Yarn Along -Fliptop mittens

I loved Val‘s comment, yesterday,about these mittens being fliptop mittens. It is just so apt and the best description for them! I’ve finished two pairs of fliptop mittens now and I’ve started the third. Fortunately, the children sorted out, fairly amicably, who was getting which pair. TF was determined that the blue and orange ones rightfully belonged to him, as orange is his favourite colour. News to me, but hey, why not! He knows his own mind and gets his point across.

BL loved the red pair from the first and had been quietly dropping her sincere hints. I love her quieter form of persuasion. Such a contrast to her brother’s. Steady and heartfelt. AJ was happy to pick out all the purple coloured wool from my bits and bobs stash for the final pair.

The mittens are knitted flat on two needles. The fingers are knitted rectangles, as part of the mitten, so only the side seams of each finger and mitten have to be stitched. (I’ve used dpns to do fingers for a pair of gloves. Just the one pair, which I hope says it all!) The fingerless gloves are knitted first and could be left at that. The flap is attached by picking up knitted stitches across the back of the glove. It really is a straightforward pattern and great for using up some of my half balls of wool. Any pattern that I can follow with the children buzzing around me, has to be a winner!

I may need to make more of these. I do have rather a large stash of ends of wool, that wait to tangle up in an almighty mess, as soon as my back is turned.

Once they are all finished, I’ll have to bribe the children to wear them for a photo shoot.

Still reading Moomintroll. Not a long book, just not a lot of reading time. Love the way this book is written. Dare I say that I think that it almost rivals Winnie the Pooh. It has been cold around here, so perfect to read at the moment. Appreciating parts like:

“Without Moomintroll knowing a thing about it, at that moment his velvet skin decided to start growing woollier. It decided to become, by and by, a coat for winter use. That would take some time, but at least the decision was made. And that’s a good thing.”

That last sentence could so easily become my catch phrase. It sure would be a good thing if a group of invisible shrews moved into the house to help me out. I bet they would sort out the tangled wool mess in my stash. The book has also inspired me to use snow balls, the next time I make a snow lantern.

For more grown-up inspiration of good reads, pop over to Ginny’s for her Wednesday Yarn-Along. Might find just the right inspirational knitting pattern for your project.

Edited: the mitten pattern comes from Just for Fun: 20 Handmade Projects to Stitch, Knit and Craft (Make Me I’m Yours…).

44 comments

  1. Oh, my knitting fingers on DPS is quite a challenge, isn’t it? I’ve never heard of a glove pattern the way your is, but it sounds much simpler!

    1. I’m not sure if I’d like a seam running up the whole of the finger on a glove, but being only half the length, it seems to work. I think dpns for gloves gives a better finish, but two needles seem to speed up the making of these mittens.

  2. Love the mittens Cheryl, they’re so colourful and jolly…….and I love that they’re knitted from all your wool scraps, such thriftiness………..I have a couple of flip-top mitten patterns in my ravelry queue which I really must get around to trying.

    Winnie the pooh is one of my all time fave childrens reads, so I’m thinking I may well enjoy Moomintroll too, will poke around the dusty shelves of my local library, I’m sure I could ambush one of the grandgirlies to read it with. xx

    1. I’m sure your grandgirlies will love you reading Moomintroll to them. (Although I promise not to tell anyone if you do happen to read it by yourself. Call it research. I do!) I’m ordering more in the series from the library.

      I’m always so pleased to find a really suitable project for all those little leftover balls of wool. Already planning more pairs for other family members. When I run out of family, then I may have to start spontaneously giving them to friends! 🙂

    1. It really was sorted out very easily. I had a plan, but we didn’t need it in the end. The children used a far simpler method of distribution. So often the best way!

    1. It’s horses for courses really. Sometimes dpns are good, but other times two needles make more sense. Certainly fast and easy to knit. I’m sure socks, mittens and gloves are written off by so many people because they think that all the patterns are for dpns. It really knits up fast. You will be surprised! 😀

    1. I’ve added the link to the bottom of this post. I’d be surprised if they are not on Ravelry. I will check. They do knit up very fast.

  3. Wow, mittens knitted on two needles! Would you be able to share the pattern as I actually think I could manage to knit these? 🙂
    Anne xx

    1. Anne, I’ve added the link to the bottom of this post now. I must check Ravelry to see if they are there too. Fun and fast knit. I think you would enjoy making these. 🙂

  4. What can I say… you are a knitting genius!!! My kids would love these stripy mittens. Maybe not right now – when it is totally too hot to breathe let alone sleep… Hope you have a great day!!!

  5. I love those flipflop mittens! It’s not cold enough where we live for my son to wear them; otherwise I would surely make a pair. I added Moomintroll to my wish list, which is how I track books I want to read or read to my son. Thanks for sharing!

    1. All the colours are cheering up my day. Bit drizzly and overcast outside, so these little mittens are adding much needed colour to my day.

    1. Putting the mittens on the children is the easy part. Its the catching them long enough to take a photo, that I find challenging. I haven’t timed it, but I reckon I have about 2 minutes before they run off and I’m left with either one straggler or an empty shot! 🙂

    1. See what happens when I show my kids your blog… we are only roasting over here and they are all talking about me knitting them mittens!!! Dreaming my children!!!

      1. Bet its the colours, and not the warmth, that they are after! If you start knitting now, it will give you plenty of time to knit eight pairs before your winter arrives! I’m guessing you didn’t want to hear that, though!!! 😀 😀

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