Black Bears

Black Bears Fingerless Mitts by Fiona Alice

What Is Being Made

The Black Bears fingerless mitts are a charming pair of hand coverings inspired by the Green Forest Gang collection. These mitts feature the shy and lazy Black Bears character, tempted out to play with the promise of sweet golden honey. Designed as fingerless mitts, they provide warmth for the fall season while leaving fingers free for dexterity and movement. The finished mitts measure 20.5 cm (8 inches) in length and 8 cm (3 inches) in width, with a 3 cm (1 inch) thumb opening, making them a practical accessory for transitional weather before hibernation mode.

Craft and Techniques

These fingerless mitts are created using the knitting craft, specifically worked in the round on double-pointed needles (DPNs). This construction method creates seamless, tubular fabric that fits comfortably around the hand. The pattern incorporates stranded colorwork, a technique where multiple yarn colors are carried across the back of the work to create the Black Bears design. The pattern notes provide guidance on managing floats—the strands of yarn carried on the wrong side—recommending that knitters tack down the second color when knitting more than three stitches of the same color to prevent overly long floats that can catch and snag. Knitters are also advised to break yarn when a color won't be used in the next several rounds, leaving a tail to weave in later, which helps minimize bulk and creates a neater finished garment.

Stitches Used

The Black Bears mitts are worked using fundamental knitting stitches combined with stranded colorwork patterning. The gauge is 24 stitches per 10 cm (4 inches) in pattern when worked on 4.5mm (US 7) needles, establishing the density and drape of the finished fabric. While specific stitch abbreviations are not detailed in the provided content, the in-the-round construction and colorwork technique indicate the use of knit stitches as the primary stitch, with the pattern created through the strategic placement of different yarn colors rather than through textured stitches.

Materials and Yarn

The Black Bears fingerless mitts are knitted with Cascade 220 & 220 Heathers, a 100% wool yarn. One skein of each of four colors is required: A: Charcoal 4002, B: Spun Gold 4010, C: Natural 8010, and D: Alki 2443. Each 100 g skein yields 200 meters (220 yards), providing ample yardage for this project. The worsted weight yarn creates a fabric with good stitch definition, making the colorwork pattern clearly visible.

Needles and Notions

• 3.5mm (US 4) and 4.5mm (US 7) double-pointed needles (DPNs), or the correct size needed to obtain gauge
• 2 Safety pins for holding stitches
• 2 Stitch markers for tracking pattern repeats and round beginnings
• Darning needle for weaving in yarn ends

Difficulty Level

The Black Bears fingerless mitts are rated as a beginner difficulty project. While the pattern involves stranded colorwork, which requires managing multiple yarn colors, the straightforward in-the-round construction on DPNs and the guidance provided for managing floats make this an accessible introduction to colorwork techniques for knitters new to this method.