Hand-dyed Candy Corn Fingerless Mitts

Hand-Dyed Candy Corn Fingerless Mitts by Kimberly Gintar

What Is Being Made

The Hand-Dyed Candy Corn Fingerless Mitts are a pair of wrist-length fingerless mittens designed to evoke the classic candy corn color palette with vibrant stripes of yellow, orange, and white. These mitts are available in two sizes: Large for adult hands measuring approximately 8 inches around the knuckles, and Medium for children's hands measuring approximately 7 inches around the knuckles. The fingerless design allows for full finger mobility while providing warmth and coverage to the wrist and back of the hand.

Techniques Used

The Candy Corn Fingerless Mitts are created using a hand-dyeing technique that gives these mitts their distinctive colorwork. The designers, Kimberly and Alida Gintar, dyed the yarn themselves using Kool-Aid, a popular method for achieving vibrant, food-safe colors on protein fibers. To create the striped pattern with approximately 5 stripes of yellow, 10 stripes of orange, and 5 stripes of white, the yarn was wound around two chairs positioned approximately 632 inches apart. The yarn was then divided into three marked sections: 158 inches for the yellow section, 316 inches for the orange section, and 158 inches for the white section. This pre-dyeing sectioning method ensures consistent stripe placement throughout the finished mitts.

Stitches Used

These fingerless mitts are constructed using rib stitch, a fundamental knitting stitch pattern that creates vertical columns of knits and purls. Rib stitch is particularly well-suited for this project because of its natural elasticity and stretch, allowing the mitts to accommodate various hand sizes within each size category. The stretchy nature of ribbing ensures a comfortable, form-fitting garment that moves with the wearer's hands and wrists.

Materials

• Yarn: Approximately 339 yards (310 meters) for the Large size or 158 yards (108 meters) for the Medium size of sport weight yarn. The pattern specifically calls for Schoppel-Wolle Life Style 100g Stränge zum Färben, a yarn specifically designed for hand-dyeing projects.
• Needles: US 3.5 / 3 mm needles for working the rib stitch at the appropriate gauge.
• Notions: 2 stitch markers to help track pattern repeats and construction points.

Difficulty Level

This project is rated as intermediate difficulty, making it suitable for knitters who have mastered basic stitches and are ready to tackle projects involving hand-dyeing techniques and colorwork construction. The combination of hand-dyeing preparation and striped knitting in rib stitch provides a rewarding challenge for developing knitters.