Thelma Hat and Mittens in Viking Nordlys - Downloadable PDF

Thelma Hat and Mittens in Viking Nordlys – Knitting Pattern Summary

The Thelma Hat and Mittens is a coordinating two-piece knitted accessory set designed by Gerd Auestad and published by Viking of Norway. The pattern is available as a downloadable PDF and covers both a hat and a pair of mittens, making it an ideal project for knitters who want a matching cold-weather set. Rated as advanced beginner difficulty, this pattern is a wonderful step forward for those who have mastered basic knitting in the round and are ready to tackle shaping, decreases, and thumb construction.

What Is Being Made

• Thelma Hat: A knitted hat worked in the round with structured crown decreases that shape the top neatly. The pattern includes sizing for small/medium and large.
• Thelma Mittens: A pair of knitted mittens featuring a gusset-style thumb worked in the round, with mirrored construction so that a true left and right mitten are produced. Sizing again covers small/medium and large.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern calls for Viking Nordlys, a 4-ply yarn with a fibre composition of 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon, sold in 100g skeins. The superwash treatment means the finished items can be machine washed with care, while the nylon content adds durability — particularly important for mittens, which endure significant wear. The colourway specified in this pattern is Multi purple/ochre no. 956, a multicoloured yarn that creates natural colour variation as you knit, giving the set a lively, gradient-like appearance without requiring any colour-stranding technique.

• Hat: 1 skein of Multi purple/ochre no. 956 (both sizes)
• Mittens: 1 skein of Multi purple/ochre no. 956 (both sizes)

Needles

The pattern recommends two needle sizes: 2.5 mm and 3 mm. In typical knitting convention, the smaller needle is used for ribbed cuffs and brims — where a tighter, more elastic fabric is desirable — while the larger needle is used for the main body of both the hat and the mittens. A tension of 28 stitches is specified, making gauge swatch knitting an important step before casting on, particularly given the fine 4-ply weight of the yarn.

Techniques and Construction

Both the hat and the mittens are worked in the round, producing seamless, tube-like fabric that is characteristic of traditional Scandinavian accessory knitting. Working in the round means the knitter always sees the right side of the fabric, which is especially helpful when working with a variegated yarn like Nordlys to monitor colour pooling and overall appearance.

Stitches Used

• Stocking stitch (stockinette) in the round: The primary stitch used throughout both the hat body and the mitten body and thumb. When worked in the round, this is achieved simply by knitting every round.
• Knit 2 together (k2tog): A right-leaning decrease used throughout the crown shaping of the hat and the tip and thumb shaping of the mittens.
• Slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over (sl1, k1, psso): A left-leaning decrease used in combination with k2tog to create symmetrical, paired decreases at the mitten tip and thumb.
• Picking up stitches: After the thumb stitches are set aside on a holder, stitches are knitted up around the thumb hole — including picking up extra stitches at each side — to create a smooth, gap-free thumb join.

Mitten Thumb Construction

The mittens feature a set-aside thumb method, sometimes called a peasant or afterthought-style thumb placement, where a set number of stitches are reserved on a holder while the hand is completed, and the thumb is worked afterwards. Once the hand is finished, the held stitches are transferred