Knitted Lapland Mittens in Novita 7 Veljestä and Nordic Wool - Downloadable PDF

Knitted Lapland Mittens in Novita 7 Veljestä and Nordic Wool – Pattern Summary

This free downloadable PDF pattern from Novita guides knitters through creating a pair of beautifully detailed Lapland-inspired colorwork mittens sized for women. Combining traditional Nordic motifs with practical construction, these mittens are an excellent project for intermediate knitters looking to develop their stranded colorwork and double-pointed needle skills.

What Is Being Made

The pattern produces a matching pair of women's mittens — a left mitten and a right mitten — featuring a richly patterned colorwork back, a thumb gusset, a decorative cuff with eyelets, and twisted braid ties. The design draws on Scandinavian and Lapland folk traditions, making these mittens both functional cold-weather accessories and striking handcrafted pieces.

Design Details and Construction

The left and right mittens are worked separately, with the thumb gusset placement mirrored between the two. On the left mitten, the thumb gusset is worked at the beginning of needle I, while on the right mitten it is positioned at the beginning of needle III. Similarly, the colorwork chart is worked on different needle pairs for each mitten to ensure the pattern appears correctly on the back of the hand in both cases.

The mittens are worked entirely in the round using a set of double-pointed needles, with stitches distributed across four needles during the main body and three needles for the thumb. This construction method creates a seamless fabric that is both durable and comfortable to wear.

The cuff features eyelet holes through which decorative twisted braids are threaded. These braids are approximately 60–80 cm long and are made using all the yarn colours, adding a charming and traditional finishing detail to the design.

Colorwork Pattern and Techniques

The standout feature of these mittens is the Nordic colorwork pattern worked from a chart (Chart II) across rows 1 through 49 on the back of the mitten. The colourwork is worked in stranded stockinette stitch, following the chart and accompanying written instructions simultaneously.

An important technical note is included regarding the vertical stripes on the back of the mitten: rather than carrying all yarns across the full row, knitters are instructed to use a separate ball of yarn for each vertical stripe. The off-white yarn is carried as in standard colorwork, while each vertical stripe is knitted from its own individual ball, creating vertical floats from one row to the next rather than horizontal floats. This technique preserves the crispness of the vertical stripe design and prevents long floats from distorting the fabric.

Stitches and Techniques Used

• Stockinette stitch in the round – all stitches are knitted on every round, forming the smooth fabric of the mitten body and thumb
• Stranded colorwork – working with multiple yarn colours in the round following a chart, with floats carried across the wrong side of the fabric
• Thumb gusset construction – stitches are increased to shape the thumb opening and placed on hold before being picked up later
• Thumbhole pickup – held stitches are picked up along with 2 additional stitches from the thumbhole edge, totalling 16 stitches distributed across three needles
• Top decreases for the mitten – the skp decrease (slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over) is worked at the beginning of needles I and III, while k2tog is worked at the end of needles II and IV, reducing until 8 stitches remain
• Top decreases for the thumb – k2tog is worked at the end of each needle until 4 stitches remain, then the remaining stitches are passed over
• Twisted braid finishing – a decorative cord is created using all yarn colours and threaded through the cuff eyelets

Materials Required

The pattern calls for two Novita yarn lines used together to achieve the colourwork palette:

• Novita 7 Veljestä – an aran/worsted weight