DIY knit - wool mittens

Winter is here, and to protect your hands from the cold, our best fashion accessory is a pair of mittens. Better than gloves, with your mittens, you'll still be able to use your cell phone or apply lip balm.

So here's a simple tutorial on how to make knitted mittens, using Fonty wool, which is 65% wool and 35% alpaca, making it light and airy. Many thanks to Emilie from "Le hibou tricote" for this tutorial.

To knit a snood to match the mittens, go to "DIY tricot - snood en laine Fonty".

For beginners, check out our Youtube channel for tips on the basics of knitting.

Useful information before you start

In this tutorial, the knitting techniques used are as follows:

- Stitch up,

- knit right sides together,

- knit purl stitches,

- purl stitches,

Sample - 11 stitches x 18 rows = 10 x 10 cm fancy stitch

Dimensions - mittens: 10 x 15 cm

Abbreviations

m. = stitch

endr. = right side

env. = reverse side

lis. = selvedge

The diagram

Rather than reading the instructions row by row, you may prefer to use the diagram below. To do this, always start at the bottom right of the grid and read the first row from right to left. On the next row, turn your work over and read the grid from left to right.

STEP 1

Start with 20 stitches using n° 6.5 needles.

Designer's tip: To create a pretty border at the thumb opening, make a chain selvedge. To do this, for each row :

• slip the first stitch onto the right-hand needle without knitting it, stitching it as if you were knitting it on the right-hand side;
• knit the last stitch purlwise.

STEP 2

Using n° 6.5 needles, knit row 1 according to the following instructions:

Row 1 (work area) :

1 st lis, *1 st endr, 1 st env.**, repeat from * to ** until the end of the row, 1 st lis.

Repeat row 1 five more times.

STEP 3 - Rows 7 to 18 with n°7 needles

Row 7: 1 m. lis, 3 m. endr., 5 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 1 m. lis.

Row 8: 1 m. lis, 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 1 m. endr., 3 m. env., 5 m. endr., 3 m. env., 1 m. lis.

Row 9: 1 m. lis, 1 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 2 m. env., 1 m. lis.

Row 10: 1 m. lis, 2 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 1 m. endr., 1 m. lis.

Row 11: 1 m. lis, 2 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. env., 3 m. endr., 5 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. env., 1 m. lis.

Row 12: 1 m. lis, 1 m. endr., 3 m. env., 5 m. endr., 3 m. env., 1 m. endr., 3 m. env., 2 m. endr., 1 m. lis.

Row 13: 1 m. lis, 3 m. env., 5 m. endr., 3 m. env., 1 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. lis.

Row 14: 1 m. lis, 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. env., 3 m. endr., 5 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. lis.

Row 15: 1 m. lis, 1 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 2 m. endr., 1 m. lis.

Row 16: 1 m. lis, 2 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 3 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. env., 1 m. lis.

Row 17: 1 m. lis, 2 m. endr., 3 m. env., 1 m. endr., 3 m. env., 5 m. endr. 3 m. env., 1 m. endr., 1 m. lis.

Row 18: 1 m. lis, 1 m. env., 3 m. endr., 5 m. env., 3 m. endr., 1 m. env., 3 m. endr., 2 m. env., 1 m. lis.

Repeat rows 7 to 12 one more time.

STEP 4

Using n° 6.5 needles, repeat row 1 a total of four times and fold over the stitches.

STEP 5 - Assembling the work

Sew the top 10 rows edge to edge, then the bottom 10 rows.
Do not sew the middle 8 rows, as these will be used to let the thumb through.
(It's possible to do this only after washing and blocking the mittens).

STEP 6 - Washing and "blocking

Wash the mittens in barely lukewarm water, using Marseille soap or a suitable detergent, without rinsing if necessary. Take care to handle wet wool with the utmost delicacy.

Then wring them out by gently rolling them up in a terry towel, making sure there are no creases, and pressing firmly.

Finally, the mittens need to be blocked. To do this, spread the piece of wool evenly over a thick towel or yoga mat, then pin it in place and leave to dry.

Be careful not to distort the wool by pulling on it too hard.

This step gives the wool its final shape, erasing any small flaws and bringing out the patterns.

And there you have it!

It's up to you to choose the color of your mittens from our Fonty wool range and make your friends and family envious. These mittens are sure to land on a girlfriend's or sister's birthday gift list...!

We'd love to see your version of the mittens... So don't hesitate to send us your photos on Facebook, it might inspire others!

NB: Please note that the list of products below does not fully correspond to the presentation photo. For stock reasons, we are offering another color of Fonty wool.