887 Dreidel Mittens - Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Worthington

Pattern #887 Dreidel Mittens – Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Worthington

Pattern #887 Dreidel Mittens, designed by Julie Turjoman, is a knitting pattern for a pair of women's mittens featuring a distinctive lace motif worked against a garter stitch background. The pattern is published by Valley Yarns and is available as a downloadable PDF. The design is classified as intermediate in difficulty, making it a rewarding project for knitters who are comfortable with basic lace and working in the round but are ready to take their skills a step further.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a pair of women's mittens designed to fit a range of hand sizes. The mittens are notable for their elegant, cleverly placed lace motifs shaped like dreidels — diamond-shaped figures that give the mittens their name and make them a particularly thoughtful and special handmade gift. The lace diamonds are interspersed throughout a garter stitch background, creating a beautiful textural contrast between the open lacework and the dense, ridged fabric of the garter stitch.

Sizes and Finished Measurements

The pattern is written in four sizes to accommodate a variety of hand circumferences:

• Small: fits hand circumference 7½ inches
• Medium: fits hand circumference 7¾ inches (shown in the sample photographs)
• Large: fits hand circumference 8¼ inches
• Extra Large: fits hand circumference 8¾ inches

Construction and Techniques

The mittens are worked in one piece in the round, beginning at the cuffs and continuing all the way up to the fingertips. This seamless construction method results in a tidy, comfortable finished mitten with no seams to irritate the hand. Working in the round is a fundamental technique in mitten and sock knitting, and this pattern uses it to great effect, allowing the lace pattern to flow continuously around the hand.

The pattern incorporates a thumb gusset, which is shaped using increases worked at specific intervals. Stitch markers — including two in one unique color and two in a second unique color — are used to track gusset placement and other key points in the construction, making it easier to follow the shaping as the mitten grows.

Stitches and Techniques Used

• Garter stitch in the round: Garter stitch, when worked flat, is simply knitting every row. When worked in the round, it requires alternating knit and purl rounds to achieve the same ridged texture. This technique gives the mittens their soft, squishy background fabric.
• Lace: The signature dreidel-shaped diamond lace motifs are created using yarn overs and decreases, which form the open, decorative holes characteristic of lace knitting. The placement of these motifs is described as clever, suggesting they are thoughtfully integrated into the overall design rather than simply repeated across the surface.
• Working in the round: The mittens are knitted on double-pointed needles (DPNs), a classic method for small circumference knitting such as mittens, gloves, and socks.
• Thumb gusset shaping: Increases such as M1L (make one left) are used to build the gusset that accommodates the thumb.
• Cast on: The pattern begins with a cast on at the cuff edge.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern is specifically designed for Valley Yarns Worthington, described as a soft and tweedy yarn that is ideal for this project. Worthington is a DK weight yarn with a distinctive fiber blend:

• Fiber content: 50% Wool, 25% Alpaca, 25% Viscose
• Yardage: 174 yards per 50g ball
• Quantity needed: 2 balls
• Colorway shown: 15 Rhododendron

The wool content provides structure and elasticity, the alpaca adds softness and a subtle halo, and the viscose contributes a gentle sheen and drape. Together, these fibers