Snowy Xmas Tree

The day after tomorrow is the first sunday of advent. To get in the mood for Christmas, knit yourself a lovely little ornament to decorate your home. This adorable little Christmas tree is available in two sizes. This project is great to use up some scrap yarn you may have leftover from a bigger project. The trees knit up quickly and you may even learn a new techique while knitting them - such as short rows or intarsia. The pattern contains instructions for a smaller and a bigger tree - both written and as a chart.
Further patterns for Christmas ornaments on my blog are the Garter Stitch Christmas Gnomes the Little Christmas Trees I published last year. Or - if you want to knit a pair of christmassy fingerless gloves, there are Zimtstern Mitts or Xmas Stary Mitts.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.





Materials

• leftovers of green and white yarn - I used (really) old DK weight yarn (the bigger tree weighs 12 grams and the smaller one 8 grams)
• knitting needles that are slightly smaller than what the yarn calls for, I used 2.5 mm dpns
• a third needle for the three needle BO 
• scrap yarn for provisional CO
• a crochet hook for provisional CO

Techniques & Notation

• Provisional Cast on (pCO): My favorite method for a provision CO is the crochet provisional CO - it is shown in this Youtube video by New Stitch a Day.
• Intarsia: Changing colors with the intarsia technique - as shown in this YouTube video by knitwithpat; or this YouTube video by Francoise Danoy. That way you don't have to carry long strands on the WS.
  To explain the notation used in this pattern, here's an example of a typical row: "Gr (k14), Wh (k3, w+t, k3), Gr (k14)" means, k14 sts in green, change to white, k3 sts in white, wrap and turn, k3 sts in white, change back to green an k14 sts in green. 
• Short rows with wrap and turn (w+t): as shown in this YouTube video by Very Pink Knits.
• Three Needle Bind Off: https://youtu.be/Ph93jWSzTa0
  The picture below shows how the piece looks before the three-needle BO.

Instructions

Bigger Tree

With scrap yarn pCO 30 stitches, then start with your working yarns
Row 0 (Set-up row): Wh (k15), Gr (k15)
Ridge 1: Gr (k18), Wh (k2, w+t, k2), Gr (k18)
Ridge 2: Gr (k8, w+t, k8)
Ridge 3: Gr (k12), Wh (k10, w+t, k10), Gr (k12)
Ridge 4: Gr (k4, w+t, k4)
Ridge 5: Gr (k10, w+t, k10)
Ridge 6: Gr (k20), Wh (k6, w+t, k6), Gr (k20)
Ridge 7: Gr (k16, w+t, k16)
Ridge 8: Gr (k20, w+t, k20)
Ridge 9: Gr (k17), Wh (k11, w+t, k11), Gr (k17)
Ridge 10: Gr (k12, w+t, k12)
Ridge 11: Gr (k20, w+t, k20)
Ridge 12: Gr (k2, w+t, k2)
Ridge 13: Gr (k12, w+t, k12)
Ridge 14: Gr (k6, w+t, k6)
Ridge 15: Gr (k15), Wh (k15, turn, k15), Gr (k15)

Knit these ridges a total of 3 times. but only knit the RS for the last ridge.

Finishing: Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off. Bind off 15 stitches with green yarn, and 15 stitches with white yarn. Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.

Here's a chart of the bigger tree: each line is one ridge, i.e. two rows of garter stitch. The first number gives the number of stitches in white and the second number the number of stitches in green. The grey dotted vertical lines are included every 10th stitch to make counting easier.

Chart for bigger tree - click to enlarge

Smaller Tree

With scrap yarn pCO 24 stitches, then start with your working yarns
Row 0 (Set-up row): Wh (k12), Gr (k12)
Ridge 1: Gr (k10), Wh (k6, w+t, k6), Gr (k10)
Ridge 2: Gr (k14, w+t, k14)
Ridge 3: Gr (k4, w+t, k4)
Ridge 4: Gr (k15), Wh (k5, w+t, k5), Gr (k15)
Ridge 5: Gr (k8, w+t, k8)
Ridge 6: Gr (k18, w+t, k18)
Ridge 7: Gr (k10, w+t, k10)
Ridge 8: Gr (k13), Wh (k9, w+t, k9), Gr (k13)
Ridge 9: Gr (k6, w+t, k6)
Ridge 10: Gr (k12, w+t, k12)
Ridge 11: Gr (k2, w+t, k2)
Ridge 12: Gr (k12), Wh (k12, turn, k12), Gr (k12)

Knit these ridges a total of 3 times. but only knit the RS for the last ridge.

Below you find a chart of the smaller tree.

