk about flattering!

photo courtesy of Soho Publishing

Enjoy the issue!