Reflections at Sunset

Reflections at Sunset Colourwork Mitts by Bronagh Miskelly

What is Being Made

Reflections at Sunset is a pair of knitted colourwork mitts designed by Bronagh Miskelly. These stashbusting mittens are crafted to fit average women's hands with a circumference of 20cm. The design is specifically created to make use of yarn oddments and mini skeins, making it an excellent project for knitters looking to use up leftover yarn from their stash. The colourwork pattern creates a striking visual effect when worked in strongly contrasting colours, adding brightness and visual interest to everyday winter wear.

Techniques Used

This intermediate-level knitting project employs colourwork as its primary decorative technique. The pattern incorporates several fundamental knitting techniques including stocking stitch as the base fabric, which creates a smooth, classic knit appearance. The design utilizes stranded colourwork methods, where two colours are worked simultaneously to create the patterned design. Shaping techniques are employed to ensure proper fit, including decreases to shape the mitt structure. The pattern uses both double-pointed needles and circular needles as options for construction.

Stitches Used

The mitts are primarily constructed using the following stitches and abbreviations:

• Knit (K) – the fundamental stitch forming the base fabric in stocking stitch
• Purl (P) – used in combination with knit stitches
• K2tog (knit 2 together) – a right-leaning decrease used for shaping
• CDD (Central Double Decrease) – slip 2 stitches knitwise, knit 1, pass slipped stitches over, creating a centred decrease
• M1 (Make 1) – an increase worked by knitting into the yarn before the next stitch
• K1B (Knit into the stitch below) – a specialty stitch adding textural interest
• Slip stitch (Sl) – used for various shaping and construction purposes
• Stocking stitch – the primary fabric structure, created by alternating knit and purl rows

Materials and Yarn Weight

Reflections at Sunset is designed to work with 4-ply yarn, a lightweight yarn weight ideal for creating fitted garments with excellent stitch definition. The pattern requires a total of 50 grams of yarn: 30g in the Main Colour (MC) and 20g in a Contrast Colour (CC). At a standard yardage of 400 metres per 100 grams, this provides approximately 120 metres in the main colour and 80 metres in the contrast colour.

The pattern includes specific yarn recommendations for achieving the desired colourwork effect. The blue and pink sample photographed uses Little Grey Sheep British Stein Fine Wool 4ply in the colourways Fortune's Favours and Allegra's Ambition. The teal and copper sample uses Baa Ram Ewe Titus, a blend containing 50% Wensleydale, 20% Bluefaced Leicester, and 30% UK Alpaca, in the colourways Eccup and Parkin. These yarn choices provide excellent stitch definition for displaying the colourwork pattern clearly.

Needles and Gauge

The pattern calls for 2.5mm and 2.75mm needles, available as either a set of double-pointed needles or circular needles, offering flexibility in construction method based on knitter preference. The working tension is established at 32 stitches and 40 rows to 10 centimetres using stocking stitch and 2.75cm needles, which is essential for achieving the correct finished size and ensuring the mitts fit properly on average women's hands.