Chart for smaller tree - click to enlarge

Finishing: Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off. Bind off 12 stitches with green yarn, and 12 stitches with white yarn. Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.

Garter Stitch Christmas Gnome

When I recently saw a picture of a felted "Weihnachtswichtel" (Christmas gnome or christmas elf) on social media, I wanted to do something similar in knitting. So I took the general shape of the Little Christmas Tree pattern and added some stranded colorwork.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.





I like the result - even though it took me a while to get the face right - so the first two got a little facelift after the knitting was finished, i.e. I added some embroidery :) The version described in this pattern is the last one I knitted (see picture below). for this one, no embroidery was added.

Materials

• I used old yarn in four colors - mainly red, some white, some beige (for the face) and black for the eyes - I believe it was sports weight yarn; one gnome weighs about 12 grams
• knitting needle that's a bit smaller than the size the yarn calls for; I used 2.5mm needles
• a third needle for a three-needle bind off
• scrap yarn for the provisional cast on
• a crochet hook for provisional cast on

Techniques and Special Abbreviations

• Provisional CO (pCO): My favorite method for a provision CO is the crochet provisional CO - it is shown in this Youtube video by New Stitch a Day.
• Short rows with wrap and turn ("w+t"): https://youtu.be/G4GxFvi4KD0
• Three Needle Bind Off: https://youtu.be/Ph93jWSzTa0
• kX (color Y): knit X stitches in color Y

General Construction
Each gnome consist of a pizza-slice shaped piece that is sewn together at the straight sides in the end. The shape is achieved by knitting three parts of garter stitch short rows. Part 1 and 3 are only knitted in one color - part two also has the colorwork for the beard an face.
Before the three needle BO, the piece looks as shown in the picture below.

Instructions

With scrap yarn pCO 24 stitches - this does not include the first row with your working yarn.

Part 1 - all knitted in red yarn
Rigde 1: k all, turn, sl1, k to end
Ridge 2: k10, w+t, k to end
Ridge 3: k16, w+t, k to end
Ridge 4: k8, w+t, k to end
Ridge 5: k14, w+t, k to end
Ridge 6: k4, w+t, k to end
Ridge 7: k20, w+t, k to end
Ridge 8: k12, w+t, k to end
Ridge 9: k2, w+t, k to end
Ridge 10: k18, w+t, k to end
Ridge 11: k6, w+t, k to end
Ridge 12: k22, w+t, k to end

Chart for parts 1 and 3 - click to enlarge

Part 2
Ridge 1: k4 (red),
Ridge 2: k4 (red), k3 (white), k1 (red), w+t, k1 (red), k3 (white), k4 (red)
Ridge 3: k6 (white), k1 (beige), k5 (red), w+t, k5 (red), k1 (beige), k6 (white)
Ridge 4: k5 (white), k3 (beige), k8 (red), w+t, k8 (red), k3 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 5: k5 (white), k1 (beige), k1 (black), 1 (beige), k12 (red), w+t, k12 (red), k1 (beige), k1 (black), 1 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 6: k4 (white), k4 (beige), k16 (red), w+t, k16 (red), k4 (beige), k4 (white)
Ridge 7: k5 (white), k1 (beige), k1 (black), k1 (beige), k14 (red), w+t, k14 (red), k1 (beige), k1 (black), k1 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 8: k5 (white), k3 (beige), k10 (red), w+t, k10 (red), k3 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 9:  k6 (white), k1 (beige), k7 (red), w+t, k7 (red), k1 (beige), k6 (white)
Ridge 10: k4 (red), k3 (beige), k3 (red), w+t, k3 (red), k3 (beige), k4 (red)
Ridge 11: k7 (red), w+t, k7 (red)
Ridge 12: k2 (red), w+t, k2 (red)

Chart for part 2 - click to enlarge

Part 3

Repeat part 1

Finishing

Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off.
Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.
If the yarn you used was really soft, you might want to stabilize the tree. You can do this by cutting out a piece of paper or soft cardboard in the shape of a 90° pizza slice (similar to the tree before the three needle BO) and insert it into the tree.
The yarn I used was stiff enough, so there wasn't any need for stabilization.

This pattern was featured on Hooking up on Hump Day Link Party #134. Thank you!

O Christmas Tree

Christmas is drawing nearer and nearer. Unfortunately, this year it's quite difficult for me to get into a christmas mood. That's why I tried to create my own knitted decorations christmas decorations.

Here's the result: a small and fun pattern for a little christmas tree in two sizes. One tree only takes up about 10 to 15 grams of yarn, so it's great for using up some leftover green yarn. 

