Making Winter: Tiny Mitten Ornaments ~ A Knit Pattern with Optional Crochet Trim

In this post, we're joining up with Silverpebble and Mrs. Thrifty Household for

Making Winter, a fun and creative blog hop of activities and crafts
designed to help beat the cold doldrums.

Here's a pattern for dainty little lace-trimmed mittens that will help use up those extra bits of yarn. These mittens would make lovely tree ornaments, gift attachments,or even bookmarks. They knit up very quickly (even for a haphazard knitter such as myself), and offer plenty of potential for trim variations.

If crochet lace is not to your taste, try a row of fun fur or eyelash yarn around the top. Or you could start your mitten with a few rounds of seed stitch or 1X1 ribbing and eliminate the crochet altogether.

Crochet terminology is American. A chart for the crochet trim will be added later.

Mitten Size: about 2" long

Materials:
For mittens, small amount of DK weight (#3) yarn, or yarn of your choice
For lace trim (if desired) No. 10 crochet thread
Embroidery thread for flowers and leaves (if desired)
Decorative thread for hanging cord (I used silver metallic No. 10 crochet thread - purchased cord would also work)
Sewing thread, or fabric glue

For mittens, Size 6 or 7 double-pointed knitting needles, or needles appropriate to your yarn
For lace trim, Size 7 steel crochet hook
Sewing needle

Mitten:

Cast on 12 stitches over 2 or 3 double-pointed needles. (I crocheted a chain of 12 stitches and picked up my stitches from the back bumps of the chain.) Be careful not to twist stitches.

Rows 1-12: Knit*. Cut yarn, leaving an 18" tail. Draw yarn through last row of stitches to gather top of mitten. Take yarn tail through one more stitch to make it more secure.

*Tip: If you cast on to 2 needles only, with 6 stitches each, knit through the back loop on the first and last stitch of each needle. This will tighten up those stitches and help prevent ladders between the needles. The stitch pattern for this would be Ktbl, K4, Ktbl; repeat on second needle.

Thumb: After gathering mitten tip, gently pull yarn end down through the mitten, and out the side between side stitches of Row 4. (A crochet hook works well for this step.)

Working upwards from the 4th row, pick up 3 stitches on one side of mitten, through 1 loop of each stitch, then take yarn across and pick up 3 stitches on the opposite side, working downwards. (Stitches are divided over 2 needles).

Thumb Rows 1-2: Ktbl.

Draw yarn through last row of stitches and gently tighten to gather thumb. Take yarn end through one more stitch to secure, then down to the inside of the mitten.

Using starting tail of yarn, join ends of cast-on row. Bring yarn to the inside and tie starting tail to ending tail inside mitten. Don't pull too tightly; we're just trying to secure the yarn ends and hide them.

Here's our tiny mitten ready for some trim

Trim mitten as desired.

Optional Lacy Crochet Trim:

With right side of mitten facing you, using the #7 steel hook, attach crochet thread with single crochet to top edge of mitten on the thumb side.

Row 1: *Ch 3, sc in next stitch. Repeat from * around. Attach last sc to first sc with double crochet. (Dc equals final ch-3.) There should be 12 ch-3 spaces.

First row of crochet trim done

Row 2: Do not turn. Ch 1. (First picot will be made in this space.) *Sc in next empty ch-3 sp, ch 5, sc in same ch-3 sp. In next empty ch-3 sp: sc, ch 3, sc, ch 5, sc, ch 3, sc. Repeat from * around. Connect final sc to first sc with sl st. Cut thread, tie off, and hide ends inside mitten.

Second row of crochet trim done

Block lightly.

Tiny Crochet Rose:

Use embroidery thread and the #7 steel hook. Leave a 4" tail.

Ch 11. Turn and sc 2 in each ch, starting with 10th ch. Cut thread, leaving 4" tail, and tie off. Coil rose and use thread tails to sew base of rose together and for attaching to mitten.

Tiny Crochet Leaves:

Use embroidery thread and the #7 steel hook. Leave a 4" tail.

Loosely ch 5. Turn and *sc in 4th ch, hdc in 3rd and 2nd ch, sc in 1st ch. Loosely ch 5 more, turn, and repeat from *. Cut thread, leaving 4" tail, tie off, and tie ends together. Block leaves if desired.

Hanging Cord:

With silver or gold crochet thread (or desired colour), ch 60 or to desired length. Cut thread and tie off. Block lightly if desired to get any kinks out of the chain.

Assembly:

Sew leaves and roses to front of each mitten.

Make overhand knot in one end of hanging cord. Insert free (un-knotted) end through top knitted row of one mitten, from the inside to the outside (on the non-thumb side). Insert free end through top knitted row of other mitten, from outside to inside (again on the non-thumb side). Tie overhand knot in that end of hanging cord. Pull gently to snug up the knots on the inside of each mitten.

With needle and thread (or you could use fabric glue), tack lacy trim together at the center of each mitten just above top knitted row. This will keep all those loose yarn ends inside the mitten.

Here's another mitten I made using slightly larger yarn with fun fur trim. (I had to give the fun fur a bit of a haircut as it threatened to overwhelm the tiny mitten.)

Don't forget to head over to Mrs. Thrifty Household for more Making Winter fun. Here's to a happy winter!

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