Introducing Witty's Trail Mitts
Andrea looking to the side with her hands over her heart, wearing white mitts with a textured design. Her hair is blowing dramatically in the wind.
First Things First
In this blog post I really go on and on about how much I love the region where I live here on Vancouver Island, so to start off my celebration of this place, I respectfully acknowledge that I live, work, and explore on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people and endeavour to walk softly on these ancestral lands of the Lekwungen, Sc'ianew, T’Sou-ke, and MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) families of the Coast Salish area. I acknowledge that I’m a settler on Indigenous lands and I’m grateful to the Indigenous communities that have stewarded this land and continue to do so. If you’re curious about land acknowledgements, I found this to be a good introduction and resource. You can also find out about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in this Wikipedia article.
The Story of Witty’s Trail Mitts
If you’ve been following along, you’ll already know how much I love to get outdoors. My indoor hobbies are wonderful and crafting gets my creativity going, but being outside lets me breathe again, reminds me of myself, and fills me with gratitude. And I’m seriously fortunate to have found a place like Victoria, BC. I spent a lot of my life moving from place to place and always wanting to know what was next, but something amazing has happened since I moved to Vancouver Island eight years ago. I’ve grown into this place, really observing the seasons and the natural world. I get this sense of kinship when I walk on the beach or bike on a forest path. After years of being close to them and paying attention in deeper ways all the time, I know the names of so many of the beings that live here and I’m getting a good idea of what to expect from them throughout the year. The pattern name, “Witty’s Trail Mitts” is a nod to a nearby park called Witty’s Lagoon. I adore it because there’s a forest path, a marsh, and a stunning beach, basically everything I could want from my outside time. I always take visitors there (when we used to get visitors, that is) and it’s a place that surprises me every time.
So it’s with that spirit of delight and friendship with this place that I designed these mitts to keep me cozy in my explorations. Fingerless mitts work super well for me because I love to take pictures and pick things up to look at them a little more closely, so I need the dexterity of free fingers. My partner wanted a pair too, so I was inspired to design them to be really versatile with sizes from toddler to grown up. I also wanted the style to suit folks who like their basics, as well as those who want a little more adornment, so there’s a version for Basic Broken Rib Mitts and a fancier version for Textured Panel Mitts. My intention is that knitters can use this pattern again and again for lots of recipients. The biggest size only takes about 150 yards/135 metres of yarn, so it’s a great last-minute gift or quick in-between project to use up that stash.
Pro tip: Fingerless mitts are awesome as part of a hand warming layering system. In mildly cool weather, I just wear the mitts alone. In slightly chillier temperatures, I love wearing a slim pair of gloves underneath. (That allows me to still operate my camera, which is very useful!) And when there’s actual snow and ice, I add a giant pair of puffy waterproof mittens on top of everything for maximum coziness.
Closeup of Sean’s hand wearing a black textured wool mitt. He’s holding a silver water bottle by a green cord and standing in front of a blurred out ocean background.
Andrea gazing into the distant ocean as she adjusts her coat. She’s wearing light teal textured mitts.
The Pattern Details
Witty’s Trail Mitts are a fingerless mitts pattern designed for heavy sport or DK weight yarn.
The pattern includes:
Print-friendly layout: All the vital instructions are together without any photos, so you can print out just the text and charts. There’s info in the “Notes” section on printing so you know exactly what to do. Every page has the pattern name and page number in case your pages get shuffled and printing works in both colour and black & white. The text is black, not grey.
Skills listed: I include a note about pattern difficulty & the skills used within the pattern. That info is in the pattern listing too.
Lots of images: High quality photos show four mitts samples in different sizes and styles.
Extras: Info on fit (including a schematic), yarn choice, and more are included in the Notes section of the pattern. The Textured Panel is given in charted and written instructions.
Yarn Options: I knit my samples in four different yarns so you could get an idea of how it works up with different styles of yarn and to encourage you to try yarns you love, ones that are within your budget, or something new, like the ones I used. The pattern includes information about each yarn choice I made.
Andrea’s hands holding a caramel coloured coffee thermos.
A stack of fingerless mitts on a boulder. Top to bottom, they’re gold, white, teal, and black.
Closeup of Andrea’s hands holding three stones. She’s wearing pale teal textured fingerless mitts.
Get the pattern here on my website or over on Ravelry if you'd like to keep it in your Rav library.
Pattern Specs
Instructions for the smallest four sizes are listed first in parentheses and instructions for the largest three sizes are listed second in bold brackets. The bracketed instructions are bold just to help distinguish the sizes visually.
Sizes & Finished Dimensions
Sized for:
toddler(child small, child medium, child large/ adult small) (adult medium, adult large, adult extra large)
Mitt Circumference:
5.5(6, 6.5, 7) [7.5, 8, 8.5] in/
14(15, 16.5, 18) [19, 20.5, 21.5] cm
Choose size close to or slightly smaller than actual hand circumference.
Yarn
Sport or DK weight yarn:
95(105, 115, 125) [30, 140, 150] yards/
88(96, 104, 114) [20, 128, 136] metres
Samples shown in:
Tolt Yarn & Wool Snoqualmie Valley DK (50% BFL wool, 50% Clun Forest wool; 280 yd/256 m per 100g skein)
Colour: Natural
Jill Draper Makes Stuff Mohonk (100% Cormo wool; 370 yd/338 m per 113g skein) Colour: Pine
Julie Asselin Journey Sport (80% Merino wool, 20% Targhee wool; 210 yd/192 m per 58g skein) Colour: Verge d’Or
Harrisville Nightshades (80% Cormo wool, 20% wool; 250 yd/229 m per 100g skein) Colour: Insomnia 2783
Blocked Gauge
Gauge measurement should be taken after blocking.
24 stitches/46 rounds = 4 in/10 cm in broken rib
Needles
Needle Sizes are recommendations only. Always use needle size necessary to obtain gauge.
Set DPNs, long circular needle for magic loop, or two circular needles (preferred small-circumference knitting method):
Suggested Size: US 3/3.25 mm
Notions
stitch markers, including one unique for beginning of round, tapestry needle, scrap of waste yarn
Skills
I consider this pattern to be advanced beginner level knitting. It includes working in the round, working a knit/purl pattern from charted or written instructions (for the Textured Panel Mitts version), and shaping.