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Materials

• per tree I used about 10 to 14 grams of very (!) old green yarn in my stash; I guess it was DK or sports weight yarn
• knitting needle that's a bit smaller than the size the yarn calls for; I used 2.5mm needles
• a third needle for a three-needle bind off
• scrap yarn for the provisional cast on
• a crochet hook for provisional cast on

Techniques and Special Abbreviations

• Provisional CO: My favorite method for a provision CO is the crochet provisional CO - it is shown in this Youtube video by New Stitch a Day.
• Short rows with wrap and turn ("w+t"): https://youtu.be/G4GxFvi4KD0
• Three Needle Bind Off: https://youtu.be/Ph93jWSzTa0
• Small "Bobble": I used the following method to knit a small bobble: right in the middle of the row (where the pattern asks you to knit a bobble) CO4 with knitted CO (or cable CO), then directly bind off 4 stitches and go on knitting the row. In the instructions the word "bobble" will be used (here's how to do a knitted CO: https://youtu.be/bTgT7kE1c_k)

Instructions

Bigger Tree

Provisionally CO 30 sts and knit the first row with your working yarn
Ridge 1: sl1, k10, w+t, k to end
Ridge 2: sl1, k4, bobble, k10, bobble, k3, w+t, k to end
Ridge 3: sl1, k16, w+t, k to end
Ridge 4: sl1, k8, bobble, k4, w+t, k to end
Ridge 5: sl1, k13, w+t, k to end
Ridge 6: sl1, k3, bobble, k7, bobble, k15, w+t, k to end
Ridge 7: sl1, k10, w+t, k to end
Ridge 8: sl1, k4, w+t, k to end
Ridge 9: sl1, k7, bobble, k6, w+t, k to end
Ridge 10: sl1, k6, w+t, k to end
Ridge 11: sl1, k22, w+t, k to end
Ridge 12: sl1, k5, bobble, k2, w+t, k to end
Ridge 13: sl1, k17, bobble, k to end; turn; sl1, k to end
Repeat rows 1 to 13 twice more.

Now your piece should look similar to the one in the picture on the right.

Finishing
Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off.
Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.
If the yarn you used was really soft, you might want to stabilize the tree. You can do this by cutting out a piece of paper or soft cardboard in the shape of a 90° pizza slice (similar to the tree before the three needle BO) and insert it into the tree.
The yarn I used was stiff enough that there wasn't any need for stabilization.

Smaller Tree

Provisionally CO 24 sts and knit the first row with your working yarn
Ridge 1: sl1, k20, w+t, k to end
Ridge 2: sl1, k3, bobble, k8, w+t, k to end
Ridge 3: sl1, k16, w+t, k to end
Ridge 4: sl1, k5, bobble, k4, bobble, k3, w+t, k to end
Ridge 5: sl1, k4, w+t, k to end
Ridge 6: sl1, k11, bobble, k2, w+t, k to end
Ridge 7: sl1, k10, w+t, k to end
Ridge 8: sl1, k4, bobble, k12, bobble, k to end; turn; sl1, k to end
Ridge 9, sl1, k8, w+t, k to end
Ridge 10: sl1, k6, bobble, k5, bobble, k5, w+t, k to end
Ridge 11: sl1, k6, w+t, k to end
Ridge 12: sl1 k to end; turn, s1, k to end
Repeat rows 1 to 13 twice more.

Finishing
Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off.
Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.
If the yarn you used was really soft, you might want to stabilize the tree. You can do this by cutting out a piece of paper or soft cardboard in the shape of a 90° pizza slice (similar to the tree before the three needle BO) and insert it into the tree.

This blogpost was featured at the Handmade Monday Link Party No. 5. Thank you!

Xmas Star Mitts

Hold a star in your hands with these beautiful fingerless gloves. They are knitted all in garter stitch with a star around your thumb.

The mitts are basically shaped like the Starburst Mitts I published a while ago, but with added colorwork to form a star around the thumbs.


This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.





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Materials

• a total of 35 to 40 grams of fingering weight yarn in two colors (about 25 grams of color 1, C1, beige in the photos and about 15 grams of color 2, C2, blue in the photos)
• 3mm knitting needles
• 3 stitch markers (2 of which safety pins of similar)
• tapestry needle (for grafting and to weave in ends)

Gauge / Measurements

The finished mitts measure about 16 cm in circumference (around the wrists) and 18 cm high. (Gauge in garter stitch: 6 stitches and 14 rows/7ridges = 1 inch)


