Felted Oven Mitten in Plymouth Galway Worsted - F439

Felted Oven Mitt in Plymouth Yarn Galway Worsted – Pattern F439

This free knitting pattern from the Plymouth Yarn Design Studio guides knitters through creating a felted oven mitt using Plymouth Yarn Galway Worsted. The finished project is both functional and satisfying to make, combining classic knitting construction with the transformative craft of wet felting to produce a thick, heat-resistant kitchen accessory. The pattern is available as a free downloadable PDF with yarn purchase.

What Is Being Made

The project is a felted oven mitten — a knitted mitt worked in the round and then intentionally felted in a washing machine to shrink and fuse the wool fibers together. The felting process creates a dense, sturdy fabric that provides excellent insulation, making the finished mitt practical for handling hot cookware. Because gauge is not critical on this project, it is an approachable pattern for a wide range of knitters.

Materials Used

• Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Galway Worsted — 2 balls required. The yarn is held double stranded throughout the entire project, which builds the fabric thickness needed for successful felting and heat protection.
• Needles: US #11 (8.0 mm) double pointed needles (DPNs) — the larger needle size, combined with the double strand, creates a loose, open fabric before felting that will shrink down to the correct density.
• Notions: Stitch markers, a small amount of waste cotton yarn (used to mark the thumb placement), and a tapestry needle for finishing.

Gauge

Gauge is noted as not important on this project — approximately 2.5–3 stitches per inch is expected. Because the mitt is felted after knitting, minor variations in individual knitters' tension will be corrected during the felting process, making this an ideal project for those who find gauge swatching challenging.

Techniques Used

• Knitting in the round on double pointed needles — the entire mitt body and thumb are worked as a tube, eliminating the need for seaming.
• Garter stitch border — a single ridge of garter stitch (one knit round, one purl round) is worked at the cast-on edge to create a neat cuff finish.
• Stockinette stitch in the round — the main body of the mitt is worked by knitting every round, producing a smooth fabric that felts evenly.
• Waste yarn thumb placement — a classic technique where a small number of stitches are knitted with a piece of waste cotton yarn to hold the thumb position, then re-knitted with the main yarn. After the body is complete, the waste yarn is removed and the live stitches are picked up to work the thumb separately.
• Thumb gusset pickup — additional stitches are picked up along the sides of the thumb opening to ensure a smooth, gap-free join.
• Crown decreases — the top of the mitt is shaped using SSK and K2tog decreases worked on alternating rounds, with stitch markers guiding placement on both sides of the mitt.
• Kitchener stitch (grafting) — the remaining stitches at the top of the mitt are joined seamlessly using Kitchener stitch, creating a smooth, comfortable tip with no bulky seam.
• Thumb decreases — the thumb is closed with a series of decrease rounds using K2tog, gradually tapering to a neat top that is then gathered and pulled closed.
• Wet felting (machine felting) — the completed knitted mitt is placed in a zippered laundry bag with a small amount of soap and a pair of old jeans, then run through a washing machine on the lowest water level and hottest water temperature available. The agitation and heat cause the wool fibers in the Galway Worsted to mat and shrink, producing a firm, dense fabric.

Stitches Used

• Garter stitch (knit one round, purl one round when working in the round)
• Stockinette stitch (