Mardi Gras Mitts

Mardi Gras Mitts by Threebagsfulled

Project Overview

Mardi Gras Mitts is an original knitting design from Threebagsfulled (©2010 Hilary Designs) that creates festive, colorful mittens perfect for celebrating in style. This advanced-level knitting project is designed to fit medium ladies' hands, measuring approximately 6 to 7 inches around the knuckles. The mitts showcase vibrant Mardi Gras-inspired colorwork and are constructed to be thick and durable for excellent warmth and wear.

What Is Being Made

These are hand-knitted mittens featuring multicolor stranded colorwork in a festive Mardi Gras theme. The design uses 10 different colors in worsted weight wool, making them an excellent stash-busting project for knitters with leftover yarn. The finished mittens are intentionally thick and densely knitted, providing superior insulation and durability for cold-weather wear.

Knitting Techniques Used

• Stranded Colorwork: The primary technique involves working with multiple colors simultaneously to create the Mardi Gras pattern throughout the mitts
• Circular Knitting: Constructed using both double-pointed needles and circular needles to create seamless, tubular fabric
• Thumb Gusset Construction: A waste yarn technique is used to hold thumb stitches, allowing the thumbs to be picked up and knitted separately after the main mitt body is complete
• Pick Up and Knit: The abbreviation p/u&k indicates picking up and knitting stitches simultaneously, a technique used when adding the thumb section
• Loose Tension Knitting: The pattern emphasizes knitting loosely to achieve the correct gauge and prevent the fabric from becoming too tight during wear

Stitches and Abbreviations

The pattern uses fundamental knitting stitches and abbreviations including:

• k – knit stitch
• p – purl stitch
• c/o – cast on
• b/o – bind off
• p/u&k – pick up and knit simultaneously

The pattern combines these basic stitches with stranded colorwork techniques to create the multicolored design.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

Needles: Size 7 double-pointed needles and Size 7 circular needles are required for this project.

Yarn: The design calls for 10 colors in worsted weight wool, with approximately 100 yards of each color needed. This makes the pattern ideal for using leftover yarn from previous projects. The sample mitt was knitted using a combination of premium wool yarns:

• Lamb's Pride worsted in fuchsia, lime green, purple, and dark purple (1/2 skein each)
• Galway in orange and dark orange (1/2 skein each)
• Paton's Merino in bright blue, medium blue, red, and pink (1/2 skein each)

Additional Materials: A tapestry needle is needed for weaving in yarn ends, and a small length of contrasting waste yarn is used to hold thumb stitches during construction.

Gauge and Sizing

The pattern specifies a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch when the finished mittens are being worn. This is an important measurement that accounts for the fabric's behavior during actual use. The pattern emphasizes knitting loosely to achieve proper gauge and prevent the mittens from becoming uncomfortably tight. Medium ladies' sizing fits hands measuring 6 to 7 inches around the knuckles.

Construction Notes

The pattern includes important guidance for successful completion: knitters are advised to try on the mittens frequently during the knitting process to ensure they are not becoming too tight. The finished fabric is intentionally thick and dense, providing excellent insulation and durability for winter wear. This thickness is achieved through the combination of worsted weight yarn, proper gauge, and the stranded colorwork technique, which naturally creates a thicker fabric than single-color knitting.