Techniques

• Short Rows (t+p): Short rows are one of my favorite knitting techniques because they not only allow you to shape your knitting but also to created interesting graphical pattern. There are several techniques for short rows – and it’s a matter of taste which one you prefer. I’ve recently learned a technique called German short rows: when you turn, bring yarn to the front and pull it back so that a sort of double-stitch is created, then knit back as usual - when you have to knit the double-stitch, be careful to knit it as one stitch (see also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6n561SMZXQ); this method has the advantage the no picking up of stitches is necessary. In the pattern, this stitch will be called t+p (turn and pull).
• Provisional Cast-On: This method of cast-on usually uses some waste yarn that can be remove later to get live stitches, these stitches can either be used to continue knitting in the opposite direction or to graft these stitches to the rest of your piece. My favourite method is the one using a crochet hook (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeExgbgTOgs). The first time you use your working yarn, will be called setup row in this pattern.
  There are other methods as well. E.g. the one explained in knitty (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/FEATfall05TT.html). If you use this method, you don’t need to knit the setup row (14 sts of C2 and 9 sts of C1), because you already have your first row of stitches in working yarn.
• Grafting: Grafting (also called kitchener stitch) is a great way to finish garments without a visible seam (If you want to know more about grafting – it’s different stitches and mechanics – you should read the “5 Grafting Myths”-series by Joni Coniglio on knittingdaily.com).
  To finish these mitts you need to be able to graft in garter stitch.
• Grafting in garter stitch (and here’s a video from knittinghelp.com that shows the technique: www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/grafting-garter-kitchener-stitch):
  Set-up stitch:
  - front needle: insert purlwise and leave stitch on needle;
  - back needle: insert purlwise and leave stitch on needle;
  Then repeat the following actions:
  - front needle: insert knitwise needle into first and slide from needles (knit slip), insert needle purlwise into next stitch and leave on needle (purl leave)
  - back needle: insert knitwise needle into first and slide from needles (knit slip), insert needle purlwise into next stitch and leave on needle (purl leave)
• Picking up stitches from the edge and joining as you go: to attach the first stitch of one row to the edge stitch of the row opposite, slip the last stitch and insert the right needle in a loop of the edge stitch from the opposite side, reinsert the left needle into the last 2 loops and knit them together (like doing a ssk); this will be called ssk+c (ssk and connect) in this pattern (see illustration photo 3 below) - a similar method is shown in this video: http://youtu.be/3zPXZ4cu66Q.
  Alternatively, you can just knit the last stitch of each row in section F and G and sew the two sides together afterwards.

Illustration photos

General Construction

The mitts are knitted flat in eight sections (from A to H).
The diagram shows how the sections form the complete mitt, how many stitches there are between the edge and M1 (inner blue circle), as well as how the stitch count changes.
It also shows where the mitt is to be folded and which parts are to be attached to which when finishing the mitts (or while you're knitting sections F and G).
Sections E, F, G, and H are mirror images of sections D, C, B, and A respectively, i.e. where there is an increase in A, there is an decrease in H - and the short row lenghts are mirrored as well.


Color Charts - How to Read Them

When I started this pattern, I drew charts on squared paper because I found this much easier to work with. That's why I'm including the charts here, too.

Here's how to read the charts (example chart for sections A and H).

Example: Chart for sections A and H

• For the first section A you work from top to bottom. For the last section H you work from bottom to top - this is indicated by the big arrows on the side.
• One row indicates on ridge, i.e. one RS row and one WS row.
• White squares are knit-stitches in C1. Blue squares are knit-stitches in C2. The numbers in front of the row indicate how many stitches per color are in that row - the black number gives the number of stitches for C1 and the blue number the number of stitches for C2.
• The first stitch in every RS row is slipped to get a nice edge that can be attached to the other side easily. However, it is counted in the charts, i.e. if the chart tells you that the row begings with 7 C1 stitches, you do sl1, k6.
• When knitting the WS row, you knit each stitch in the color that they appear on your needles, i.e. any C1 stitch is knitted with C1 and any C2 stitch is knitted with C2.
• The blue vertical line marks the start of the thumb, i.e. the placement of the marker M1. The gray vertical dashed lines are only there as a counting aid, there are placed every five stitches from the beginning of the first row.
• The triangles mark that there is an increase or decrease. Both increases and decreases are made just before the last stitch of the WS row. That means for increases that you knit up to the 2nd stitch before the end and then do a kfb, k1. For decreases it means that you knit up to the last 3 stitches and then do an k2tog, k1. For sections A, B, C, and D I made the increases/decreases in the ridge with the triangle - for sections E, F, G and H in the ridge below; that way the stitch numbers work out.

These explanations and the charts below are sufficient to knit the mitts. Since some people don't like to work with charts, I spelled out all the sections below.

