~ Dionysus Mittens ~

Today is the first day of the final semester of my masters program. I have been on holiday vacation from school this past month, and I am delighted to show off how I spent my spare time - - a mitten pattern, designed and knitted by me, and free to you!

The inspiration for these mittens came from how I decided to name them. Dionysus was the god of wine and inspirer of ritual madness. This combination of wine and ritual maddness was the foundation for my design process and color choices. The idea was to have the colorwork appear both chaotic and structured... hence, the ritual maddness. The colors and their movement was to suggest the flow of wine... for some of us, a source giddiness and rosy cheeks.

The possibilities for yarn combinations are endless. For my mittens, I used Araucania Ranco Solid and Kauni Wool 8/2 Effektgarn from my stash. This combines a soft yarn with sharp definition (ie, the Araucania) and a scratchy yarn that blooms (ie, Kauni). My mittens are very warm, but also soft.

The pattern might be suitable for a novice strander or a new mittener, but it does require some intermediate level skills. The color charts are small and manageable and the construction of the mittens is simple. They begin with an i-cord, after which stitches are picked up along the side and worked in the round for the cuff, followed by an increase for the hand, a thumb gusset, and a simple decrease and grafting. Skills required include knitting in the round, stranded knitting (including understanding of tension and color dominance), picking up stitches, i-cord, decreasing and increasing, grafting, and reading a colorwork chart.

Here are some details:

Pattern: Dionysus Mittens
Subtitle: God of Wine / Inspirer of Ritual Madness
Needles: US1, or size needed to get gauge.
Yarn: approx 150 yards fingering weight yarn in two colors (300 yards total)
Gauge: 10/12 stitches per inch in stranded charts
Notions: stitch marker, waste yarn, tapestry needle
Size: S, M, L
Actual Measurements: 6.5" (8", 9.25") palm circumference; 6" (7.2", 8.4") wrist circumference; 10" (10.5", 11") length.
Note on Fit: These mittens are designed to fit snugly. To determine your size, measure the circumference of your hand and choose the closest size.
Pattern Format: PDF- 4 pages, 828 KB

Click here to download the pattern, or access via Ravelry

Posted by jennifer at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)