Instructions

Section A

Provisionally CO 23 stitches
Setup Row: with C2 k9, place marker (M1), k5; with C1 k9 - after you've done this, your piece should look similar to illustration photo 1.
Rigde 1: sl1, k6 (C1), k16 (C2), turn, sl1, k15 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 2: sl1, k8 (C1), k5 (C2), t+p, k4 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k3 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, k10 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 6: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 7: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 9: sl1, k12 (C1), k3 (C2), t+p, k2 (C2), k to last 2 sts (C1), kfb, k1
Ridge 10: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k11 (C1), k3 (C2), t+p, k2 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 12: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to last 2 sts (C1), kfb, k1
Ridge 13: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k10 (C1), k5 (C2), t+p, k4 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 15: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to last 2 sts (C1), kfb, k1
Ridge 16: sl1, k7 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 17: sl1, k9 (C1), k16 (C2), turn, sl1, k15 (C2), k to end (C1)

When you've finished section A, place marker (e.g. safety pin) in the first stitch on your needles ("marker A").

Section B

Ridge 1: sl1, k11 (C1), k14 (C2), turn, sl1, k13 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 2: sl1, k3 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k13 (C1), k3 (C2), turn, sl1, k2 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, k7 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 6: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 7: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k15 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to last 2 sts (C1) kfb, k1
Rigde 9: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 10: sl1, k7 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k14 (C1), k4 (C2), turn, sl1, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 12: sl1, k10 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 13: sl1, k12 (C1), k5 (C2), turn, sl1, k4 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 15: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 16: sl1, k10 (C1), k16 (C2), turn, sl1, k15 (C2), k to end (C1)

Chart B: Sections B and G

Section C

Ridge 1: sl1, k12 (C1), k14 (C2), turn, sl1, k13 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 2: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k4 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 6: sl1, k14 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k (C1) to last 2 sts, kfb, k1
Ridge 7: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 9: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 10: sl1, k17 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k (C1) to last 2 sts, kfb, k1
Ridge 12: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 13: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k14 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 15: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 16: sl1, k16 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k (C1) to last 2 sts, kfb, k1
Ridge 17: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 18: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 19: sl1, k13 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 20: sl1, k15 (C1), k7 (C2), t+p, k6 (C2), k (C1) to last 2 sts, kfb, k1
Ridge 21: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 22: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 23: sl1, k4 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 24: sl1, k14 (C1), k16 (C2), turn, sl1, k15 (C2), k to end (C1)

When you've finished section C, place marker (e.g. safety pin) in the first stitch on your needles ("marker C")

Chart C: Sections C and F

When you've finished section C, place marker (e.g. safety pin) in the first stitch on your needles (marker C). Your piece should now look similar to the illustration photo 2.

Section D

Ridge 1: sl1, k16 (C1), k14 (C2), turn, k14 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 2: sl1, k3 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k4 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, k10 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 6: sl1, k17 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to last 3 sts (C1), ssk, k1
Ridge 7: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k19 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 9: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 10: sl1, k15 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k17 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 12: sl1, k15 (C1), t+p, k to last 3 sts (C1), ssk, k1
Ridge 13: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k14 (C1), k to end (C2), turn, k14 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 15: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 16: sl1, k10 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 17: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 18: sl1, k12 (C1), k8 (C2), t+p, k7 (C2), k to end (C1)

Chart D: Sections D and E

Section E (i.e. section D backwards)

Ridge 1: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 2: sl1, k10 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k14 (C1), k to end (C2), turn, k14 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to last 2 sts (C1), kfb, k1
Ridge 6: sl1, k15 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 7: sl1, k17 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k15 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 9: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 10: sl1, k19 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to last 2 sts (C1), kfb, k1  
Ridge 12: sl1, k17 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 13: sl1, k10 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 15: sl1, k4 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 16: sl1, k3 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 17: sl1, k16 (C1), k14 (C2), turn, k14 (C2), k to end (C1)

Section F (i.e. section C backwards)

During sections F and G, you will attach the last stitch of each ridge with an edge stitch of section C and section B respectively. For this you need to fold the mitt along the folding line (right sides out) and attach the sides as you go along - as explained above in "Techniques" and abbreviated with ssk+c in the pattern. Picture 4 shows how the mitt looks after you have knitted a few rows of section F when you connect the halves as you go.

Alternatively, you can just knit the last stitch of each row of section F and G; and sew the two edges together afterwards.

Start connecting the last stitch of the first row to the stitch that is marked by marker C folding the mitt wrong sides out and work your way upwards.

Ridge 1: sl1, k14 (C1), k16 (C2), turn, sl1, k15 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c

Ridge 2: sl1, k4 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c

Ridge 3: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 4: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k (C1) to last 3 sts, ssk, ssk+c
Ridge 5: sl1, k15 (C1), k7 (C2), t+p, k6 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 6: sl1, k13 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 7: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 8: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k (C1) to last 3 sts, ssk, ssk+c 
Ridge 9: sl1, k16 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 10: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 11: sl1, k14 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 12: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 13: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k (C1) to last 3 sts, ssk, ssk+c   
Ridge 14: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c)
Ridge 15: sl1, k17 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 16: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 17: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 18: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k (C1) to last 3 sts, ssk, ssk+c 
Ridge 19: sl1, k14 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 20: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 21: sl1, k4 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 22: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 23: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 24: sl1, k12 (C1), k14 (C2), turn, sl1, k13 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c

Section G (i.e. section B backwards)

Ridge 1: sl1, k10 (C1), k16 (C2), turn, sl1, k15 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 2: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 3: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 4: sl1, k12 (C1), k5 (C2), turn, sl1, k4 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 5: sl1, k10 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 6: sl1, k14 (C1), k4 (C2), turn, sl1, k3 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 7: sl1, k7 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Rigde 8: sl1, k12 (C1), t+p, k to 3 sts before end (C1), ssk, ssk+c
Ridge 9: sl1, k15 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 10: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 11: sl1, k11 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 12: sl1, k7 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 13: sl1, k13 (C1), k3 (C2), turn, sl1, k2 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 14: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 15: sl1, k3 (C1), t+p, k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c
Ridge 16: sl1, k11 (C1), k14 (C2), turn, sl1, k13 (C2), k to last stitch (C1), ssk+c

After connecting the edge stitches of sections F and G to the edge stitches of section C and B you should have reached marker A.

Section H (i.e. section A backwards)

Ridge 17: sl1, k9 (C1), k16 (C2), turn, sl1, k15 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 16: sl1, k7 (C1), t+p, k to last 3 sts (C1), ssk, k1
Ridge 15: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 14: sl1, k10 (C1), k5 (C2), t+p, k4 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 13: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to last 3 sts (C1), ssk, k1
Ridge 12: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 11: sl1, k11 (C1), k3 (C2), t+p, k2 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 10: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to last 3 sts (C1), ssk, k1
Ridge 9: sl1, k12 (C1), k3 (C2), t+p, k2 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 8: sl1, k9 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 7: sl1, k5 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 6: sl1, k8 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 5: sl1, k10 (C1), k4 (C2), t+p, k3 (C2), k to end (C1)
Ridge 4: sl1, k6 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)
Ridge 3: sl1, k3 (C1), t+p, k to end (C1)

Cut yarn both strands of yarn but leave tails of about 50 cm. Take out your scrap yarn of the provisional cast on and put the live stitches on a knitting needle. Graft in garter stitch: 9 stitches in C1 and the rest of the stitches in C2.

Weave in ends.
Make two.

This post was featured at Pinbellish Link Party No. 17.

Zimtstern Mitts

Since Advent season starts this weekend, here's a "christmassy" pattern. It's called "Zimtstern" because its look reminds me of the traditional Christmas cookie of the same name (the cookies have cinnamon in them ("Zimt") and are formed as a star ("Stern") - here's a recipe (not mine!)).

The Zimtstern mitts are started at the thumb then increased - they combine techniques used in the hexagon mitts and the circle mitts. The stitches in star shape are added as surface crochet (or surface slip stitches) in between the knitted rows. Because of the unusual construction and since surface crochet is fiddly work, the pattern is not really suited for beginners.






This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


German / Deutsch: Eine deutsche Version dieser Anleitung wurde von Bernadette von Törtchens Blog erstellt. Vielen lieben Dank. Details dazu in diesem Blogpost.

Danish / Dansk: A danish translation was written by MarianneHo (Ravelry name) and is available here. Hjertelig tak


Construction

These mitts are knitted in 5 parts: they are started at the thumb and then "grow" in a hexagon (knitted in round and refered to as part 1 and 2 in the pattern),  a bind-off of one side of the hexagon creates part of the upper edge the mitts; they then grow bigger in an open hexagon until the edge of the hand is reached (that's part 3 - knitted flat). During part 2 and 3 rows of surface crochet slip stitches are added to create the star pattern. A three needle bind-off creates a seam along the edge of the hand. Now the lower edge of the mitt is lopsided. To even it out a series of short rows is knitted that also include some decreases (part 4 - knitted in the round). With an even lower edge the shaft is lengthened a bit and ribbing is added (part 5).

As with the patterns mentioned above, these are knitted in one piece, i.e. no yarn is cut which minimizes the weaving in of ends.

Materials

• about 30 grams of fingering weight yarn - preferably variegated - the yarn I used is called Corolli by Schulana (link to the yarn's Ravelry page)
• 3mm dpns (even if you prefer the magic loop technique you will need a 3rd needle for a three-needle bind-off)
• 2.5mm crochet hook
• 6 stitch markers

Gauge / Size

• 7 sts and 9 rows = 2cm x 2cm
• the finished mitt is about 20 cm high (highest point) with 15 cm circumference at the lower edge (ribbing) and about 14 cm at the top

Techniques and Non-Standard Abbreviations

• Surface Crochet or surface slip stitches: Using a crochet hook, you make slip stitches through your knitted fabric. The photo on the right shows how it looks when adding surface slip stitches to a knitted fabric. Here's a video and here's a tutorial that both show surface crochet.
  
  
• Three-Needle Bind-Off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpJUrCX52DU
• Short Rows in the Round (and t+ky) I learned short rows in the round with this helpful video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCgycxLce94; however, I ended up doing the pick-ups differently.
  
  "Wrapping" of the Stitches
  Basically, when you're on the RS, you do wrap the working yarn around the next stitch (from front to back) and then turn your work, i.e. the "normal" wrap and turn (w+t).
  When you are on the wrong side you slip the last stitch, turn your work with the yarn in front, wrap the yarn around the RIGHT needle and knit the slipped stitch. That creates a sort of double-stitch - one half of it has to be knitted together with the stitch in front when you're picking up the stitches. In the pattern, throughout the pattern I will call this stitch, t+ky (short for "turn and knit w/yarn-over").
  
  Picking-up
  When encountering a w+t, I turned the wrapped stitch on the needle, picked up the wrap from the front and knitted the stitch and the wrap together through the back of the loop.
  When reaching the stitch BEFORE the “double-stitch”, I turned this stitch and knitted it together with the yo through the back of the loop.
  

• “Make One Purl”-Stitches (a video that shows these stitches):
• mk1p right-leaning: make one purl stitch by inserting the needle from the back in the bar between the two stitches and purl
• mk1p left-leaning: make one purl stitch by inserting the needle from the back in the bar between the two stitches and purl through the back of the loop

Instructions

Part I - Thumb

CO18
Join in round
Rounds 1-10: *k1tbl p2 (repeat from * till end of round)

Round 11: *k1tbl p1, mk1p, p1 (repeat from * till end of round)
Rounds 12-15: *k1tbl p1 (repeat from * till end of round)
Round 16: *place marker, k1tbl p1 k1tbl p1 (repeat from * till end of round)

(You have 24 sts on your needles)

Part II - Increases in the Round

Round 0: k
Round 1: *slip marker, k1, mk1l, k to marker; mk1r  (repeat from * till end of round) (after this round you have increased by 12 sts)
Round 2: k
Round 3: k
Round 4: add surface crochet, put the loop from the last stitch on the knitting needle
Round 5: pass loop from crochet hook over the first stitch; knit first stitch; k to end, k to end

Repeat rounds 1-5 a total of 4 times

Then repeat them once more but add a "mini-ribbing" (k1 p1) and bind-off in the last sixth of the hexagon, i.e.:


Round 21: *slip marker, k1, mk1l, k to marker; mk1r  (repeat from * till end of round)
Round 22: k
Round 23: k until the last marker k1, *k1 p1 (repeat from *) until last stitch, k1
Round 24: apply surface crochet, put the loop from the last stitch on the knitting needle
Round 25: pass loop from crochet hook over the first stitch; knit first stitch; k until the last marker binding off in pattern (i.e. k1, *k1 p1 (repeat from *) until last stitch, k1 - this creates the upper bind-off.

(Now you have 70 sts (84 - 14 BO sts) on your needles.)

The diagram shows where to insert the surface crochet stitches during part 2.

 When adding surface crochet,

• use your working yarn to add slip stitches to the knitted surface, i.e. insert the crochet hook into the first live stitch on the needle and pull the loop, then insert the crochet hook into the stitch below the second stitch and make a slip stitch (see photo), insert the crochet hook into the second stitch below the 3rd stitch on the needle and make a slip stitch; 
• continue slip stitches "one to the left, one down" until you have reached the middle between two markers, 
• then go up again, i.e. make a slip stitch into the stitch one to the left and one above; continue until you have reached a live stitch on the needle - this should be a stitch just after a marker
• when you have pulled a slip stitch through the stitch below the last stitch of the round, put the loop back on the left knitting needle and pass it over the first stitch of the round.
• make sure to keep your slip stitches loose, i.e. don't pull them too tight, in order to keep the fabric stretchy
• insert your knitting needle between the legs of the stitch - except when you are at the upper edge (i.e. life knit stitches on your needle), here you draw the slip stitch through the life stitch.

The diagram shows where to put the slip stitches - it shows one sixth of a round or the space between two stitch markers.

Part III - Increases knitted flat

Complete the BO by slipping the last stitch over the first stitch and continue the pattern flat.

Row 1 (RS): * k to marker mk1r slip marker, k1, mk1l  (repeat from * until the last marker), k to end (-> after this row you have increased by 8 stitches)
Row 2 (WS): p
Row 3 (RS): k
Row 4: apply surface crochet (on RS), put the loop from the last stitch on the knitting needle
Row 5 (RS): k2tog (loop from crochet hook and first stitch on knitting needle); k to end

Row 6 (WS): * p to 1 st before marker, mk1p left-leaning, p1, slip marker, make1p right-leaning (repeat from * until last marker), p to end
Row 7 (RS): k
Row 8 (WS): p
Row 9 : apply surface crochet (on RS), put the loop from the last stitch on the knitting needle
Row 10 (WS): p2tog  (loop from crochet hook and first stitch on knitting needle); p to end

Repeat rows 1-7 once again.
(You should now have 102 sts on your needles; 4 times increases of 8 sts per row (4*8 = 32), added to the 70 already on the needles: 70+32 = 102)

When you're applying the surface crochet in part 3, you don't start through the 1st live stitch on the needles but below (see picture). In the first two instances (rows 4 and 9), this is not a problem because you only need to insert your crochet hook one or two stitches below, i.e. you don't need to draw the yarn too far. Afterwards (row 14) you can bring your yarn down to the starting point of the surface crochet by doing one surface slip stitch on the WS of the mitts.
On the diagram below you can see that even though you have finished row 3 for the 2nd time, the first crochet slip stitch would be 3 stitches below the first live stitch.

Hold the RS togehter and do a three-needle bind-off 26 stitches. Place a marker ("end-marker") on the back needle and put the last stitch on the back needle: then turn the mitts inside out, so that the RS shows.


Part 4 - Short rows to even out the shaft

As you can see in the photo, the lower edge of the mitts is now lopsided. This can be evened out by knitting a wedge of short rows.

This wedge is highest around end-marker and gets flatter towards the sides, i.e. short rows are knitted around the end-marker that get shorter by 2 stitches each row. At the same time decreases are made around the end-marker in order to finish with 45 stitches before part 5.

After the three-needle BO you have 51 sts on your needles (102-26-26+1, the +1 is the one stitch is left after the BO that is placed on the back needle).

Row 1: (RS) mk1, k25 w+t
   (WS) sl1, p21 p2tog p1, slip marker, mk1p, p23 t+ky
   (RS) k to 3 before end marker, ssk
(-> increases and decreases cancel each other out in this row (still 51 sts), the mk1-stitches are used to avoid holes between the stitch left over from the three-needle-BO and the next stitch on either side)
Row 2: (RS) k22 w+t
   (WS) sl1 p19 p2tog p1, slip marker, p2togtbl, p20 t+ky
   (RS) k2 to end marker (-> decrease by 2 sts, 49 sts)
Row 3: (RS) k19 w+t
   (WS) sl1 p16 p2tog p1, slip marker, p2togtbl, p17 t+ky
   (RS) k2 to end marker (-> decrease by 2 sts, 47 sts)
Row 4: (RS) k16 w+t
   (WS) sl1 p13 p2tog p1, slip marker, p2togtbl, p14 t+ky
   (RS) k2 to end marker (-> decrease by 2 sts => there should be 45 stitches on your needles, however, they may be difficult to count because of the double stitches created with the short rows.
Row 5: (RS): k13 w+t
   (WS): sl1 p to end marker, p12 t+ky
   (RS): k to end marker
Row 6:  (RS): k11 w+t
   (WS): sl1 p to end marker, p10 t+ky
   (RS): k to end marker
Row 7: (RS): k9 w+t
   (WS): sl1 p to end marker, p8 t+ky
   (RS): k to end marker
Row 8: (RS): k7 w+t
   (WS): sl1 p to end marker, p6 t+ky
   (RS): k to end marker
Row 9: (RS): k5 w+t
   (WS): sl1 p to end marker, p4 t+ky
   (RS): k to end marker


Knit one round picking up all stitches.

Part 5 - Lengthen the shaft and ribbing
Knit 5 more rounds.
Then do 12 rounds of k1tbl, p2-ribbing.
Bind off (loosely) in pattern (or use your favourite stretchy bind-off).